American Shakespeare Center at Saint Mike's

Last Thursday, Saint Michael's College welcomed the American Shakespeare Center's Almost Blasphemy tour for an afternoon performance of Midsummer Night's Dream. The company comes every year to UVM and St. Mike's, and students flock to see the shows. The ASC performs in the style of Shakespeare's time, as much as possible, with a thrust stage, contemporary music pre-show, and with all the lights on.

The ASC's A Midsummer Night's Dream features 9 professional actors and 2 acting interns. I attended a workshop Thursday morning with some of the actors as a part of my Shakespeare class with Professor Nick Clary, which was a great chance to meet the cast and the troupe manager/assistant director Glenn Schudel and ask them some questions. We learned a lot about their rehearsal process, which is different from a typical theater schedule: rather than starting out with the director assigning ideas from the start, the ASC cast gets together and has a day to put the play together with all of their ideas-- the bigger, the better-- and from there the play gets toned down or worked out by the director and the artistic director.

The play itself was, as expected from the ASC's comedies, side-splitting. Myself and some friends sat onstage and enjoyed the different perspective; the recital hall was nearly full. They had performed the other 2 shows in current repertoire at UVM the weekend before: 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore and Winter's Tale, which I am sorry to have missed. 

Afterward, a veritable host of theater students stayed to help the company load out, despite the fact that they are completely self-sufficient. Professor Nick Clary of the English department has seen the ASC tour at Saint Michael's for the past 20 years and extended his gratitude and love for the work at a presidential dinner post-show, which several of his classes had the pleasure to attend. It was a great experience meeting the cast and learning more about them, especially for those of us who may be doing similar things for years to come!

2011/12 Almost Blasphemy Troupe (Clockwise from Top Left): Kevin Hauver, Rick Blunt, Ronald Peet, Stephanie Holladay Earl, Patrick Earl, Bridget Rue, Michael Amendola, Jake Mahler, Denice Mahler, Eugene Douglas, and Daniel Stevens.  Photo by Michael Bailey.http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=88

The company was in town for a few days, during which time we saw them a few times and gave some local sightseeing advice. They are currently in Canton, NY, and I may be taking a road trip up there (weather depending) to see the other plays we missed out on! For more information on the American Shakespeare Center's annual tour, visit their touring page here. Several of the actors keep blogs as they travel: check out Michael Amendola's blog here.