Stuff That Happens

In this pastoral comedy known for some of Shakespeare’s most famous lines, Rosalind and her cousin Celia flee the persecution of Celia’s father, the usurping Duke Frederick. Disguising their identities (Rosalind as the boy “Ganymede” and Celia as the poor shepherdess “Aliena”) and with their clown Touchstone in tow, the two set out to seek safety — and Rosalind’s father, the deposed Duke Senior — in the Forest of Arden. In the forest, they endure hijinks, mistaken identities, and some really bad love poetry.

STUFF THAT HAPPENS

STUFF THAT HAPPENS BEFORE THE PLAY

• Duke Frederick overthrows his brother, Duke Senior, who flees to the Forest of Arden with a group of followers, including a courtier named Jaques.

STUFF THAT HAPPENS IN THE PLAY

• Orlando complains to his old servant, Adam, that his older brother, Oliver, is depriving him of his rightful education and inheritance.
• Oliver hears that Orlando plans to wrestle Charles, Duke Frederick’s champion, and asks Charles to kill Orlando.
• At the wrestling match, Orlando meets Rosalind, the banished Duke Senior’s daughter.
• Orlando wins the wrestling match, but Duke Frederick hears that he is the son of Sir Rowland — a friend of the banished Duke. Duke Frederick snubs Orlando instead of rewarding him. Rosalind, however, gives Orlando a token of hers to wear.
• Duke Frederick banishes his niece Rosalind from court.
• Duke Frederick’s daughter, Celia, insists on accompanying Rosalind. They hatch a plan to escape to the Forest of Arden, taking “the clownish fool” Touchstone to seek the banished Duke Senior.
• Adam warns Orlando of Oliver’s murderous plans, and the two of them flee into the Forest of Arden.
• Rosalind (disguised as a boy, Ganymede), Celia (disguised as Ganymede’s sister, Aliena), Touchstone, Orlando, and Adam reach the Forest of Arden, where the banished Duke Senior, Jaques, and other lords (as well as the Arden natives Corin, Silvius, Phebe, and Audrey) are pursuing their pastoral interests.
• Orlando hangs love poems to Rosalind throughout the forest.
• Ganymede (a.k.a. the lovestruck Rosalind) offers to give love lessons to the overeager Orlando.
• Lions, a love triangle, mock weddings, and real weddings ensue.

Stuff That Happens

A witty, emotional, and whimsical retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice tells the tale of the titular character’s descent into the Underworld. A story of young lovers–one who loves music and one who loves books–and of a woman looking for home in other people.

Orpheus proposes to Eurydice, and on the day of their wedding, a “Nasty, Interesting Man” lures Eurydice to his penthouse apartment by telling her he has a letter from her late father. He attempts to seduce Eurydice but she flees, falling down the steps and into the Underworld.

In the Underworld, three Stones–guardians of the land of the dead–explain that Eurydice has died and that she can no longer remember her human life. Eurydice is met by her father, who has retained his memory, though she cannot remember him. With his help, she slowly relearns language and regains her memory. When Orpheus arrives to return her to the land of the living, she must decide whether she goes with him or stays with her father.

Dr. Ralph Brief

 As You Like It

1. When was the play first performed?

Around 1599. Elizabeth I was on the throne.

2. Where was the play first performed?

The Globe (where the company had recently moved).

3. How does this play fit into Shakespeare’s career?

In the middle—likely after Much Ado About Nothing and Julius Caesar but before Hamlet and Twelfth Night.

4. How is this play like Shakespeare’s other plays?

A heroine changes her name, journeys beyond her home, and presents as a man (Two Gentlemen of Verona, Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, and Cymbeline).

5. How is this play unlike other Shakespeare plays?

The first third gives us a plot in overdrive; the rest of the play downshifts, takes us for a walk in the forest of Arden, populated with lovers, fools, wise folk, and the joys of random conversations, and turns into the closest thing to a musical (seven songs) Shakespeare ever wrote.

6. What do scholars and critics think about this play?

They all like it, though some seem embarrassed to say so; the wiser sort think it “the most ideal of” Shakespeare’s plays (Hazlitt). They commend the “golden world” of his Arden, where everyone writes poetry (Garber), where no one but rejected lovers suffer (Dowden), and where implausibility reigns and impossibility is banished (Cohen).

7. How successful has the play been?

As You Like It ranks among the top ten most produced plays of Shakespeare and in 2018 was second.

8. What scenes should I especially look for/listen to?

The scene where Corin and Touchstone debate the virtues of a country life. The scene where Orlando and Rosalind (disguised as a boy) meet in the forest. The scene where Celia gets fed up hearing about Orlando. The scene where Orlando gets fed up playing the game. The scene where Phebe falls in love with Rosalind (disguised as a boy). The scene where Silvius explains what love is. Oh, heck, all of the scenes.

9. What characters should I especially look for/listen to?

The late critic and curmudgeon Harold Bloom may be right that “[i]f Rosalind cannot please us, then no one in Shakespeare or elsewhere in literature ever will.” She has more to say than any female character in all of Shakespeare’s plays—and she says it wonderfully—but her cousin Celia is the best listener, and when she speaks, she speaks for the audience.  

10. What is the language like?

Elegant verse and witty prose.

Dr. Ralph Brief

Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice

1. When was the play first performed?

2003

2. Where was the play first performed? 

Madison Repertory Theatre, Madison, Wisconsin

3. Who wrote it?

Sarah Ruhl. Other plays include The Clean House, Passion Play, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, and In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play.  Her most recent play is Becky Nurse of Salem. Buy a copy of her book, 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write as soon as you can get to a bookstore.

4. How is this work like Shakespeare’s?

Classical myth, especially Ovid, captivated Shakespeare, as it does Ruhl, and here she reimagines the story of the musician Orpheus’s attempt to retrieve his love, Eurydice, from Hell. Like Shakespeare, Ruhl believes in the power of dream and uses stage as a form of collective dreaming. Like Shakespeare, Ruhl trusts in the audience’s imagination to fill the stage: “I love it,” she says, “when the poverty of the theatre stretches the imagination.” Like so many of Shakespeare’s plays (King Lear, Pericles, The Tempest), Eurydice is fascinated with the father-daughter relationship.

5. How is this play unlike Shakespeare?

In the script of Eurydice, the playwright is always present, describing in simple, eloquent language what she has in mind. Shakespeare’s play texts have few stage directions beyond “enter” and “exit,” and many of those we cannot with certainty ascribe to Shakespeare.

6. What do scholars and critics think about this playwright?

Ruhl has won the MacArthur “Genius Award,” the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Grand Master Award, and a number of Pulitzer Prize nominations, among others: they like her.

7. How successful has the play been?

This “weird and wonderful new play” (Charles Isherwood, NYT) is now a staple in college and university programming.

8. What characters should I especially look for/listen to?

Played by the same actor, the role(s) of A Nasty Interesting Man/Lord of the Underworld is/are both creepy and otherworldly. See if the Chorus of Three Stones (Big, Little, and Loud) stay in character.

9. What scenes should I especially look for/listen to?

Eurydice’s arrival in the Underworld and, later, the scene in which her father builds her a house out of string.

10. What is the language like?

The language is luminous and, together with the sound effects, create a memorable soundscape.

Our production of As You Like It is sponsored by Paul Beers of Roanoke, Virginia

ABOUT PAUL G. BEERS

Paul Beers practices civil and criminal law in Roanoke. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees. He received degrees from Trinity College in Hartford, Columbia University and Washington & Lee. Paul is a competitive long distance runner. He finished first among runners 65 years or older in the 2023 Houston Half Marathon with a 6:38 mile pace.

Our production of Eurydice is sponsored by the ASC Board of Trustees

Meet our Board here

Are you or your business interested in sponsoring a title at the American Shakespeare Center?

Contact us at development@americanshakespearecenter.com

Download our Spring Season Context Boards from Team Programming.

Building Bridges for the Greater Good

THIS SEASON: Director – As You Like It

THIS SEASON: Director – Eurydice

BIO: Nana Dakin is a queer Thai American director of new work, classics and devised performance based in NYC. Her work pursues social equity by examining the way culture is constructed and unsettling dormant biases. She is a core member of B-Floor Theatre, Thailand’s most highly awarded theatre company, and of Superhero Clubhouse, a company that creates theater to enact climate and environmental justice.

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON: Orlando – As You Like It; Eurydice – Eurydice

ASC DEBUT

OTHER THEATRE: The Moors – American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin;  Chicago credits include Roe, How to Catch Creation (Goodman), The Last Match, Smart People (Writers), the world premiere of Kate Hamill’s Mansfield Park (Northlight), and work with the Shakespeare Project of Chicago.

FILM: Knives and Skin (IFC), neXt (Fox), Chicago Med (NBC), and APB (Fox)

EDUCATION: University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Instagram: @kaylacrater

Full Bio

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON: Orpheus – Eurydice; Duke Frederick, Duke Senior, Corin – As You Like It

PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night; Montano in Othello, Mrs. Jennings in Sense and Sensibility; Biondello in The Taming of the Shrew; Lennox, Scottish Doctor in Macbeth; Shepherd’s Son/Clown, Lord in The Winter’s Tale; Tiresias, Chorus in Antigone; Dromio of Ephesus in The Comedy of Errors; The Bear in 16 Winters, or the Bears Tale; Ghost of Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol; Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cloten in Imogen aka Cymbeline; Grandpa, Ensemble in The Grapes of Wrath

OTHER THEATRES:A Christmas Carol (Denver Center for the Performing Arts); Coriolanus and All’s Well That Ends Well (Colorado Shakespeare Festival); The Liar and Animal Farm (Arvada Center); Twelfth Night (Nashville Shakespeare Festival); Romeo and Juliet, The Capulets and The Montagues, and A King and No King (Red Bull Theater); The Lost Colony (Waterside Theatre); Peter and the Starcatcher, Antony and Cleopatra, The Tempest, and Pericles (Orlando Shakes); The Merchant of Venice, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Julius Caesar, andRichard III (Virginia Shakespeare Festival)

AWARDS:Henry Award Nominee for Cliton in The Liar at The Arvada Center (2022); Orlando Sentinel Best Supporting Actor as Eros in Antony and Cleopatra at Orlando Shakespeare (2017)

EDUCATION: BFA in Performing Arts; Christopher Newport University

 IG: @awktopher

CHOREOGRAPHER

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON: Choreographer; Adam, Le Beau, Phebe, Audrey – As You Like It; Loud Stone – Eurydice

PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: Choreographer, 1st Fundraiser, Mrs. Fezziwig, Mrs. Fred, Little Cratchit – A Christmas Carol; Choreographer/Assistant Music Director; Boatswain, Adrian, Ceres, Ensemble – The Tempest; Lychorida, Bawd, Ensemble – Pericles; Assistant Choreographer/Assistant Music Director; Understudy in Twelfth Night and Thrive, Or What You Will; u/s for Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet and u/s for Dromio of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors, Dance Captain (A Christmas Carol). Fundraiser, Mrs Fezziwig, Martha, Charwoman in A Christmas Carol; Angus, Lord, Murder, and understudy in Macbeth; Jamy, Grandpre, Attendant, and understudy in Henry V, understudy in All’s Well that Ends Well.

OTHER THEATRE: Gertrude in Hamlet; Regan in King Lear; Thaisa/Dionyza/Lysimachus in Pericles; Titania/Starveling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Clarinda in The Sea Voyage (Mary Baldwin University, MFA)

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON: Oliver, Touchstone – As You Like It; Interesting Man, Child – Eurydice

PRONOUNS: he/they

PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: Malvolio in Twelfth Night; Duke in Othello; Octavius Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra; Octavius Caesar & Casca in Julius Caesar; Malvolio in Twelfth Night; Ptolemy in Caesar and Cleopatra; Duke in Othello; Ian in Keene (2019 Workshop)

OTHER THEATRE: The Moscow Art Theatre School (Konstantin in The Seagull); SITI Company (This is Not SITI Company); Utah Shakespeare Festival (Shakespeare in Love, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It); Goodman Theatre (New Stages: Ask Aunt Susan); Northlight Theatre (Legend of Georgia McBride); Virginia Repertory Theatre (Christopher in Curious Incident…); the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre (American Son); the side project (Mike and Seth — Jeff Award Nominee for Best Leading Actor in a Play); and three seasons at the Hilberry Repertory Theatre.

EDUCATION: MFA: Wayne State University/Hilberry Repertory Theatre; Conservatory: SITI Company; Certificate: Moscow Art Theatre School; BA: Elmhurst College

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON: Celia, Amiens, Oliver MarText – As You Like It; Little Stone – Eurydice

ASC DEBUT

NYC THEATRE: Missy Sue/Candice CONFEDERATES (The Signature Theatre), Asha BLOOD AT THE ROOT (National Black Theatre), Mrs. Cratchit A CHRISTMAS CAROL IN HARLEM (Classical Theatre of Harlem).

FILM: The Next Right Thing, MUTT, Commit.

AWARDS: Best Ensemble – Confederates – Audelco; Hip Hop Theatre Creator Award – Blood at the Root– Kennedy Center Peace Foundation Aware – Blood at the Root – Edinburgh Fringe Festival

TRAINING: BA – West Michigan and MFA – Penn State

IG: @kenziemcheather

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON: Rosalind – As You Like It; Big Stone – Eurydice 

PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: It’s good to be home. Constance Swain is making her journey back to the ASC stage. She has done 5 seasons and over 15 roles at the Blackfriars Playhouse and on National Tour including Cleopatra in Caesar and Cleopatra; Hero in Much Ado About Nothing; Antigone in Antigone; Perdita in The Winter’s Tale; Adrianna in The Comedy of Errors; Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility; Malcolm inMacbeth; Olivia in Twelfth Night; Emilia in Othello

OTHER THEATRES: Stick Fly and The Liar (Taylor, Lucrece) at the Arvada Center; Cymbeline and Intimate Apparel (Imogen, Mayme) at Utah Shakespeare Festival; Intimate Apparel, Fuente Ovejuna, The Liar (Quintero Theatre, Houston, TX); All My Sons, King Lear (Studio 208, Houston, TX); Antony and Cleopatra, All’s Well That Ends Well (Virginia Shakespeare Festival); Grimm Lives of the In-Betweens (Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, GA); Fear and Misery of the Third Reich (Ovalhouse Theatre, London, England)

EDUCATION: MFA from the University of Houston PATP and her BA from Spelman College. She is also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Eta Kappa Chapter.

THIS SEASON: Acting Fellow – As You Like It; Eurydice

PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: Acting Fellow – A Christmas Carol; Twelfth Night; Thrive, Or What You Will; The Tempest; Pericles; Une Tempête

OTHER THEATRE: Rosalind in Shakespeare’s As You Like It; Volumnia and Cominius in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus; Estela in Ana Caro’s The Courage to Right a Woman’s Wrongs (Mary Baldwin MFA Company); Isabella in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure (Northeast Stage); Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, Lady Anne in Shakespeare’s Richard III  (East End Mobile Theater)

EDUCATION: BA in Dance and Theater from Manhattanville College; Master of Letters and Master of Fine Arts Degree from Mary Baldwin University – Acting Concentration.

AWARDS:  Broadway World Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2021(w/ Mary Baldwin MFA Company)

Full Bio

THIS SEASON: Acting Fellow As You Like It; Eurydice

PREVIOUSLY AT ASC: Tiny Tim, Beggar Boy, Fan – A Christmas Carol;  Understudy Twelfth Night, Thrive, Or What You Will, Une Tempête, Pericles, The Tempest

OTHER THEATRE: Flora in The Courage to Right a Woman’s Wrongs with Polaris Shakespeare, Thaisa in Pericles, and Michael in Arden of Faversham. 

EDUCATION: Shakespeare and Performance graduate program at Mary Baldwin University this upcoming Fall.

 Full Bio 

THIS SEASON: Acting Fellow

PREVIOUSLY AT ASC: Understudy – A Christmas Carol (2022)

OTHER THEATRE: Balthazar/music director (MBU’S 2023 Spanish Tragedy);  Sir Andrew Twelfth Night (Mary Baldwin University)

Full Bio

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON: Production Manager/Stage Manager

ASC STAGE MANAGEMENT:  Acting as the Tour Manager from 2015-Covid, Thomas has been the resident SM for the last two years. Previously at the ASC: Production Manager: Twelfth Night, Thrive, Or What You Will. Stage Management: Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Winter’s Tale, Comedy of Errors (x2), Macbeth (x2), Taming of the Shrew, Romeo & Juliet (x2), Two Gentlemen of Verona, Henry V (x2), Julius Caesar, Othello, Twelfth Night, All’s Well That End’s Well. Additional ASC SM credits: Every Brilliant Thing, The Grapes of Wrath, Our Town, The Importance of Being Earnest, Antigone, Equivocation, Goodnight Desdemona, Arms and The Man, the World Premier of Emma Whipday’s Sense and Sensibility and seven productions of A Christmas Carol! Thomas is a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Love to M&D, & KRM. www.thomasjcoppola.com #BLM Proud Member of Actor’s Equity.

REGIONAL CREDITS: Cinderella, The Wizard of Oz (American Family Theatre, National Tour) The Fall of The House of Usher, The Most Dangerous Game (Chamber Theatre Productions, National Tour)Spamalot, Les Miserables, They’re Playing Our Song, Falsettos, and Next Thing You Know (Sharon Playhouse); CATS, Hairspray, Crazy For You, HAIR, Once on This Island, Sunset Boulevard (Cohoes Music Hall); Into The Woods, All Shook Up, Seussical, Laramie Project: Epilogue (Barrington Stage Company)

PRONOUNS: He/Him

THIS SEASON: Costume Designer – As You Like It; Eurydice

BIO: Ashleigh Poteat (she/her) is a costume and scenic designer based out of South Carolina. She has designed costumes and scenery for Off-Broadway, regional and professional shows around the country. Ashleigh completed her undergraduate BA in Design & Production at the University of North Carolina at Asheville and her MFA in Production Design at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada. Ashleigh has taught courses in costume, scenic and properties design and production at UNLV, LaGrange College, Centenary University and Coastal Carolina Universty.

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON: Assistant Stage Manager

Madison Lindy grew up on a small farm in Maryland where she spent her time feeding baby goats and getting lost in good books. She found her niche in Staunton, Virginia at the American Shakespeare Center. She has worked with the ASC in multiple capacities over the last several years and is thrilled to rejoin the company as the Assistant Stage Manager.

PRONOUNS: She/Her

@madslindytheartist

THIS SEASON: Assistant Costume Designer

TECHNICAL PROPERTIES DIRECTOR

BIO: Props Designer: Hotel Berry, Tantrum Theater. EVERYBODY, Ohio University. Prop Shop Manager: Ohio University (2022). Head of Drama and Theater Tech- Camp Fernwood (2022). Props Journeyperson: Maine State Music Theater (2018).

Awards: Michael K. and Linda Gorman Award, Washington and Lee University (2019). John Graham Award, Washington and Lee University (2020). Education: MFA Props Technology, Ohio University (expected May 2023). BA Theater, Washington and Lee University (2020)

WEBSITE: https://duckbracey.weebly.com/

PROPS MASTER

BIO: Alaina Smith (she/her) is a theatre artist hailing from Nashville, TN. After completing a dual Bachelor’s in Theater Performance and Art at Freed-Hardeman University, she has worked for companies such as Stages St. Louis, Sacramento Theatre Company, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Crane River Theatre, Act 1, Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre, Nashville Children’s Theatre, and Nashville Rep as a performer and scenic painter. Beginning in the fall of 2021, Smith began studying at Mary Baldwin’s Shakespeare and Performance Program to earn an MLitt and MFA in Shakespeare and Performance.

THIS SEASON: Fight Director

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON: Music Director, Composer

Previous Music Direction: The Little Mermaid Jr., Willy Wonka Jr.(Goochland High School), Pass Over(ASC), In the Red and Brown Water, A Midsummer Nights Dream(TheatreVCU), Pippin, A Night of Women Cabaret, Broadway Backwards(VCU), Fences(Va Rep).

PREVIOUSLY AT ASC(Acting): Fred, Old Joe – A Christmas Carol; Caliban in The Tempest, Lysimachus, Ensemble, U/S Pericles in Pericles, Caliban in Une Tempête; U/S Moses and Kitch – Pass Over; Prince, Peter, u/s Romeo in Romeo and Juliet;  Duke Solinus and Officer in The Comedy of Errors.

OTHER THEATER: VIRGINIA REPERTORY THEATRE: Pinocchio, The Wiz, Fences; RICHMOND TRIANGLE PLAYERS: Sugar in Our Wounds; VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY: Sense and Sensibility, Little Shop of Horrors, Two Gentlemen of Verona, In the Red and Brown Water; UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: Blues for Mister Charlie

TV: The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Songs and Stories (PBS)

FILM: Welcome to the Show

EDUCATION: B.F.A. in Theatre Performance from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Website: TevinDavis.com

Instagram: Tevin.M.Davis

Full Bio

Associate Artistic Director, INTIMACY Director

THIS SEASON:

Intimacy Choreographer

PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: First Witch in Macbeth, and Mariana in All’s Well that Ends Wellas other various roles; Intimacy Choreographer (A Christmas Carol, Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors). Beggar Boy, Fan, Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol. 

OTHER THEATER: Natasia has been seen previously as Mistress Quickly with Richmond Shakespeare Festival and Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati’s 2017-2018 season.

EDUCATION: Natasia recently graduated with her MFA from Mary Baldwin University with an MFA where she had the joy of performing the roles of Mercutio, Oberon, and King Lear.

PRONOUNS: She/Her

COSTUME SHOP MANAGER

THIS SEASON: Costume Shop Manager

PREVIOUS ASC CREDITS:

Costume Shop Manager for A Christmas Carol (2022); Cutter/Draper, Wardrobe Manager, and Assistant Costume Shop Manager for Une Tempête, The Tempest, Pericles, Pass Over, Thrive or What You Will, and Twelfth Night (2022).

OTHER CREDITS:

Costume Designer for She Kills Monsters (John Tyler University) and Ripcord (CAT Theatre). Stitcher for The Wiz, The Addams Family Musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Mary Poppins, The King and I, Monty Python’s Spamalot (Shenandoah Summer Music Theater). Assistant Costume Designer for The Music Man and The Man of La Mancha (Shenandoah Summer Music Theater).

EDUCATION:

MFA in Costume Technology from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (2022), BFA in Technical Theatre from Longwood University (2015).

BIO:

A resident of Virginia (and briefly North Carolina), Marie enjoys life as a cat mom, is an avid listener of Podcasts, and part-time archer with her LARP group.

https://www.marielupia.com/

NAME: Anthony Pearson

PRONOUNS: he/they

BIOGRAPHY

Anthony is the Programming Coordinator for ASC, and heading the construction of the on-site Archive.  Originally from Oregon, Anthony grew up on Oregon Shakespeare Festival and a passion for Shakespeare from English and Drama teachers in middle and high school.  He holds a BA in History from University of Oregon, MA in History from Bowling Green State University, and a second MA in Material Culture and Public Humanities from Virginia Tech.  He joined ASC in the fall of 2021, a return to theater, programming, and production after almost 12 years.

Dramaturg

PRONOUNS:

She/Her

BIOGRAPHY:

Lia was born and raised in Philadelphia. She earned her Master of Letters and Master of Fine Arts degrees in Shakespeare & Performance from Mary Baldwin University and a BA in Shakespeare and Education from NYU Gallatin.

Lia began as an ASC Education intern in January of 2012 before becoming a part time Education Artist and Playhouse Tour Guide. She joined the ASC staff full-time as the College Prep Programs Manager and Camp Director in April of 2016, and transitioned to Performance Studies Manager sometime in the pandemonium of 2020. She oversees a range of educational programming focusing on Shakespeare’s text and technology (highlights include the ASC Theatre Camp, a residential summer intensive for students ages 13-19, and the ASC Drama Club, an after school program for students ages 8-12) and serves as dramaturg for ASC’s early modern productions.

WARDROBE MANAGER

Amy Wert is a new Wardrobe Manager at ASC, and enjoys working on all things costumes. Most recently she worked on West Side Story, Mamma Mía, and Blood Knot at the Flat Rock Playhouse in NC. She studied at both Anderson and Clemson University and graduated in 2020. Amy is also a swing dancing enthusiast and loves her cat, Theo. Follow along with my theatre and sewing pursuits @amys.clothesline on Instagram!

THIS SEASON: Props Artisan

BIO: Sam is excited to join the ASC’s technical team. He is a woodworker focused on carpentry, furniture making, and carving. In addition to his life in wood, Sam has also worked for the last decade as a touring singer-songwriter. He has released several solo albums, which you can find anywhere you listen to music. www.sammoss.net

THIS SEASON: Props Artisan

BIO:A “storyteller of all-mediums”, Sarah White (she/her) is a second year in Mary Baldwin University’s MFA Shakespeare & Performance program with a focus on acting (under the stage name Sarah Scarborough). She holds a BA in English and Theater Studies from Anderson University, and an MFA in Scenic Design at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Her work as an Actor, Scenic Designer, Painter and Properties Artisan has been seen regionally at companies such as Summit Performance, Hollins University, Earlham College, Wisdom Tooth Theatre Project, The Coterie Theatre, Texas Shakespeare Festival, Crane River Theater Company, New Harmony Theater, The Berkshire Theatre Group, The Unicorn Theatre, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, and The Lied Center for Performing Arts.

THIS SEASON: Wardrobe Assistant

THIS SEASON: Wardrobe Assistant

ASC Memberships are still available! Members receive:

• 25% off all ticket purchases for you and your guests.
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• Explore more with 10% (or more) off select additional ASC programming.
• Quarterly Membership email with exclusive content and opportunities.
• Quarterly members-only discount code at the Gift Shop.

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ASC has partnered with local wineries and breweries for a special pre-show experience. Enjoy a tasting of the best libations in the area in our upper lobby on select Saturdays this year. These tastings include a special souvenir glass to take with you.

There will be two tasting times each evening at 6:30PM and 7:00PM—but spaces are limited, so grab your tickets today.

Feb 18

Bluestone Vineyard

MARCH 18

Accordia

April 15

Chestnut Oak Vineyard

May 13

Cider from Mars

June 17

Blue Mountain Brewery

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Playhouse Tours

In-Person Tours

• LEARN about Shakespeare’s company and Playhouses.
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Tours are available at 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM Monday – Saturday. Advanced ticketing is required.

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35th Anniversary Virtual Tour

Celebrate 35 years of ASC by exploring behind the scenes at the beautiful Blackfriars Playhouse with a virtual Playhouse tour. Similar to our in-person tour, learn about our modern theater & its historical predecessor— with added locations inaccessible to the public!

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ASC GIft Shop

From T-Shirts to Cookie Cutters—the gift shop has something from everyone. Check out the new Actors’ Renaissance Summer inventory!

Shop from your seat, select pick up at checkout, and your order will be ready for you when you leave!

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FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS ON

A weekly series of lectures, panels, and workshops featuring a line up of scholars, industry experts, ASC familiar faces, and powerful partnerships. On the Blackfriars stage every Friday of our show weeks at 5:00 PM.

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TEACHER SEMINARS

Spend a weekend at the Blackfriars Playhouse where you will rediscover the joy and accessibility of teaching Shakespeare. Beginning Friday afternoon and ending Sunday, this weekend is curated with workshops, lectures, performances, and more with our team of Shakespeare performance and scholarship experts.

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Spend Your Summer Performing Shakespeare in the world’s only re-creation of his indoor theatre- The Blackfriars Playhouse. Located in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, this residential camp combines scholarship and performance for the Shakespearean summer of your dreams.

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NO KIDDING SHAKESPEARE CAMP

JULY 24-31, 2023

Adult thespians of all experience levels are invited to spend a week strutting and fretting their hour upon the stage at the American Shakespeare Center’s No Kidding Shakespeare Camp. This weeklong program blends performance training with academic enrichment, giving participants a chance to hone their craft while learning about Shakespeare’s staging conditions in the world’s only recreation of his indoor theatre, the Blackfriars Playhouse. Led by our world-class Programming team, you will get a crash course in all the skills that ASC actors use in professional productions in a low-stakes, Renaissance-style (ensemble directed), week-long rehearsal process culminating in a staged reading performance of William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew in the Blackfriars Playhouse at the end of the week. Perfect for both seasoned performers and enthusiastic amateurs.

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Enjoy a special Greek themed meal at Accordia at 114 E Beverly in honor of ASC’s performance of Eurydice. Featuring spanakopita, doener kebab, baklava, and Greek wines—available as a full meal or individually.

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