Press for ASC’s Digital Offerings | American Shakespeare Center

ASC is getting noticed for our pivot to digital learning options and streaming performances as theatres and artists everywhere face the national coronavirus crisis.

Here is a digest of our recent major press.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL – MAY 22

“‘The Grapes of Wrath’ Review: Plain-Spoken and Powerful”

“Like all of ASC’s productions, this “Grapes of Wrath” is a true ensemble piece, one whose total theatrical effect is far in excess of the sum of its admirable parts … The result is a play full of contemporary echoes that are both unexpected and unforced, performed by ASC with a sober plainness of utterance that pierces the heart like a well-honed arrow … It is the chronicle of a haunted land at war with poverty, with fear, with an enemy that lays waste to bodies and souls, and to watch it is to remember that we have fought—and won—such wars before.”

Read Terry Teachouts’s full review of The Grapes of Wrath:

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THE NEW YORK TIMES – MAY 4

“Fire Up Your Laptop: A Curated Guide to Theater Now Online”

“Watch as the virtual curtains rise…One silver lining to this pandemic: easy access to wildly different takes on Shakespeare…all will remind us of what we are missing…The Virginia-based American Shakespeare Center is streaming multicamera captures of shows recorded at its Blackfriars Playhouse, a reproduction of the indoor theater where Shakespeare often plied his trade.”

Read Elisabeth Vincentelli’s full curated list of the best streaming theatre on the web right now:

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THE WASHINGTON POST – APRIL 23

“To survive, this Shakespeare troupe is offering online classes and videos.
Are branded masks next?”

“What does a theater company do when it can’t do what it was created for? Anything it can think of…’This place has been my life’s work,’ said John Harrell, a company member…’I can’t believe that this could be terminal. We run so lean in the best of times.’…the travails of the 32-year-old organization are emblematic of the survival mode into which arts groups of all sizes have shifted.”

Read Peter Marks’ full article about ASC’s intense efforts to expand digital offerings and stay afloat during the global pandemic in The Washington Post:

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL – APRIL 9

“‘Henry IV’ and ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ Reviews: When the Staging Makes the Show”

“Thrilling…three streaming productions are among the most ambitious theatrical responses to the coronavirus…these webcasts effortlessly convey the joyous experience of watching Shakespeare performed in Blackfriars Playhouse…let ASC take your mind off your troubles as you commune at home with theater’s supreme genius.”

Read Terry Teachout’s full review of Much Ado About Nothing and Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2 on BlkFrsTV in The Wall Street Journal:

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THE WASHINGTON POST – MARCH 17

“The virus is already pushing small theaters to the brink.
One Shakespeare theater hopes it can make it back.”

“Suddenly, a virus barely touching a bucolic slice of the Shenandoah Valley amounted to a potential theatrical extinction event…when plays stop, lives don’t, and workers in the arts are as vulnerable as those in any other field…the goodwill of the company’s audiences has opened a stage door of hope…ASC’s creative family will await their all-important cue for the box office to reopen.”

Read Peter Marks’ full article about ASC’s temporary closure due to the coronavirus and how it reflects the state of many arts organizations in the U.S. in The Washington Post:

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