Back from guest-directing William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Richard II at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, Associate Director of Training Dave Demke is keeping as busy as ever.
First, the Skidmore play (in which King Richard pits the Church and politics against each other, creating a monumental struggle for power) was well-received by students and critics alike (“craftily staged…often it is impossible to take one’s eyes away from what is transpiring on the stage” wrote one reviewer). It was Dave’s first official partnership with the college (although many Skidmore students have and continue to train at Shakespeare & Company’s Summer Training Institute).
Immediately after finishing up Richard II, Dave turned his attention to wrapping up the second-ever Conservatory at Shakespeare & Company program with last weekend’s final celebratory production of Twelfth Night. Continue reading ‘Dave Demke returns from a successful stint at Skidmore’
Join us this weekend for an outrageous performance of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night presented by the Conservatory at Shakespeare & Company.
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!
Between performing as LaFew in All’s Well That Ends Well in Founders’ Theatre, directing Wild and Whirling Words on the Rose Footprint, and teaching acting students in the Summer Training Institute down at the Production and Performing Arts Center, Dennis Krausnick, director of training, even when obliged to be everywhere at every moment, still has time to pursue a personal project. Miraculously, he was able to find five minutes to talk to us about it.
The Lear Project is a solo play in which Dennis takes the audience on a journey through Shakespeare’s King Lear, performing the King’s speeches and exploring his personal relationship to the play and its themes of parent-child relationships from his own roles as son, step-father, and mentor to myriad young acting students. Continue reading ‘Dennis Krausnick’s “The Lear Project”’
