American Shakespeare Center

Staunton, Virginia

American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia, operates the world's only re-creation of Shakespeare's indoor theater, the Blackfriars Playhouse. The company's theater, educational activities, and efforts to show Shakespeare in this natural habitat have earned national and international prominence. American Shakespeare Center's mission is to recover the joys and accessibility of Shakespeare's theater, language, and humanity by exploring the English Renaissance stage and its practices through performance and education, which is accomplished presenting his works under their original performance conditions. These conditions include thrust staging, universal lighting, emphasis on the language rather than effects, actors playing multiple roles, and a commitment to high-energy, fast-paced shows. Secondly, the company's mission is to educate people of all ages and backgrounds about the accessibility of Shakespeare's language and the universality of his vision. American Shakespeare Center offers performances, workshops, lectures, demonstrations, seminars, teacher training, and college coursework. Lastly, the American Shakespeare Center offers three to five plays running simultaneously using only one cast. Since opening the Blackfriars Playhouse in 2001, the company has entertained more than 250,000 playgoers from all 50 states and several foreign countries; offered 360 performances per year; produced more than 32 Shakespeare plays and 17 works by other playwrights; and educated more than 50,000 school children through its signature learning experiences.

American Shakespeare Center will provide free performances and educational activities for at least ten underserved schools throughout the East Coast and Midwest via its touring arm–the most active Shakespeare touring troupe in the nation–and its resident troupe in Staunton, Virginia. Over the past 20 years, American Shakespeare on Tour has visited 48 states and five countries, “blowing the cobwebs out of Shakespeare,” as one critic put it, for 50,000 people a year. At the Blackfriars Playhouse, in itself an educational venue because it is the world's only re-creation of Shakespeare's indoor playhouse, the company serves 75,000 playgoers a year. 2008–2009 will feature full-length productions of Hamlet and The Comedy of Errors. Both shows run approximately two hours, and a 90-minute version of The Comedy of Errors will also be offered. American Shakespeare Center presents workshops, lectures, and talk-back sessions at all venues. In addition to title-specific workshops, participatory workshops ranging from acting and auditioning to stage combat and leadership will be provided. Workshops are designed by American Shakespeare Center co-founder Dr. Ralph Cohen, a noted Shakespeare scholar and frequent guest lecturer at Shakespeare's Globe in London . Workshops are tailored to the audience's education level, ranging from elementary school to post-graduate, and teachers choose the workshop they would like their students to see. The ensemble performs under conditions closely approximating those for which Shakespeare originally wrote. The result is early modern theater that is both “uncommonly understandable” (The Philadelphia Inquirer) and “shamelessly entertaining” (The Washington Post).

Visit them at: www.americanshakespearecenter.com