Newberry College Theatre Performs Shakespeare Festival
March 26, 2015
The Newberry College Theatre opens its newest performance, The Shakespeare Festival Friday March 27 and Saturday March 28 with both shows at 8 p.m. in Wiles Theatre.
The show is a collection of scenes from Shakespeares best-known works. The show includes scenes and monologues from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, and Julius Caesar. The show is approximately an hour and twenty minutes with a fifteen-minute intermission.
Assistant professor of theatre, Mandy Butler picked a monologue format for this particular play because many of the Newberry College actors have no experience with the Bard. I wanted to give our theatre students bite-size chunks of text to explore so that they wouldn't be intimidated, said Butler. I wanted to give them a working knowledge of the canon so that they were prepared to audition for roles in Shakespeare upon graduation. In performing monologues Butler believes that the student audience may enjoy contained scenes rather than a three-hour show with an over-arching narrative.
Nine Newberry College student actors, who have been preparing and rehearsing for three months, will play in thirty-three different roles. I've been really pleased with the level of commitment from both the cast and crew. I think it's going to be a strong show said Butler.
After this weekends run, the Shakespeare Festival moves to the Newberry Opera House April 10 through April 12, with Friday and Saturday performances at 8 p.m. and a Sunday Matinee at 3 p.m.
The show is a collection of scenes from Shakespeares best-known works. The show includes scenes and monologues from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, and Julius Caesar. The show is approximately an hour and twenty minutes with a fifteen-minute intermission.
Assistant professor of theatre, Mandy Butler picked a monologue format for this particular play because many of the Newberry College actors have no experience with the Bard. I wanted to give our theatre students bite-size chunks of text to explore so that they wouldn't be intimidated, said Butler. I wanted to give them a working knowledge of the canon so that they were prepared to audition for roles in Shakespeare upon graduation. In performing monologues Butler believes that the student audience may enjoy contained scenes rather than a three-hour show with an over-arching narrative.
Nine Newberry College student actors, who have been preparing and rehearsing for three months, will play in thirty-three different roles. I've been really pleased with the level of commitment from both the cast and crew. I think it's going to be a strong show said Butler.
After this weekends run, the Shakespeare Festival moves to the Newberry Opera House April 10 through April 12, with Friday and Saturday performances at 8 p.m. and a Sunday Matinee at 3 p.m.
