Bard in Boston

Crossposted to Riba Rambles () and bard_in_boston:

A few announcements have crossed my path:

• Actors' Shakespeare Project has begun a relationship with Harvard's Hyperion Shakespeare Company. ASP's Artistic Director Benjamin Evett will direct Hyperion's production of Romeo and Juliet, to be performed outdoors on April 27 and 28 at Adams House and May 5 and 6 at Kirkland House.
   
• Don't forget, ASP has added a fourth production to this season: Love's Labour's Lost, featuring a six-person cast directed by Ben Evett. May 29 - June 24
   
• ASP has also announced their 2007-2008 season, consisting of four plays:
  1. Macbeth, with an all-female cast,
  2. Henry V, with a five-person cast,
  3. The Tempest, marking the return of King Lear director Patrick Swanson, using "a cast of nine within the framework of a music hall magician and his bag of tricks" and
  4. King John, directed by Benjamin Evett and with the full acting company.
  
  
• American Repertory Theatre has also announced their 2007-2008 season, with two Shakespeare plays:
  • Julius Caesar from February 9 - March 22, 2008, and
  • Cardenio -- one of Shakespeare's lost plays reconstructed by Stephen (Will in the world) Greenblatt and playwright Charles Mee -- May 10 - June 1, 2008

I think that's all I have for now. You can find announcements for other current and forthcoming productions at bard_in_boston

Crossposted to Riba Rambles () and bard_in_boston:

Plus: ASP is hosting a Special Event, Monday April 16 (Patriots' Day) @ 7:30 pm:

Entertaining Violence: Responses to Titus Andronicus and How Violence, Revenge, and Grief Resonate in our World Today

Moderated by psychoanalyst Phillip Freeman; panelists include:

• Leah Hager Cohen, author of Without Apology: Girls, Women and the Desire to Fight
• David R. Gammons, Director of Titus Andronicus
• Marjorie Garber, Professor of English, Harvard University and author of Shakespeare After All
• Sandra M. McCroom, Executive Director, Roxbury Youthworks, Inc.
• Tina Packer, Artistic Director and Founder, Shakespeare and Company
• Samantha Power, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide
• plus actors from ASP's production of Titus Andronicus

More details @ http://actorsshakespeareproject.org

Crossposted to bard_in_boston and riba_rambles

Actors' Shakespeare Project -- my favorite local theater company -- will be performing Titus Andronicus starting the end of this month.

Titus Andronicus was one of his earlier works (obviously influenced by Marlowe) and is generally considered Shakespeare's most violent play. Though popular in its day, it was almost never performed in the centuries since -- until the mid-1950s when it was revived to much acclaim by Sir Lawrence Olivier and Vivian Leigh. In the past decade the play has become more popular, most notably in the Julie Taymor film starring Anthony Hopkins.

The play will be directed by David R. Gammons, who designed the set for last year's King Lear, and will feature an all-male cast.

Continuing ASP's tradition of presenting plays as the centerpiece of a larger community "project", the production will be coupled with comprehensive outreach and education projects around the themes of poetry, family relationships, and violence.

Location: The Basement at the Garage, Garage Mall, 38 JFK St., Cambridge

I'll confess, I didn't even know the Garage had a basement. Still, it's totally T accessible and I know many of you still hang out in and around Harvard Square, so you should have no excuse for missing it!

Previews: March 29 and 30; Opening Night: March 31
Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 pm and Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm through April 22nd

Tickets $40, students and seniors $33; previews $30. $15 student rush.
Group discounts are available.

Warning: This play contains rape and hair-trigger acts of violence. I don't know how graphic ASP plans to get (last summer's Globe production apparently caused audience members to faint), but this is not necessarily family fare. Consider it the historical equivalent to Quentin Tarantino. :)

As a start, Benjamin Evett, Artistic Director of the Actor's Shakespeare Project, will direct Romeo and Juliet, which opens at the end of April in the outdoor Kirkland and Adams House courtyards, a setting that harkens back to the outdoor roots of the company.

Julius Caesar runs from March 22-24 at the Loeb Experimental Theatre.