NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Theatre students at Vanderbilt University will
get a week of intense instruction in Shakespearean acting when the
Actors From the London Stage company visits for a weeklong residency in
February.
The Feb. 16-22 visit is sponsored by the Fred Coe
Artist-in-Residence program. It will culminate in two performances of
Romeo and Juliet by the five-actor company at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on
Saturday, Feb. 21. The production, which will be open to the public,
uses minimal sets and has no director.
"This embracement of the text and the reliance upon Shakespeare
himself to ultimately carve out a production of one of his plays is an
approach we support in the Vanderbilt Theatre Department," said Terryl
Hallquist, associate professor of theatre at Vanderbilt. "We appreciate
the chance to reinforce to our students and the community the idea of
the Bard’s ability to connect with this audience across time and space
by fundamentally engaging the imagination of the players, and then the
people, through his language."
The Fred Coe residency program is named for the late director and
producer from Nashville. It was founded in 1982 with money received
from the live telecast production of A Member of the Wedding starring
Pearl Bailey. The show was directed by Vanderbilt Board of Trust member
Delbert Mann, who created the residency as a memorial to Coe, a
longtime friend.
Actors From the London Stage is an initiative out of the University
of Notre Dame. It was created to "change the way Shakespeare is taught
in the United States, and to develop an enthusiasm for Shakespeare in
performance."
The current company consists of Peter Linford, Victoria Duarri, David Acton, Francesca Ryan and Chuk Iwuji.
Tickets to the performances of Romeo and Juliet cost $7. They are
available to Vanderbilt undergraduates for free, and cost $4 for
graduate students.
For reservations or ticket information, contact Lisa Barksdale at (615) 322-2404 or lisa.l.barksdale@vanderbilt.edu. Neely Auditorium is located between Sarratt Center and Kirkland Hall on the Vanderbilt campus.
For more information, see (https://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/site/iDdYME/home),
the Vanderbilt University Theatre Department website.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
Jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu