John Douglas Thompson, who plays the title role in Richard III, spoke with Berkshire On Stage about his history and his recent critical acclaim.

It is a given that he is an extremely intelligent man, very witty, and powerful. On that I am trying to layer those three psychological underpinnings to make him more real. I want to know why he does what he does, and it’s all there in the language, and I know I will find it.”

Read the whole story »

Actor and Communications Director Elizabeth Aspenlieder was the subject of a Q&A in the Albany Times Union, discussing her Canadian roots and role as an artist/manager at Shakespeare & Company. She’s currently in rehearsals for The Winter’s Tale, in which she plays Hermione, the good Queen of Sicilia.

Q: What does Shakespeare mean to you?

A: It means an opportunity to be alive, to say good things, to say bad things and to move people in a way I wouldn’t normally be able to do day to day; to push people to communicate and to speak, which is so important to me; to speak with conviction and passion and to not shy away from anything.”

Read the whole story »

In many ways I’ve been working on this piece for the whole of my artistic life, and I have to ask the question: why should a 21st century feminist spend her time with a dead white male? Well, the answer is because I grow, expand, understand myself better with every play in the canon I immerse myself in, from young actor to director and teacher – and I have now directed almost every play he wrote. My awareness expands. He says things in such a way as allows me to understand the world – politically, psychologically, physically, poetically, philosophically – that change my personal life. He’s the man I would most like to sleep with, if you will – I’m really sorry he’s dead! And in many ways he ain’t dead. He infuses the world with life, and it’s all open to interpretation…

Listen now to “Tina Packer’s Women of Shakespeare” at WBUR and NPR – On Point with Tom Ashbrook.

These days, it’s not easy for anybody—this is still a period of economic anxiety for us, the entire arts community, and many other sectors of the economy. But for our own part, we are on a much healthier financial path, and on good footing to continue implementing the new business plan we began introducing when I arrived a year ago. We’ve needed to shift our business culture while maintaining the quality of our programming—and we have reached another important milestone in that continuing effort.”

The story was picked up by the Berkshire Eagle, Associated Press, Boston Globe, WBUR, and other news outlets.

Such lessons can take a while to sink in. “At first, I didn’t want to do it,’’ said Kaitlyn, 17. “But it’s better than actual community service.’’ And it has helped her learn how to “be around other people that I might not like but I kind of have to deal with.’’

That attitude is typical, said Coleman of participants (the Globe is printing only their first names because they are juveniles). He noted that when the teenagers arrive on the first day, they’re angry, impatient, and in shock that they really have to study Shakespeare — or go back to court for resentencing. “Oh my God, they’d rather go to jail,’’ he said. “They find this really bizarre, that they have to do it. ‘This is so unfair.’ ‘I’m not going to do this.’ ‘You can’t make me.’ That lasts into the second week.’’

Read the rest of “Caught in the act: Juveniles sentenced to Shakespeare” in the Boston Globe

Joe chats with Elizabeth Aspenlieder, Tina Packer and Jeremy Goodwin about this summer (13:20):

Joe talks with Tina Packer (20:22):

Finally, Joe, Tina Packer and Elizabeth Aspenlieder perform some Shakespeare from this Summer’s season (8:29):

Now she enters the spotlight in this article from Rural Intelligence about her work as Costume Designer for the current production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses:

One of the challenges of designing Liaisons was its location in the smaller Bernstein Theatre where the actors are literally inches away from the audience, so there could be no sleight of hand. “I couldn’t use zippers, for instance, because they’re not period,” she says…Indeed, authenticity is key to Lohbauer’s philosophy. “Lizzie Aspenlieder wears a full corset,” she says. “The actors wore panniers [the wire contraptions that create exaggerated hips] since day one of rehearsal.”

Read the full article: Rural Intelligence – Les Costumes Magnifiques!

In the piece, they discuss Tina’s reasons for choosing the play (the last show in her final season planned as Artistic Director), the roles of women in late-18th-Century French society, and how you—the audience—can affect what you see on stage. They even perform a scene from the play! Check it out on WAMC’s website, or listen below:

Shakespeare eventually brings out the bawdy in everybody, but this winter the troupe is going even further, tackling Christopher Hampton’s popular adaptation of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ 1782 classic, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” at the intimate Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre.

It’s a peppery play stuffed with filled-out corsets, sexual intrigue and just a little old-fashioned cruelty.

“It’s just right for the cold weather,” director Tina Packer says with a hearty laugh. “Just when you’ve had enough of mud and snow you think, let’s go see a bit of sex and color down at the Bernstein.”

Read the full article: Albany Times Union: ‘Liaisons’ tailored to dark times

Check out the video at the Capital News 9 website to learn about what this means for Shakespeare & Company and the Town of Lenox.

Then it’s an interview with Tony Simotes on local television station CTSB’s Spirit of the Berkshires with Andrew Cort, in which he discusses each of the Shakespeare titles in Founders’ Theatre: Othello, Hamlet and Twelfth Night.

The change has not been easy on Ms. Packer, who built Shakespeare & Company from scratch as a young British transplant who wanted to create theater where actors would “speak the speech” of Shakespeare — in her words, focus with clarity on the meaning and intent of the language. While she takes great pride in the company’s legacy, its financial health is a continuing concern given that Shakespeare & Company — like many nonprofit theaters — has been buffeted by economic challenges.

Read the full story at nytimes.com.

“It’s an astonishing work. It sounds like such hyperbole but I honestly believe this is the greatest comedy ever written. It has the broadest comic vocabulary of any show that I’ve ever come across. There’s satire, there’s parody, there’s wit and there’s good old fashioned silliness.”

Read the complete article here. Click here to learn more and buy tickets to Twelfth Night.

This provides the opportunity to compare and contrast roles in Shakespeare as well as a contemporary drama. It is evident to Berkshire audiences that Thompson has the talent to be one of the most renowned actors of his generation. Othello is the most dense and complex of all of Shakespeare’s male roles and Thompson is among its most compelling contemporary interpreters.  It is a matter of time and opportunity before he emerges as a  major artist in contemporary theatre.

Join John Douglas Thompson for My Year with the Moor on July 28 as the actor discusses his experience playing Othello for an entire year—and answers your questions.

Listen to the story above, or check out the story at WBUR.org.

At the time she was obsessed with Shakespeare, but she wanted to approach his texts her own way. This ran against the genteel delivery style most teachers and directors embraced.

“Enunciating, pushing the vowels to the front of the mouth — especially for the women,” Packer says. “It’s all nonsense; Shakespeare’s dirty as hell and full of life and full of vivacity.”

So Packer abandoned her career as an actor in England, raised some money in the U.S., and founded her own company in the Berkshires. She was one of the first women to direct Shakespeare professionally. Packer says it’s a natural fit.

In honor of them and Judge Paul Perachi, that “do-gooder judge from  Massachusetts” who is retiring this year, we present to you “The Word” from the April 20, 2006 episode of The Colbert Report, in which Colbert lovingly pokes fun at our nationally recognized program.

Join us this Thursday, June 4th at 7:30pm in Founders’ Theatre for the final Shakespeare in the Courts performance — Julius Caesar — and help thank Judge Perachi for his work. Admission is free.

OBIE-winner John Douglas Thompson returns to Shakespeare & Company as Othello

John Douglas Thompson, appearing in the title role of Othello again this year, won an OBIE Award for his portrayal of Shakespeare’s Moor at Theatre for a New Audience this winter. The OBIE Awards celebrate excellence and achievement in Off-Broadway theater—the highest honor for Off-Broadway artists and productions. We are honored to have John Douglas Thompson return to Shakespeare & Company as Othello again this summer. He also won a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor for the same performance.

Join John on Tuesday, July 28 at 8:30PM for a talk entitled “My Year With the Moor” in which he talks about his experience playing Othello for an entire year. In the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre – Studio 1. $20/$10 under age 25. Get tickets now.

Company Founder and Artistic Director Tina Packer recently received the American Shakespeare Center’s “Burbage Award” for her lifetime of work in the international Shakespeare community, and is also receiving an honorary degree from Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. “Tina is a force to be reckoned with as one of the country’s foremost experts on Shakespeare and theatre arts,” said ASC Managing Director David Dreyfoos, who presented the Burbage Award to Packer at a ceremony held at the Blackfriars Playhouse on April 25. “She is a consummate visionary, actor, manager, advocate for the arts, a true original, and one of a kind. Plus, she has the most wickedly wonderful laugh in the world.”

Elizabeth Aspenlieder is nominated for a 2009 Eliot Norton Award for “Outstanding Solo Performance” for her performance in Bad Dates at Shakespeare & Company and Merrimack Repertory Company.

Annette Miller is nominated for a 2009 Eliot Norton Award for “Outstanding Actress” at a small or midsize theatre company for her performance in Martha Mitchell Calling at the Nora Theatre Company, in a role she originated in the play’s world premiere at S&Co. in 2006. Annette will reprise her role as Golda Meir in William Gibson’s Golda’s Balcony at Shakespeare & Company this season as part of the Diva Series.

(This year’s Elliot Norton Awards ceremony takes place at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre on Monday, May 11, 7:00pm.  Tickets are $15 and available at the Harvard Box Office, Holyoke Center, in Harvard Square, 617-496-2222, www.boxoffice.harvard.edu.)

Company Founder and Director of Education Kevin G. Coleman earned the prestigious “Distinguished Arts Educator Award” in the field of theatre, bestowed annually by the Massachusetts Arts Education Collaborative. In addition to his work as an actor, director, Training Program faculty member at S&Co. and workshop engagements around the country, Coleman built up the Education Program into a much-emulated roster of programs that touches the lives of some 50,000 students every year. Initiatives launched under Coleman’s leadership include Shakespeare in the Courts, recipient of a 2006 Coming Up Taller Award at the White House, and the Fall Festival of Shakespeare, which engages students at about ten high schools annually and celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2008.

Is Edith Wharton’s century-old estate haunted?
During its long history, The Mount has stood mute witness to stormy emotional currents from its very beginnings. Built in 1902 as a writer’s retreat, it was the scene of the final disintegration of the Whartons’ ill-fated marriage. Edith Wharton exiled herself to France and embarked on a passionate, yet angst-ridden love affair, and Teddy Wharton descended into years of mental instability.

Sold by the Whartons in 1911, The Mount became part of Foxhollow School for Girls in 1942. Residents reported unexplained noises and odd sensations while living in the old servant and family quarters. The school closed in 1976 and after several years of neglect Shakespeare & Co. used The Mount as both dormitory and theater. Actors reported not only odd noises, but also visions of figures in old-fashioned clothing calmly inquiring what they were doing there …

To determine if these experiences were tricks of the imagination or something more, lead investigators Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson from The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) and the Ghost Hunters television crew visited The Mount in December and spent several nights in the mansion and outbuildings.

Discover what the experienced crew of the popular SciFi Channel television series, Ghost Hunters, finds out about the mysteries of The Mount during the Wednesday, March 25th broadcast at 9 PM EST.

The Mount is open daily for visitors May through October. To learn more about The Mount and its after-hours paranormal conferences and tours, visit www.EdithWharton.org or call 413-551-5111.

For more information on TAPS and Ghost Hunters, go to www.the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com or www.scifi.com/ghosthunters.

STAA president Philp Sneed (Colorado Shakespeare Festival) and Tina Packer (Shakespeare & Company). Photo: Danny Kurtz.

Shakespeare & Company this week hosted the annual conference of the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America. Comprised of over 60 Shakespearean theatres across the US, Canada and even the UK and Mexico, STAA provides a forum for artistic and managerial leadership to discuss ideas and share methods of work, resources and information.

This year’s conference was attended by over 150 artists and managers and was hosted in Shakespeare & Company’s new Production and Performing Arts Center and the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre. It was a tremendous honor for Shakespeare & Company to host so many leaders in the field at our home.

WAMC (listen), Capital News 9 (watch the video) and the Berkshire Eagle all visited us during the conference. Check out their stories at their websites. Listen to the WAMC story below.

Check out the story at the Capital News 9 website. (Don’t miss the video!)

The Conservatory program is a full-semester, in-depth training course for classical actors. Their training in the full scope of disciplines—voice, text, movement, clown, fight dance—culminates in this production.

Yesterday, Capital News 9 Albany ran a story about the Conservatory and interviewed several of the actors and associate director of training Dave Demke. You can read the story at their website (watch the video).

The talented cast of Twelfth Night features Robyn Arrington, Vanessa Bellew, Emily Rose Ehlinger, Autumn Elise Henry, Emily Karol, Andy Markert, Sophie Netanel, Michael Judson Pace, Erin Elizabeth Peck, Danielle Rose Valley and Angela Sommerfeld. It is directed by faculty member Marc Scipione.

The show runs tomorrow and Saturday, December 12 & 13 at 7pm in the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre. Get tickets now!

Director of Education Kevin Coleman and Associate Director of Education Jenna Ware were interviewed on WAMC’s Roundtable for this milestone event (along with Ashley, a Lenox High School senior who played Hamlet in this weekend’s Festival). Read and see more about the Fall Festival here and here.

And check out this article in The Independent on Chatham High School’s Hamlet.

The Fall Festival was recently featured in an article in the Berkshire Eagle (available online for two weeks), in which it was noted that

For directors, parents and other adults, the festival is a chance to see students come alive.

“There’s something transcendental about the language. I mean, they’re still kids. They’re still teenagers. But during the festival weekend, they scream like it’s a rock concert. They know all the plays and they get all the dirty Elizabethan jokes,” said Dorothy French, a parent.

Shakespeare & Company Director of Education Kevin Coleman speaks about the program in the Berkshire Record, explaining, “We are very interested in firing up the imagination of the students, taking their ideas and seeing how it would work. It is a very different style of directing.” He goes on to say

…it is the things beyond theater that the participants learn, including self confidence, teamwork and public speaking skills, that makes the program a success. “I think they learn important lessons in cooperation and all the other important life skills you can’t teach in a classroom.” Coleman said.

Read the full article at the Berkshire Record’s website. You can read and see more about the Festival here and here. And don’t forget to buy your tickets now for this milestone event.

In a rehearsal room, the five actors in “The Canterville Ghost” are creating a scene for the production. They all have costume pieces — a hat, a scarf, a teacup — to help define the characters, and with a suggestion from Brook, they’re off, improvising dialogue that is sometimes hilarious, sometimes incomprehensible, but always high energy. At any given moment, Brook will stop them, consider a section and work through it, refining the details.

Read the full story (free registration may be required). The Canterville Ghost opens on Saturday. Click here to buy tickets now.

Download the show here or at Stephanie Abrams’ website (look for hour one of the August 23rd show — the interview with Irina Brook begins about 34 minutes into the show).

The Canterville Ghost begins previews September 19. Buy tickets now.

Listen to the story at WAMC’s website, or listen below.

“I think that ‘Othello’ is one of Shakespeare’s most economical plays because it really moves in one direction and it’s about real people, not kings and queens,” said Thompson. “It’s about love between a black man and a white woman, and those things can still garner a lot of attention today. But what Shakespeare does is make it a positive story. He tells us how strong that love is, and how beautiful and wonderful it can be, as long as there’s no one attacking it from the outside and bringing it down. It’s about racism and friendship, and those things will always be pertinent.”

Click here to read the whole story.

Check out the story at the Capital News 9 website, or watch the video.

Milton Bass of the Berkshire Eagle sat for another chat with a Company member—this time Michael Toomey, who appears in The Ladies Man. Michael has worked with Shakespeare & Company since 1997 as an actor and education artist, and is a founding member of the Split Knuckle Theatre, a collaborative ensemble that has performed internationally.

Observing Michael Toomey in his role in “The Ladies Man” at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox did not prepare me for a close encounter with him off the boards. In the French farce adaptation, Toomey plays Bassinet, a bumbling idiot who lisps enough spit into the atmosphere to create a rainbow effect. His character doesn’t have even a slight conception of what is transpiring around him.

Read the entire article at Berkshires Week online.

There is a contrast between the palace of the countess and that of the king, feminine versus masculine approaches to life and its problems. The women are introspective, flexible, exuding sexuality. The king’s court is strictly masculine, exploding with vitality. “We explore our minds,” said one of the women, “while Paris has more external action.”

Read the story at The Berkshire Eagle online.

All’s Well That Ends Well is currently in previews. Buy tickets now.

On May 17th, Tina Packer was the recipient of an honorary degree at Westfield State College’s 169th Commencement activities. She was honored along with Berkshire County artist and designer Thomas Patti, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Debby Applegate and Mike Scully, producer and writer for The Simpsons. From the press release:

Packer, who will receive a Doctor of Humanities degree, is a British-born actress, director, and author.  She founded Shakespeare & Company in 1978.  With Packer as artistic director, the company is central to cultural life in the region, with a reputation for quality that extends far beyond the Berkshires.”

Annette Miller, who plays the mother-in-law Madame Aigreville in The Ladies Man (opening tonight in Founders’ Theatre), was recently interviewed by Terry Byrne of the Boston Globe. She talked about her past roles at Shakespeare & Company, stretching her comic muscles, and enjoying chaos on stage.

I do think my character in ‘The Ladies Man’ is also larger than life,” she says by phone during a rehearsal break. “I’m a bastion of morality who gets caught in some compromising positions when I’m trying to prove to my daughter that her husband is a ladies’ man.”

Click here to read the full article.

The judge believes people can play many roles in life. His proudest role, though? Co-creator of Shakespeare in the Courts, with Kevin Coleman, the educational director of Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass. The two met nearly 30 years ago, when Shakespeare & Company was new in town and Coleman asked to produce a student show at Lenox High, where Perachi was then the principal.

Follow the links to each article:
Part I (The hue of resolution)
Part 2 (A method springs from the madness)
Part 3 (Be not too tame; suit action to words + audio slideshow)

The audio slideshow can be accessed from Part 3 (by clicking the “multimedia” link in the left-hand column). The accompanying video can be viewed below:

You can listen to the segment at WAMC’s website.

 

Berkshire Business Quarterly featured Nick Puma, Shakespeare & Company’s managing director, in their most recent issue. “Big Man on Campus” spotlights Nick’s skillful leadership of the Company, particularly as project manager of the construction of the future Elayne P. Bernstein Performance and Production Arts Center.

The man in charge of seeing that it all happens, on time and on budget, is managing director Nicholas J. Puma, Jr. “I’m like Conan the Barbarian in the Room of Mirrors; that’s how I feel over there,” he says.

But if anyone can meet the challenge, It’s Nick Puma.

Pick up your copy of Berkshire Business Quarterly at newsstands now, or visit berkshirelivingmag.com. (The article featured photos by longtime Company photographer Kevin Sprague.

PITTSFIELD, MA – Hamlet is a Shakespearean tragedy that takes us from overwhelming sadness to seething rage. Those are feelings that these teenage actors have felt before. In fact, for some, that’s why they’re here. …

Read the full story, or watch the video.

As managing director, a position he’s held since November, Puma is responsible for the nuts-and-bolts of the company’s operations. That means keeping Shakespeare & Company’s workings tight and focused. Most important, he is project manager for one of the company’s biggest undertakings, the $6.5 million, 155-seat Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre in a behemoth of a building that once served as the Berk-shire Performing Arts Center, the Berkshire Performing Arts Theater, and the massive television studio and auditorium for Ted Stevens’ ministry at The Bible Speaks.    

Click here to read the full Berkshire Eagle article.