Auditions for Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, Baron's Men, November 6 and 9, 2013

The Baron’s Men company is looking for actors ages 18 and up for its spring 2014 production of Romeo and Juliet. Auditions will be held at The Curtain Theatre on Wednesday, November 6, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, November 9, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with callbacks on Saturday, November 9 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.


Actors are asked to prepare a 1-2 minute monologue from any early modern drama. Sides from the play will be provided at auditions. Please bring a resume and head shot or a recent snap shot. 


The role of Nurse has been precast. All other roles are open. Actors of all ethnic/racial backgrounds are encouraged to audition. Some roles will be considered for cross-gender casting. 


The play will be performed in a near uncut state, in period costumes and with period effects at The Curtain Theatre, an Elizabethan style outdoor theater approximately one third the size of London’s Globe Theatre.


Rehearsals are scheduled to start in mid-January. Performance dates are April 4, 5, April 11, 12, April 17, 18, 19, and April 24, 25, 26. Actor call times will be at 6:30 p.m. All shows will begin at 8 p.m.


Please e-mail audition@thebaronsmen.org to set up an audition appointment and include your date and time preference. If you are not able to audition on these dates, let us know and we will find an alternative time slot for you.


Are you interested in working as stage crew, or helping with costumes and props?The Baron’s Men work to provide a total experience. We are always looking for volunteers to assist with costumes, props, parking, vending, and much more. If you would like to help out, please contact audition@thebaronsmen.org and let us know what interests you.

Auditions in Round Rock for Romeo and Juliet, adapted from William Shakespeare, Penfold Theatre, October 19, 2013

Hello friends, on Saturday, October 19th, we'll be holding auditions for Romeo & Juliet. You'll find all information below. If you're interested - and I hope you are - you may reply to this email for an audition time. We'd love to see you there! 
Ryan Crowder,  Producing Artistic Director


Shakespeare’s tale of young lovers swept into a catastrophic vortex of misunderstandings, secrets and fate is one of the most beloved stories of all time. In this fresh adaptation for five actors, Romeo and Juliet, the son and daughter of two noble families locked in an old feud, are irresistibly drawn to each other. Defying the hatred and distrust surrounding them, they dare to believe they can, and must, be together. Click here for a full synopsis of the play.

(www.penfoldtheatre.com)

Romeo & Juliet is the fourth production in the “Penfold in the Park” series, an annual offering of free, outdoor summer theatre, made possible by a partnership with the Round Rock Parks & Recreation Dept. Performances take place in the amphitheater of Centennial Plaza, just blocks away from historic downtown Round Rock. Romeo & Juliet is directed by Steven Pounders and runs June 5-28, 2014. For more information, please visit the show's webpage.


Audition Information Saturday, October 19^th at ArtSpace, 221 E. Main Street, Round Rock, TX 78664. (Map it) All roles are paid. Please email Ryan Crowder at rcrowder@penfoldtheatre.org. If you are available only during certain times, please tell us so. We'll send you a confirmation email with your audition time.

Please bring a headshot and resume. You will receive sides from the show after your audition time has been confirmed. You are welcome to memorize your sides but are not required to. It is more important to us that we see how you act truthfully as the character; how you handle Shakespeare's verse; and (in the case of some roles) how you distinguish mentally / physically / vocally between multiple characters. Callbacks are tentatively scheduled for Saturday the 26^th


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Character Assignments

Player 1. (Male) Romeo. Player 2. (Female) Juliet, Benvolio. Player 3. (Male or female) Tybalt, Montague, Lady Capulet, Peter.
Player 4. (Male or female) Capulet, Mercutio, Friar Laurence, Balthasar.
Player 5. (Male or female) Prince, Paris, Nurse.

Auditions for Young Shakespeare summer production of 'Romeo and Juliet,' March 9 and 23, 2013

Young Shakespeare auditions for Romeo and Julietta

Saturdays, March 9 and 23, 2013, 1:30pm – 3:30 pm, Waller Creek School Theater, 710 East 41st Street (off Red River -- alternate entrance from E. 38th St., west of main school buildings -- click for map)

AUDITIONS BY APPOINTMENT - contact youngshakespeare@austinshakespeare.org. Opportunities for teen actors of all ethnic/racial backgrounds. Staged with professional director, and designers. Performance dates: June 20 - 23, 27 – 30 Thurs-Sat at 8 p.m. at the Curtain Theatre, a 220-seat replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, off City Park Rd., Austin TX (click for map)

Rehearsals: May 21 - June 20, weekday evenings and weekends at Waller Creek Theater, 41st &Red River.

Austin Shakespeare, the Austin-based professional theater company welcomes teen actors to audition for its Young Shakespeare production of Romeo and Julietta. The audition is in a workshop style to introduce teens to a nurturing and challenging program in preparation for an intensive month of rehearsals. Now in its fifth year, Young Shakespeare culminates in a professionally staged production at The Curtain Theater, Richard Garriott’s replica of an Elizabethan theater on the shores of Lake Austin.

Artistic Director Ann Ciccolella, who will direct the program, said, “We have had amazing productions by fostering atmosphere of confidence and joy for teen actors to flourish as they tackle Shakespeare’s best-loved script.” Austin Shakespeare produces free Shakespeare in Zilker Park as well as The Long Center’s Rollins Theatre. “Our free audition workshops have always been welcoming and strengthening environment for young people.” Young Shakespeare uses cross-gender casting where girls often play males roles. This production will have some Spanish language along side Shakespeare original script, so bilingual youngsters are especially encouraged to audition.

TUITION: $500 fee for everyone cast.

Auditioners should familiarize themselves with scenes and speeches from the play provided by Austin Shakespeare for Romeo and Julietta. Sides will be available via email on February 28th. Alternate Shakespeare monologues may be used in the audition, but are not required. Auditioners will all audition in a closed group setting and are required to be present for the entire audition workshop.

Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays; it is a tragic romance of teenagers and their parents in a world in conflict. The poetry of the play is some of the most beautiful Shakespeare ever wrote.
Click 'Read more' for additional information and character list

Click for more information and cast list at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

 

McCallum Fine Arts Academy Announces 2012-2013 MacTheatre Season

We are very proud to announce our 2012-2013 season of shows.

In August: Our co-production with award-winning Tutto Theatre of The Twelfth Labor, a new play.

In September: Beauty and the Beast goes on tour across town, across the state and hopefully across the continent.

In October: Faculty Emeritus William Staples directs Harlequinade

In November: The Secret Garden takes the stage as our fall musical.

In December: Whatcrackah?! 2.0 leaps into your life with our fresh take on the classic ballet.

In February: 53 years ago the Royal Court Players produced the largest high school musical ever seen in Texas. This year we will remount Oklahoma! And it's going to be just as big!

In March: Shakespeare's immortal love story Romeo and Juliet comes to McCallum.

In April: Student directed 10-minute plays will take over the program.

In May: The boy who never grew up has an origin story all his own in Peter and the Starcatcher.

Keep an eye open for all these and so much more, season tickets, and a few extra surprises.

Upcoming: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, City Theatre, February 16 - March 11

Received directly:

presents

directed by Jeff Hinkle

February 16 – March 11, Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 5:30 p.m.

The City Theatre. 3823 Airport Blvd. 78757 – east corner of Airport Blvd. and 38 ½ Street. (click for map)

General Seating $15. Guaranteed Front/2^nd Row Reserved $25.

Students $12. Thursday all seats $10. Group discounts are available.

Reservations 512-524-2870 or info@citytheatreaustin.org

www.citytheatreaustin.org

Young passions, feuding families and star-crossed lovers set the scene as The City Theatre Company brings to the stage William Shakespeare’s first great tragedy and one of his most beloved works, Romeo and Juliet. A tale of young love thwarted by circumstance, the production plays February 16 – March 11 at The City Theatre.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Auditions for Romeo and Juliet, City Theatre, November 27 and 28

Received directly:

Auditions for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet November 27 – 28. The City Theatre. 3823 Airport Blvd. Suite D. Austin, TX 78722 (click for map)

Time: November 27, 12:30 – 3:30 p.m. November 28, 6 – 10 p.m. Ten minute slots by appointment. Show dates: February 16 – March 11 with rehearsals beginning mid - December. Casting all roles. Stage combat and fencing experience a plus. If you are not able to make this audition time, please let us know.

Romeo and Julie is the greatest love story ever told captivating audiences for over four hundred years. Shakespeare's iconic romantic tragedy of innocent young lovers falling victim to family hatred, murderous vendettas and cruel destiny. Bring headshot, resume, and a 1 min. prepared monologue. Scenes may also be performed. 512-524-2870 or info@citytheatreaustin.org to set up an appt. For more show details, go to www.citytheatreaustin.org

Arts Reporting: Brian Paul Scipione interviews Austin Drama Club's Casey Allen and Jessica McNerney, INSITE Magazine, August 2010

Found on-line; now available free around town in INSITE magazine's August 2010 edition:

Two Houses Both Alike…

By Brian Paul Scipione

INSITE magazine, August 2010

“This is, the first interview I’ve done for the theater,” says Casey Allen, “It’s like in the past we’ve been totally underground and nobody’s cared about what we do.” Allen is reprising his part as Romeo in Austin Drama Club’s second production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

Yet far from a re-run the present performance has two major changes: there’s a whole new Juliet and a whole new theater space.

Austin Drama Club, originally formed as the Velvet Rut Theater in the Fall of 2006, is the passion project of Japhy and Ellen Fernandes, this group transformed a small three bedroom, one bathroom house on the East side of Austin into a bastion of environmental theater. By knocking down walls, doors, and other obstacles the Velvet Rut used a make shift space with home-made platform seating comprised of an eclectic array of chairs, stools, and benches (truly no two seats were alike) to bring a staggering thirty-plus productions to life. This group has tirelessly performed show after show, weekend after weekend with no regard to notoriety or notice. They have unabashedly embodied art for art’s sake. And now they have moved on to a more conventional (in the Austin sense of the word) theater-space and that is a warehouse on the outskirts of town. Much like the Blue Theater andthe Off Center, the Austin drama club had rented and renovated a large empty room at 12345 Pauls Valley Road, a short scenic drive down 290 past the Y.

So as the new space welcomes the troupe, the troupe welcomes a new player, Ashley McNerney, in the titular role of Juliet. McNerney was on a road trip across the South when a fateful few days in Austin landed her at the Austin Drama Club’s production of “The Wizard of Oz.” Taken by the show and the unique nature of Austin, she decided to move here to pursue her career in the arts after graduating East Carolina University in 2009.

Read full article or browse INSITE magazine's August 2010 issue. . . .

Call for Actors: Austin Drama Club, revived

Received directly:

Austin Drama Club seeks new company members

All shows to perform at our new location in the hills west of Oak Hill near Fitzhugh Rd. and 290 west. We encourage any and all artistic young men and women in that area to come hang out with us this summer and see if you might be into putting on costumes and make up and acting like a fool half the time.

We are also looking for someone who will commit to doing 2 shows with us this summer..someone who wants to begin working on 2 parts at the same time.

We also want to welcome any elder community style actors who have the urge to swagger and bray and talk loudly in a thick British accent.

Romeo and Juliet will open on July 22nd and run through August 10th and needs the following:

3 young men between the ages of 14 and 17 to play the part of Romeo or Benvolio or Tybalt in the Saturday and Sunday afternoon performances.
1 young lady around the age of 15 to play Juliet on Saturday and Sunday afternoons only.
The show also seeks a stage manager who will understudy the role of Lord Capulet.

Merchant of Venice opens August 19th and runs through Sept 5th.

Again we're looking for a group of young guys and gals to understudy some big supporting roles and perform on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Anthony and Cleopatra comes soon after and has many parts still available

If you have any questions please email JaphyFernandes@live.com or call the theatre at 512 569 7435

To see some pictures and read about our history please search us on the web and visit our MySpace site.

Upcoming at Austin Drama Club: R&J, M of V, Mother C

Received directly:

Hello theatre fans,

We've been working hard on 3 productions at the same time. Here they are with their performance dates, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m.

Romeo and Juliet (April 15 - May 1) is a repertory production directed by Japhy Fernandes. Cast members coming back from the '07 production include Casey Allen as Romeo, Japhy Fernandes as Friar, Christopher Harris as Paris, and Aaron Lawhon as Benvolio. New cast members include Ashley Mcnerney as Juliet, Sabrina Taributton as the nurse, Java as Lord Capulet, Teddy Fernandes as Tybalt, Steven Brandt as Mercutio, Lakeva Greene as Page to Paris, and Sarah England as Lady Capulet. Ellen Fernandes does lights and sound.

Set in the present with modern costumes and dance...some live loud electric guitar rock and plenty of colored lights and a fog machine. A few things are changed in this updated version....Paris is bound to a wheel chair from the top of the show. Tybalt wears a dress to the ball. Someone else kills Juliet at the end. I call it our Kurt and Courtney version...all apologies.

Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (May 6 - 22). We did this gem back in '08 and gave it a 'Three is Company' sit-com type of feel. Set in modern times, and characters like Shylock and Antonio do their business on the raquetball court rather than on the Rialto. Portia and Nerrisa chew and twist gum around their fingers while choosing a husband with the choice of the right box. And then there is the famous courtroom scene. There was a man who recently flew a plane into an IRS building here in Austin -- in a final letter he made reference to this play when he told them that they would get their "pound of flesh...." You'd have to see the play to understand what he was getting at.

Returning from the original cast is director Japhy Fernandes who now takes the role of Shylock. Christopher Harris is back as Antonio, Casey Allen is back as Lorenzo. Making a triumphant return to the Austin Drama Club, Kevin Karwoski takes the role of Prince of Arogon/Duke. Sarah England (the witch from Macbeth) is our new Portia. Steven Brandt is our new Bassanio. Look for more new faces in this light hearted drama of a buisness/love deal gone bad.

Mother Courage by Bertolt Brecht (June 3 - 19). It's a new show for us and our 1st attempt at Brecht. Austin Drama Club legend Aaron Lawhon makes this his directing debut. More details about the cast and play are coming soon.

Also, we've done some work on our performance space to give audiences more leg room, softer seats, and better air flow, so visit us again. Remember, for all shows seating begins 7:30 p.m...shows start at 8 p.m. We do our best to seat any latecomers. BYOB. No concessions. Donations go in the jar marked "donations." Contact japhyfernandes@live.com for specific location, directions or any other questions.

Invitation: Austin Drama Club

Found on-line:

Austin Drama Club seeks actors, band and tech support for next 3 shows
Posted: March 11, 2010

Romeo and Juliet opens in mid April. Rehearsals have been going for a week now. The cast needs one gal to play the Page to Paris (in our version the Page is in love with Paris and pushes him everywhere in his wheel chair and gives Juliet dirty looks), the part has just a few lines. Rehearsals are 4 or 5 nights a week for the next 5 weeks.

Also in rehearsal now is Merchant of Venice. The cast needs 2 dudes who can handle a supporting role in a Shakespeare production. Bassanio (love interest to Portia) and Gratiano (hot head type of dude). The show goes up in May.

Mother Courage is re-cast and re- scheduled to open in June. It is still under the direction of Aaron Lawhon but with a new actress cast in the lead. We are looking at filling 2 parts. A female supporting role, and an actor who can play many small parts. ( great for an improv type actor)

We will work with un-trained, young, in experienced actors if they are willing to do 2 shows (One where you act and the other where you run lights or curtains or house manage).

As for the local skilled actors; we will do whatever possible to help you receive something extra for your time and effort.

We seek camera operators/ live edit directors for all these shows. (you'd be working older equipment but it is in good working order.) In exchange for running our camera/booth to record/live edit our shows we can trade time in our space to shoot your pilot.

We seek house band (can supply pro equipment sans keys and drums) to play a small set after shows. What we want is four dudes who can take small roles in our plays in exchange for a regular gig at 1030pm on Friday and Sat nights in April, May, and June. Also, we will provide some instruments and storage and a rehearsal space for the band (could be great for some guys who want to play shows downtown afterwards). For the sound we are wanting electric but not too loud, soft drums and a small easy set of jazz/blues/pop/Bongwater meets Nico.

Search us on the web to see pictures, videos, rehearsals, and reviews.
Contact us at Japhyfernandes@live.com or you can leave a message by phone 512 236 1092

Contact: Austin Drama Club Japhyfernandes@live.com 512-236-1092

[photo: Japhy Fernandes as Henry V, Austin Drama Club]

Romeo and Juliet, Austin Shakespeare in Zilker Park, May 7 - June 7

The Romeo and Juliet playing this month in Zilker Park is a perfect evening of summer Shakespeare. A play we all know, streamlined, given an apt and intriguing twist, with a production outdoors. The Sheffield Theatre is in fact just a stage situated below a bowl-shaped meadow. We the spectators are invited to sprawl on our blankets or bring our own folding chairs. The stage is wide, the players are amplified, and the full moon scales the sky as the plot unfolds.

Ann Ciccolella's concept is a nifty one. She situates the familiar story of love and family rivalry in a "Pachuco" setting in the 1940's. For example, the Capulets' party in Act II becomes Julieta's quinceañera, the traditional Latin American coming-of-age party recognizing with a girl's 15th birthday her new status as a woman. In a patriarchical culture, however, a girl ripe for marriage does not necessarily have the freedom to choose a husband. From that enduring and inevitable conflict the story of the star-cross'd lovers evolves.

Important to note, however: the director and company are not making West Side Story without music. There's no facile separation between Anglo Texans and Spanish-speaking Tejanos. Though the publicity mentions "Central Texas," there's not a cowboy in sight. These are rival families of Mexican aristocrats, bristling at one another in the small world of a Mexican town.

Read More at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Romeo and Juliet, Austin Shakespeare in Zilker Park, May 7 - June 7

UPDATE: ALT review of May 10




Posted by Austin Shakespeare on April 26:

Romeo and Juliet

For the 24th year, Austin Shakespeare brings FREE Shakespeare to Zilker Park. From May 7 to June 7 we present Shakespeare’s most popular play with a new twist: Romeo & Juliet features Shakespeare’s own text, including some Spanish language!

Set in Central Texas in the 1940’s, this production boasts a Central Texas setting with a Mexican-American flavor. This is the timeless story of two young people who fall in love, but whose families have hated one another for so long that they no longer remember the reason.

"This new approach to Romeo and Juliet relishes the beautiful story, exciting characters and thrilling language framed within the Mexican-American culture of South Central Texas," said Artistic Director Ann Ciccolella, who is staging the outdoor production. "We have a cast filled with actors who are dynamic, funny and make Shakespeare totally understandable--even in Spanish."

WHEN: May 7 - June 7, Thursday - Sunday at 8:00PM; special Mother's Day matinee at 2PM (no evening performance); special preview Wednesday May 6.
WHERE: The Sheffield Hillside Theatre at Zilker Park (across the parking lot from Barton Springs pool)

Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Auditions: Romeo and Juliet, Austin Shakespeare, March 15 - 16

UPDATE: Click for ALT review of Romeo and Juliet, May 10



From the website:

Austin Shakespeare will be auditioning actors for the Spring production of Romeo and Juliet on Sunday, March 15, from 1 - 4 pm at Salvage Vanguard Theatre, 2803 Manor Rd. and Monday, March 16, at the ACoT offices at 701 Tillery.

To schedule an appointment time, please contact auditions@austinshakespeare.org.

Set in 1940s South Texas in the Pachuco culture sweeping the Southwest at the time, with some Spanish language as well as Shakespeare's own verse, this version of Romeo and Juliet will be performed at The Sheffield Hillside Theatre at Zilker Park from Thursday May 7 until Sunday June 7. Rehearsals will start April 7.

Actors of all ethnic backgrounds are encouraged to audition. Spanish language skills are a plus, but not required.

Auditioners are asked to prepare a 1-2 minute piece from Romeo and Juliet or another Shakespeare play. The piece may be memorized or read but you should be familiar with the text. There will be a free audition workshop at the Sri Atmananda School at 41st St. & Red River on Thursday March 5th and again on Thursday March 12th, from 4 - 6 pm. Actors are encouraged to read Ann Ciccolella's Advice to the Players: Tips on Auditioning.

Romeo and Juliet, Sam Bass Community Theatre, Round Rock, September 19 - October 11

The Romeo and Juliet now playing at the Sam Bass Community Theatre in Round Rock is a slim, silvery production that clocks in at just about two hours.

Thanks to director Lynn Beaver for taking on the challenge of doing tragedy with this group of dedicated community players, many of whom have taken on multiple management roles to keep this theatre vital. Housed in a simple structure that once served as a Union Pacific depot for the town, the SBTC has been active since the 1970s, operating on the shoestring provided by volunteers, modest business sponsorship and grants such as the $5000 that the Union Pacific provided recently for fixing up the structure.

Director Beaver chose a text prepared and adapted in 2004 by David Hundsness. This is no Reader’s Digest edition. The adapter did a scrupulous, ethical job of fileting the original text, preserving the story line and the essentials of the characters. Almost all of the most memorable lines of verse were retained.

Purists would certainly object to his reducing the text by 30 to 40 percent, adroitly stitching together scenes while adhering to original texts and crafting both a brief marriage scene in Friar Laurence’s chambers and a funeral for Juliet. But none of this diminishes a whit the power of Shakespeare’s language or plot. The adaptation is directly in the centuries-old tradition of moving the bard to the audience.

The company’s effort is all the more laudable because director and actors have paid a great deal of attention to the meaning and syntax of the text as used. Without the brilliant verbosity and extra incident so familiar to readers and playgoers, the actors surprise us with the nuance and directness of Shakespeare’s dialogues.

And the pauses! This cast shows us their feelings and evolving thoughts by using pauses for thought and silent communication, an art all too rare among actors playing the unabridged texts.

Trey Deason as Romeo and CiCi Barone as Juliet are perfectly cast. He joins the awkward angularity of a boy who is almost a man with the moody focus, resolution and edge of desperation of a man wrestling with an impossible love. CiCi Barone moves from sweet simplicity in early scenes to a teasing self-confidence with her suitor Romeo; dismay with her father’s decision to marry her off estranges her from mother and nurse. They see her as a petulant child; Barone’s command of Shakespeare’s text makes it clear to us that she has made choices that determine her destiny.

The company locates the action in an imagined contemporary Verona that is closer to Venice, California. The Montague clan wear black and a junior member enters on a skateboard; Capulets, probably from the better side of the tracks, wear white. This easy color coding may help younger audiences and does not obstruct the action.

It does provide a potential difficulty at the Capulet party, where the unwelcome Montagues could hardly be disguised by masks, but we can forgive that. Old Capulet (the gallant and nattily clad Richard Dodwell) is affable enough to overlook a bit of riffraff on the periphery of his party.

Special recognition to some of my other favorites:

Errich Peterson as Benvolio, Romeo’s companion, delivers himself as the voice of reason and counsel. He speaks well and is always an impressive presence.
















Deletions in the Hundsness text greatly reduce the role of Juliet’s nurse in exposition and comedy. Hundsness elimates, for example, her lengthy, mawkish tales of Juliet’s upbringing and her lamentation at having only four teeth left in her mouth. Even so, Susan Poe Dickson’s characterization is a gift to us. Instead of a crone, we enjoy a hopeful matchmaker, almost an older sister to Juliet. She sparkles with anticipation of successful romance, teases Juliet to distraction by withholding news of Friar Laurence’s marriage scheme, and becomes distract when calamities begin to pile up. In the original there is much rushing around and consternation after Juliet is found lifeless in her bed; in the Hundsness adaptation all of that is replaced as a smiling Dickson comes to awaken her charge, realizes the situation and cries out, in anguish, “Juliet!!”

Some casting decisions may have been affected by the availability in this group of female talent. The casting of Amy Lewis as Mercutio provides an unexpected bonus and possibilities. Like any Mercutio she is larger than life, full of humors and quarrelsomeness. But her role as the third wheel while Benvolio seeks to distract Romeo from the stand-offish Rosaline gives extra bite to her mockery of lovers’ dreams of Queen Mab and her dissolute carousing. Mercutio is pulpy, good-looking but not pretty-pretty, but she is completely ignored by Romeo. We can speculate at a back story here.

In this streamlined version the role of Friar Lawrence (Andy Brown) is necessarily more prominent. At crucial moments in the staging, including at the wedding and the funeral, he looms center stage in his distinctive purple shirt and clerical collar. Brown plays the friar as direct and matter-of-fact, rather than as the well-intentioned fumbler often seen. In this version, there is no plague to delay the transport of his letters to Romeo; rather, his messenger simply fails to deliver. Though Hundsness cut Lawrence’s recounting in the final scene of actions gone awry, the director restores enough of it to provide closure and to provide the good friar a moment of confession.

In the final scene the black-white dichotomy of Montague vs. Capulet breaks down. Costuming reinforces the message of reconciliation.

This was an intimate setting for a favorite play. The approachable presentation was accompanied by a warm and personable greeting afterwards, when the cast made it more special still by lining up outside to greet the departing audience members.

Shakespeare at Winedale --R&J and A&C

We drove out from Austin on Friday afternoon along route 71 as if we were headed for Houston, but we stopped 70 miles out at La Grange to check in to our undistinguished motel room. Then we ate a fine and inexpensive “early bird” dinner at the Bistro 108, at the southwest corner of Courthouse Square. From there, it was a 16-mile drive through rolling green hills with forest and farmland, a dog-leg right at Round Top, and then five more country miles to the Center for American History, a University of Texas institution set up through the philanthropy of Miss Ima Hogg. Every summer since 1970, following Miss Ima’s suggestion to UT professor “Doc” Ayers, university students have gathered in short-lived summer repertory to study and perform Shakespeare in the converted 1880s hay barn on the 270-acre property. This setting evokes the “green world” of Shakespeare’s middle comedies, where magic was possible and adventures turned out merrily.

None of this year’s three plays is so light hearted. The company of 16 players is presenting Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, and The Merchant of Venice over four weekends in July and August. They travel after that, taking the Merchant to Dallas and R&J to the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. They wind up their company on August 25 in another “green world” -- the Blackfriars Theatre of the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia.

Most of the players come from UT, where they are studying theatre, English, history, corporate communications, government, Italian, and philosophy. Two are from the UK’s University of Bristol and its highly reputed school of theatre, film and television.

This is no world for the idle. The three plays are presented in rolling repertory, Thursday evening through Sunday evening, with matinees on Saturday and Sunday. That means that in six weeks or less, the actors analyze, assimilate, memorize and learn to interpret challenging Shakespearean texts that run, cumulatively, between seven and eight hours. An actor assigned a leading role in one piece typically becomes a spear-carrier in the next and handles a supporting role in the third.
The intensity of this engagement must make the six-credit course “Shakespeare at Winedale” one of the most memorable events of an education. This esprit de corps is reflected in the theatre’s vestibule, with a collection of photos from past seasons, as well as in the composition of the audience, where the choicest seats have been reserved for alumni, benefactors, and donors. Those of us who were casual attendees, the equivalent of groundlings, settled in the back rows, along obstructed sightlines, and in rows almost outside the barn itself. The barn’s maximum occupancy is 246, and both of our shows were full.



Seeing two of the plays within 24 hours, as we did, creates a one-sided intimacy for the spectator. After living through Romeo and Juliet with this handsome group of young people, one comes back the next day to Antony and Cleopatra with a sense of familiarity with the actors, as if the earlier experience had been shared instead of simply witnessed. This is not the casual recognition one finds for television faces or cinema actors. Cast and public concentrate on Shakespeare’s language as it flies through the summer spaces of that old hay barn. The immediacy of live theatre and our propinquity to the action elevate us all.

With this production I rediscovered Romeo and Juliet. Yes, we all studied it years ago in high school, and later many of us were beguiled by Franco Zeferelli’s movie version, which was decidedly light on language. I do not recall seeing a live production of this play in decades, if ever, and the cast made the familiar language fresh and new. Antony and Cleopatra is far less familiar and a more rumbustious play. That performance kept us riveted not only for the language, but also for the plot.

There is so much to say in each performance, and so much to do! Often, the energy was boundless and movement was constant. And there, forsooth, my first gentle comment:

Shakespeare requires thought.

Pauses.

A moment, for the character, for the dawning of an idea.

And consider:

silence, brief, but full of meaning, allows segue.

A complicated concept, fretted with images, should not immediately, without breath, blow up like fireworks into another.

The need for pauses and pacing is particularly true in the opening passages of Shakespeare, during which a 21st century audience is recalibrating its ears by 400 years. The thundering of the iambic pentameter early in Romeo and Juliet left us a bit agog, trying to distinguish between Montagues and Capulets, and it was not until Kate Attwell opened her balcony window to the night that the play could catch its breath. Her language was superb, each word motivated, sounding spontaneous, playful and unhurried.

As with language, so with action; at times, actors flung themselves into motion far quicker than thought. This was minor but perceptible, lending the moment a touch of farce (most evident with the unhappy servant bringing Cleopatra bad news).

Touching once again on pacing: director Loehlin and Colin Bjork as Mark Antony chose to reveal Antony’s desperation and growing disorientation by driving him into ever more intensity. In acts IV and V as his armed forces fail, his personal forces flame white hot. Though valid, this interpretation is difficult and dangerous. One disadvantage was that the frantic energy of Antony set the audience forward to the edge of its seats over a long period. Tension must seek its release; and the unexpected sight of soldiers lifting the agonizing Antony from his bier to women’s arms stretched down from the balcony brought a sudden, inappropriate bark of laughter from the audience.

I love Shakespeare’s language, and I love to hear it spoken clearly, precisely, and with meaning. For that reason, of this cast I express special appreciation to:


Paul Anderson, as Friar Laurence in R&J and as the warrior Scarus, follower of Antony, in R&J. Every word struck the mark. A pause for thought from time to time might have seasoned them further.













Kate Atwell as Juliet in R&J and successively, in brief appearances in A&C, as various spear carriers.
















Kelsey Heaton, immediately remarkable in her language in the very minor clownish role of the servant Peter in R&J; regal, vigorous, precise, articulate and fully realized as Cleopatra.














Cate Blouke, with presence and equal assurance of language seen as Romeo’s supporter Balthazar in R&J and as Cleopatra’s confidante Charmian in A&C.














Performing in a space like that of the Globe, the actors have full license to speak directly to the audience and to acknowledge the presence of spectators. This company almost never did so. Most soliloquies were delivered to middle distance, to somewhere two or three feet above the heads of the public. Mercutio did have a bit of business in which he handed his bottle to the front row. The only real exception to this tacit “fourth-wall” convention was Daniel Rigney as Enobarbus. He sought out eye contact and worked the crowd, gaining our sympathy and giving a great additional boost to his role as confidant, conscience and commentator.

Other central characterizations for these two plays:

Jesse Bertron as Romeo, seen here as he first meets Juliet. His Romeo is intense, inward looking, and at times almost truculent. There is no playfulness to him, much to the disappointment of Mercutio, as he seeks in Juliet a simplicity and purity.













Colin Bjork as Marc Antony is tall, strong, and self-assured, an actor whose stage presence convinces us that Antony is both the dominant member of Rome’s Triumvirate and an equal to Cleopatra – no modest accomplishment, paired with the impressive Kelsey Heaton.













In closing, a groundling’s plaint: for R&J we arrived early and nabbed second-row seats to the right of the stage. The disadvantages of architecture seemed worth putting up with – one could see around the beam at stage’s edge by leaning six inches one way or another. Hah! The more fools we.

For much of the action we were indeed thrillingly close. For example, hiding from Mercutio and drunken friends, Romeo kept the beam between him and them, looming over us spectators.

But then – in future, would the director please consider the groundlings and their sight lines when disposing the secondary actors about the stage? Several times cast members planted themselves with their backs to the beam, when they might easily have been moved upstage. The most egregious of these occasions was the climax of R&J, as the dead and dying lovers were discovered stage center by their families. The black-caped watchman who had led the search, with nothing further to say, was posted at the post. His figure blocked the sublime finale.



[ Shakespeare at Winedale continues for a third weekend at Winedale (July 31 – August 3) and a final fourth weekend (August 7 – August 10). Tickets are $10 general admission and $5 for UT students. Buy them on line here and get there early; the cast reserves central seats for those related to the program, and others fill in around them. Although ticket delivery begins only one hour before the performance, the barn is not closed off before that time. Once the reserved seats are tabbed, you can settle down to wait.]