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Brown Bag Thursdays: April 1
Over the past 26 years, Ed Gero has performed over 80 roles, 60 of them at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. He has received four Helen Hayes awards and an additional nine nominations—this year he is nominated for his performance as Gloucester in King Lear. In addition to his work on the stage, he also works offstage with the next generation of actors at George Mason University, where he is a member of the faculty, and as a guest instructor at the University of Maryland's Opera Studio and the Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University. Ed Gero can do it all. However, he hasn't tackled a singing role in 20 years. Very early in his career, starting in 7th grade, he played Baron von Trapp in an adaptation of The Sound of Music, followed by high school appearances in Oklahoma! and South Pacific. Ed made his Signature debut in 2002 in the premiere of John Strand's drama The Diaries. Now he's back and this time he singing one of Sondheim's most challenging roles, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street! You will definitely want to be in the Signature lobby for lunch and conversation on Thursday, April 1 (and we're not fooling!), when Ed Gero chronicles his journey from Shakespeare to Sondheim. For tickets to Sweeney Todd, click here.
Page to Stage Mondays: April 5
[title of show] is a musical about two nobodies named Hunter and Jeff who decide to write a completely original musical starring themselves and their attractive and talented lady-friends, Susan and Heidi. Jeff Bowen, composer and lyricist, and Hunter Bell, book writer, chronicle their real-life struggle to complete the show in three and half weeks in order to enter the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Their musical was indeed first seen at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2004 and began an off-Broadway run in 2006. In 2008, it previewed at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre and ran for 102 performances. The writer-stars as well as the director all won Obie Awards, and Bell was nominated for a Tony Award. [title of show] has since become a post-modern work-in-progress, with updates and changes to each new production reflecting the circumstances that the individual cast and show have experienced. Matt Gardiner will lead his cast in a candid discussion about their version of [title of show]. Erin Driscoll, currently playing Johanna in Sweeney and was the featured artist at the February 1st Page to Stage Monday, appears with her real-life fiancé James Gardiner, brother of director Matt. (These dynamics are every bit as theatrical as the musical!) Joining Matt, Erin, and James in [title of show] are Signature regular Sam Ludwig, who also is in the cast of Sweeney with Erin, and Jenna Sokolowski, who was last seen at Signature in Urinetown, for which she and Erin both received Helen Hayes Awards for their performances in the show. This cast is very well inter-connected! Be on hand Monday, April 5, to delve into the multi-layered collaboration between the cast and director of Signature's production of [title of show]. For tickets to [title of show], click here.
Shakespeare Revisited: A Short Bibliography Call the Signature Box Office for reservations at 703-820-9771.
IN PLAYS The Beard of Avon This brilliantly irreverent comedy questions the authorship of Shakespeare's plays through farce and bawdy detail. Freed nominates candidates from English aristocrats up to Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen. William Shakespeare is portrayed as a country bumpkin who writes poems to rats and longs to escape his shrewish wife and the country village of Stratford. After seeing an acting troupe perform, he runs away to London only to become the abused front man—or "beard"—for the Earl of Oxford. An unlikely collaboration ensues, one that will change the face of theatre forever. A Cry of Players A Cry of Players is William Gibson's fictionalized creation of Shakespeare's life as a young man in Stratford. In the original Broadway performance, Frank Langella and Anne Bancroft starred as Will and Anne. Gibson presents Will as the high-spirited, strong-willed husband of the older Anne and the father of three children. Despite his love for his wife, he dallied with the town tarts and lackadaisical poachers. But when a troupe of traveling actors arrived, the poetry of the stage became a siren cry in his ears. Even though Will is not explicitly identified as Shakespeare, Gibson does not attempt to disguise the identity of the callow, impulsive young Will with an articulate, impudent tongue as the immortal Bard. IN BOOKS Nothing Like the Sun Anthony Burgess (A Clockwork Orange) delves into Shakespeare's mind in this magnificently bawdy romp. The hero, only identified as WS, is a cuckold trapped in a loveless marriage while burning with a desire for the "dark lady", a haunting muse who would inspire him to write some of the greatest words ever written. My Name is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare The co-founder of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, Jess Winfield, has constructed a dual narrative with bawdy puns, incidental coincidences, flagrant irreverence, and outlandish humor. My Name is Will is the story of two young men who share the name of William Shakespeare. In the first tale, graduate student William Shakespeare Greenburg attempts to prove his hastily constructed thesis that Shakespeare was a closet Catholic. In the second tale, a young playwright, still experimenting with his love of words, and his even greater love of women, agrees to deliver a secret package to a Catholic dissident. On these disparate but linked journeys, the boys encounter threats that they must face as men with bravery and humor. IN FILM Shakespeare in Love Does art mimic life, or does life mimic art? One of the premier playwrights of our times, Tom Stoppard, answers this question with the help of actors Joseph Fiennes and Gwenyth Paltrow. Paltrow landed the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Shakespeare's muse. In this Oscar-winning Best Picture, a young William Shakespeare struggles to write "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter," when unbeknownst to him, he casts a young noble woman, Viola de Lesseps, as Romeo. Upon discovering her true identity, Will and Viola begin a forbidden love affair, which inspires much of what becomes Romeo and Juliet. Celebrate Shakespeare with Signature in the School's performance of Shakespeare, Will. In its fifteenth year, Signature in the Schools is renowned for producing world premiere plays that introduce high school actors and crews to professional theater. Each year, students from Wakefield High School are guided by professional artists as they embark upon an intensive rehearsal process that culminates in a world premiere production. A special private Opening Night performance of Shakespeare, Will take place on Monday March 8 for funders of the program only. Please call (571) 527-1828 to make your contribution and attend this performance and reception. A free public performance will take place on Monday March 15 at 7:30 pm in the MAX Theatre. Please call the box office for reservations at 703 820 9771.
The Signature School Welcomes Judy Simmons & The Art of Cabaret!
Judy Simmons is the perfect instructor for anyone who wants to learn more about the special art of cabaret. Her course, The Art of Cabaret, affords participants the opportunity to bring their ideas and songs and develop their own cabaret under Judy's experienced guidance. The final session previews the participants' material in a cabaret performance in Signature's lobby. THE ART OF CABARET The Signature School offers a variety of classes in singing, acting, and dance. There are opportunities for students of all ages and experience levels. Instructors are members of the Signature staff or artistic associates closely associated with our programming.
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MONDAY, APRIL 5
In preparation of this upcoming production, Signature takes a moment to shine some light on other writers who have reconceived Shakespeare and his life. Explore these works, and see Shakespeare through another writer's perspective!
Her cabaret shows include: A Date with Judy, Sondheim Tonight, Cockeyed Optimist, Not in Kansas Anymore, Here And Now, Get Happy, The Eccentrics, What Were We Thinking?,and Much More. |