Shakespeare on Stage
English 378 (Cross-listed as Theater 378)
6/19-7/14 2006
5:50-8:00pm M-F
STV 101 and often meeting at
Ewing Manor
Bill McBride Associate Professor of English
Course Number: ENG 378 Office: STV 336
Credit Hours: 3 Office Hours: T&W 4:30-5:30p
Meeting Times: 5:50-8p M-F Telephone: 438-7998
Building/Room: STV 101or Ewing E-mail Me
Required Texts
Any text is acceptable as long as you have a hardcopy on hand or e-text on lap in class. Here they are on-line: http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/works.html
I've ordered the following editions from the bookstores:
Comedy of Errors [1594]
•
Pelican
• ISBN: 014071474X
Julius Caesar [1599]
•
New Folger Library
• ISBN: 0743484932
Pericles
[1607]
•
New Folger Library
• ISBN: 074327329X
Illinois Shakespeare Festival Web Site
Secondary Texts:
Plutarch's Lives available on-line: http://www.gutenberg.org
Description
We will follow the plays from late rehearsal into opening night, paying special attention to the multiple ways of constructing meaning in the theater and also to the ways in which the rehearsal process is an interpretive field governed by a series of choices which a director and company attempt to coordinate, in constructing a performance of a text which is already overdetermined by its own history.
Each member of the class will adopt a perspective on the interpretive process which engages the theatricality of the play in its critique. Thus actors and directors are important sources, and attendance at rehearsals and previews is required.
Format
The class meets five nights a week (to be negotiated) for four weeks, sometimes in the theater, sometimes informally with the directors. Three weekly web postings (350 word minimum) after Thursday's class due Sunday midnight. A rehearsal notebook is required, with at least 4 afternoon rehearsals (6 days a week) and 4 others before previews. The papers focus on aspects of production as situated within critical and theoretical debates, 15 page minimum. Pedagogical papers for secondary teachers are always encouraged. Final papers are due
Grading Equation
Class Participation: 15 points
3 Electronic Postings: (5 points each) 15 points
Rehearsal Notebooks: 15 points
Presentation: 20 points
Final Paper: 35 points
Announcing the 29th Season
from The Spring The Bard’s Gazette The Illinois Shakespeare Festival
The Illinois Shakespeare Festival is preparing for
another great season at Ewing Manor! This
summer features a tour of the Mediterranean with
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Pericles, and The
Comedy of Errors.
Pericles-Pericles is the ancient tale of the Prince
of Tyre, who travels the earth encountering love,
loss, and a terrible secret. One of the Bard’s most
adventurous works, Pericles is set in a world of
assassins, pirates, and the dead coming back to life.
The play extols some favorite Shakespearean
themes: the evil are punished, the virtuous find
redemption, and fortune rules the day. Written late
in Shakespeare’s career, Pericles was last produced
by the Festival in 1993. Henry Woronicz, former
artistic director of the esteemed Oregon
Shakespeare Festival, directs Pericles.
The Comedy of Errors-While mistaken identity
is a regular occurrence in Shakespeare's comedies,
it is multiplied twofold in The Comedy of
Errors. Twin brothers Antipholus of Syracuse and
Antipholus of Ephesus, who were separated in a
shipwreck twenty-five years earlier, are on a search
to reunite their family. In his travels, the brother
from Syracuse stumbles upon the other brother’s
life in Ephesus. Not only are these twin brothers
identical, they also have identical twin servants
both named Dromio. Comic chaos ensues when
they both arrive unaware in the same town to the
utter confusion of Antipholus of Ephesus's
wife Adriana and her sister Lucinda. The Festival
welcomes director Charles Ney, formerly the
artistic director of Idaho Repertory Theatre, who
promises to reveal the absurd in what is often
viewed as ordinary and conventional.
Julius Caesar- Julius Caesar follows the rise and
fall of Rome’s greatest warrior and first dictator.
But the play also follows the decision of Brutus,
Caesar’s great supporter and friend, to assassinate
him. The responsibilities of political power and the
moral consequences of political murder are tautly
examined in this great tragedy. Staged by Illinois
State University’s Debbie Alley, the play still
resonates with its passionate arguments and its
political warnings.
Henry Woronicz spent 11 seasons at the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival as a resident
actor and director and served as Artistic
Director from 1991 - 1995. His regional
work as an actor and director includes
Delaware Theatre Company, American
Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory
Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, The
Shakespeare Theatre, Center Stage,
Meadow Brook Theatre, Indiana Repertory
Theatre, Syracuse Stage, The New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Utah, and Alabama
Shakespeare Festivals, and The Boston
Shakespeare Company. Television work
includes “Seinfeld”, “Ally McBeal”,
“Cheers”, “Pickett Fences”, “Third
Watch”, “Star Trek”, and “Law & Order”.
From Henry Woronicz: “I'm very excited
to be directing Pericles for the Illinois
Shakespeare Festival this season. Pericles
is a play that I have acted in once before,
but that I've never had an opportunity to
direct; and I'm grateful to Cal MacLean for
the chance to work at the Festival on this
fascinating play. We've assembled a
terrific cast and a wonderful design team,
and I'm very pleased with our work to date
in bringing this challenging and seldom
performed play to ISF audiences.”
Charles Ney:
“Last fall I directed the world premiere of
Romulus Linney’s Going After Cacciato,
based on the award-winning novel by
Tim O’Brien. I’ve also directed at Idaho
Repertory Theatre, Texas Shakespeare,
Theatre Austin, Mary Moody Northen
Theatre, and Zachary Scott Theatre
Center. Past credits include founding
artistic director at Manhattan Clearing
House Contemporary Performing Arts
Center and producing artistic director of
Idaho Repertory Theatre. My article,
“Force of Will,” on the current artistic
direction of Shakespeare production in
the U.S. appeared in American Theatre
last year. Currently I’m working on a
book, Directing Shakespeare in America:
Early 21st Century Perspectives. I teach
acting and directing at Texas State
University where I also serve as head of
acting.
“My interest in ISF comes from attending
several seasons’ productions and talking
with members of the company. I like the
outdoor facility a lot. Its sleek
contemporary update of an Elizabethan
theatre is a clever mixture of new and old.
Its quaint setting on the grounds of Ewing
Manor is charming and unusual for
downstate Illinois. The facility is one of
the newest in the country, built the same
year as Chicago Shakespeare’s facility on
Navy Pier.
“Through the years that I’ve known him,
artistic director Cal MacLean has
impressed me with his careful attention to
the development of the Festival in all
aspects. His vision of a supportive
collaborative working environment with
high standards is evident in the work and
company. Everyone with whom he works
speaks highly of him and warmly regards
him—a testament to his outstanding
leadership.
“The Comedy of Errors promises to be
zany, wacky fun. Set on a Caribbean like
island around 1800, a multi-cultural stew of
European, African, and Native influences.
Really a situation comedy with elements of
farce, this production starts with a big
‘error’ that continues to snowball into a
finale that is full of surprises. Fun for all
ages.”
Debbie Alley has worked for the Illinois
Shakespeare Festival six times in the past
ten years, as Production Manager, Stage
Manager, and Company Manager but is
delighted to make an appearance this
summer in a new role, as director of Julius
Caesar. Ms. Alley has worked in
professional theatre for over 25 years. She
was co-founder and Managing Director of a
professional theatre in Columbus, Ohio;
served as the Director of Children’s Theatre
at Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse; and was
stage manager on three national tours. She
has directed productions in Chicago (and
received a “best show” nomination for her
production of Pippin). Her regional credits
include shows as varied as Othello, My Fair
Lady, The Rivals, Caucasian Chalk Circle,
Cabaret, Pride’s Crossing, The Skriker, and
The Arkansas Bear. In the fall, Ms. Alley
directed the world premiere of Nancy Van
de Vate’s one-act opera, Where the Cross is
Made. Ms. Alley currently teaches stage
management and directing at Illinois State
University.