Shakespeare Spring '08

U of I Department of Theatre Leads Community-wide Shakespeare Spring

Throughout spring 2008, area theatres will explore Shakespeare’s plays in the contemporary world. In reversals of gender, altered contexts, and with music and imaginative scenecraft, these productions will celebrate the language and ideas in Shakespeare’s classics while considering how they speak to the 21st century. Performances, lectures, and discussions will be offered throughout the spring semester at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, the McKinley Foundation, Parkland College Theatre, University Laboratory High School, the Channing-Murray Foundation, and the Station Theatre.

Tom Mitchell, interim head of the U of I Department of Theatre, has been working collaboratively with his academic colleagues and community counterparts to plan a full-spectrum Shakespearean experience that he hopes will give both seasoned Shakespeare enthusiasts and relative newcomers to the Bard an ideal forum for exploring the many facets of producing, performing, and enjoying these great works. Mitchell states, “This focus on Shakespeare presents an opportunity to see the variety of theatrical experiences available in the community. We're lucky to have so much going on. We’ve got high school, college, and community actors all performing in great plays. I'm also looking forward to the fresh and irreverent approaches in some of the productions.”

Visitors to Krannert Center will also be able to indulge in all things Shakespeare by visiting The Promenade gift shop where, among other Elizabethan novelties, they can find After Shakespeare Mints and William Shakespeare action figures. Krannert Uncorked, offered almost every Thursday at 5pm in the lobby, will also feature Shakespeare-inspired wine selections this semester. Details and a full schedule of events follow and can also be found at KrannertCenter.com/Shakespeare.

Shakespeare Spring Schedule of Events

Merchant of Venice
February 21-23
What You Will Shakespeare Company
McKinley Foundation, Westminster Hall, 809 South Fifth Street, Champaign
Tickets $ (at the door)
whatyouwillshakes@gmail.com

Henry IV, Part 1
February 28-March 1 and March 6-9
University of Illinois Department of Theatre
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
Colwell Playhouse, 500 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana
Shakespeare’s history of King Henry Bolingbroke, his son Hal, rival Hotspur, and the amoral John Falstaff is one of the playwright’s most masculine plays. The troubled relationship of father and son, the rivalry of soldiers, and the camaraderie of mates are at the heart of this history play. In this brave production, by guest director Norma Saldivar, a talented cast of young women warriors explores those themes from a female perspective.
Tickets (recommended in advance) $8 to $15
KrannertCenter.com

All’s Well That Ends Well
February 29 & March 1
What You Will Shakespeare Company
McKinley Foundation, Westminster Hall, 809 South Fifth Street, Champaign
Tickets $ (at the door)
whatyouwillshakes@gmail.com

The Shakespeare Stealer—A Reading
Sunday, March 2 at 3pm

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
Colwell Playhouse, 500 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana
Based upon the popular novels for young readers, The Shakespeare Stealer is the story of 14 year old Widge who has very little going for him: no family, no real name, but he can write shorthand and that is a very valuable asset to the man who wants to steal William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. In those days, there was only one copy of the play script, and that was jealously guarded at the Globe Theatre, London, by Shakespeare’s company of players.
Free (no ticket required)
KrannertCenter.com

Talk with the Author, Gary Blackwood, following The Shakespeare Stealer
Sunday, March 2 at 3pm
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
Colwell Playhouse, 500 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana
Gary Blackwood, author of The Shakespeare Stealer, Shakespeare’s Spy, and Shakespeare’s Scribe, as well as many other books for young readers, responds to audience questions about his play and his career.
Free (no ticket required)
KrannertCenter.com

Directing Shakespeare in the Twenty-first Century
Monday, March 3, at 1:30pm
by Dr. Charles Ney
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
Colwell Playhouse, 500 South Goodwin, Urbana
Dr. Charles Ney, Texas State University-San Marcos, presents an overview of his extensive interviews of leading American directors of Shakespeare. Professor Ney, an alumnus of the University of Illinois, has also directed Shakespeare in several of the leading Shakespearean festivals in the country.
Free (no ticket required)
KrannertCenter.com

Directors Discuss Shakespeare
Monday, March 3, at 3pm
with Henson Keys, Robert Anderson, and Robin McFarquhar
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
Colwell Playhouse, 500 South Goodwin, Urbana
Department of Theatre faculty directors discuss their approaches to directing Shakespeare in recent productions, such as Shakespeare’s R & J, Henry IV, and Measure for Measure, and in careers immersed in staging Shakespearean works.
Free (no ticket required)
KrannertCenter.com

Lighting Shakespeare’s Plays
Tuesday, March 4, at 1:30pm
by Robert Graves, Dean of the College of Fine & Applied Arts
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
Colwell Playhouse, 500 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana
Dean Robert Graves presents background on the original productions of Shakespeare’s plays. In particular, Graves examines the effect of available lighting technology on production of the plays.
Free (no ticket required)
KrannertCenter.com

Measure for Measure
March 27-29 and April 2-6
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
Studio Theatre, 500 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana
What would happen if a national leader suddenly gave authority to his second-in-command to walk the streets and find out what his country is really like? Would that leader begin to see the ramifications of his laws? The true mettle of his advisors? His own hypocrisy? Wicked, raw, and tender, Shakespeare’s comedy questions the legislation of morality and the morality of legislators. Robert Anderson directs.
Tickets (recommended in advance) $8 to $15
KrannertCenter.com

Return to the Forbidden Planet (A Musical
Update of Shakespeare’s The Tempest)
April 2-5, 11-13, 17-19
Parkland College Theatre
2400 West Bradley Avenue, Champaign
5. . . 4. . . 3. . . 2 . . .1. . .Blast off with Captain Tempest and his courageous crew as the Starship Albatross is drawn to the mysterious planet D’Illyria, where a sci-fi version of The Tempest, set to some of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll hits of the 50s and 60s unfolds! Once marooned, the crew encounters a mad scientist, Doctor Prospero; his faithful robot, Ariel; and his lovely daughter, Miranda, who has never seen another man. A high-energy tale of unrequited love, madness, secret formulas, and space monsters with such classic tunes as Great Balls of Fire, Good Vibrations, Teenager in Love, and Shake, Rattle and Roll!
Tickets $ (reservations recommended in advance)
217-351-2528
www.parkland.edu/theatre

Much Ado About Nothing
April 3, 4, & 5
University Laboratory High School
North Attic Theatre, 1212 W. Springfield Avenue, Urbana
217-333-2879

Hamlet
April 4 & 5
What You Will Shakespeare Company
Channing-Murray Foundation, 1209 West Oregon, Urbana
Tickets $ (at the door)
whatyouwillshakes@gmail.com

The Bomb-itty of Errors (Hip-Hop
Comedy of Errors)
April 17- May 3
The Station Theatre
223 N. Broadway, Urbana
Bomb-itty revolves around a series of mishaps that occur when a quartet of birth twins are separated early in life and then serendipitously joined together years later. One pair of siblings, Antipholus and Dromio, is unaware that their identical counterparts (who also happen to be named Antipholus and Dromio) are residing in the city of their travels (Ephesus), and pandemonium ensues.
Tickets $ (reservations recommended in advance)
217-384-4000
www.stationtheatre.com/reserve.html