Romeo and Juliet
by American Shakespeare Center touring company
Feb. 25, 2017
Saturday
ROMEO AND JULIET by William Shakespeare Performed by the American Shakespeare Center
presented by Shakespeare at Winedale, the English Department, the Iris Howards Regents Professorship, the Mary Lu Joynes Endowment in the Plan II Honors Program, and the Department of Theatre and Dance.
Saturday February 25, 2017 at 7:30 pm
Pre-show performance begins at 7 pm.
Hogg Memorial Auditorium on UT Campus
The American Shakespeare Center will return to Austin for its eighth annual visit to the University of Texas campus. Direct from the stage of the American Shakespeare Center's celebrated Blackfriars Playhouse, the world's only re-creation of Shakespeare's indoor theatre, the ASC touring troupe brings Renaissance drama to life in exciting and accessible performances. On February 25 at 7:00 pm in the Hogg Memorial Auditorium, the ASC's touring troupe will perform Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; – I.i
With its ravishing language and uproarious comedy, Romeo and Juliet celebrates love's triumph and its trivialities. Verona's walls embrace the volatility of youth as well as the wisdom and restraint that often escape young and old alike. Thumb-biting, dance, and swordplay share the stage with sonnets, bawdy wit, and soul-searching speeches in this profoundly human and always surprising treasure.
The American Shakespeare Center brings a unique performance style to the UT Campus at Hogg Memorial Auditorium, blending Shakespeare’s stagecraft with modern sensibility. The company uses Shakespeare’s staging conditions including universal lighting, minimal sets, doubling, cross-gender casting, and music. In Shakespeare’s day, the company couldn’t turn the lights out on the audience; actors and audience shared the same light. The Hungry Hearts Tour leaves the lights on for a type of audience contact rarely seen in modern day theatre. Audience members share directly in the action onstage as they become citizens of Verona in Romeo and Juliet.
Returning after directing last year's Julius Caesar, ASC Guest Director and Fight Director Benjamin Curns finds in Shakespeare's romantic tragedy a surprising message of hope. “The actions of our titular heroes, and their pursuit of love over hate, change the way their families think and act. By the end of the play, the love between Romeo and Juliet has created a new community.” Love can conquer all, but as this play reminds us, conquest can be a bloody business.
Since 1988, the American Shakespeare Center has toured the country with shows incorporating Shakespeare’s staging conditions. Based out of Staunton, VA, the company mission is to recover the joys and accessibility of Shakespeare’s theatre, language, and humanity by exploring the English Renaissance stage and its practices through performance and education. The ASC’s Blackfriars Playhouse, the world’s only re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre, is open year-round for productions of classic plays, which have been hailed by The Washington Post as "shamelessly entertaining" and by The Boston Globe as "phenomenal…bursting with energy." Founded in 1988 as Shenandoah Shakespeare Express, the organization became the American Shakespeare Center in 2005 and can be found online at www.americanshakespearecenter.com.
This visit is made possible by Shakespeare at Winedale, the English Department, the Iris Howards Regents Professorship, the Mary Lu Joynes Endowment in the Plan II Honors Program, and the Department of Theatre and Dance.
Romeo and Juliet
by William Shakespeare
American Shakespeare Center touring company
February 25, 2017
The performance will take place on the UT campus at the Hogg Memorial Auditorium.
Parking is available on the street and at UT’s San Antonio Garage.
Tickets are $20 and $10 for students, as well as UT faculty and staff. They can be purchased online in advance through the Shakespeare at Winedale web site. (www.shakespeare-winedale.org) or (512) 471-4726.
The theater will open for seating at 7:00 pm. At this time, live pre-show music will also begin. The performance will begin at 7:30 pm. Seats for the performances are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so audience members are encouraged to arrive early, take their seats, and enjoy the music.
[poster photo by Michael Bailey: Josh Clark and Zoe Speas, American Shakespeare Center]
