Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Theatre--Performance

What if William Shakespeare had a sister -- equally ambitious and equally talented -- who wanted to write plays?

Inspired by a section of Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own, WILLIAM AND JUDITH is a whimsical riff on the Shakespeare authorship controversy, a meditation on creative identity and an exploration of gender roles in the world of Shakespeare's theatre.

Judith Shakespeare flees to London after being disowned by her father for refusing to marry. She finds safe harbor in the studio of her brother, William, hoping to write plays and see them produced in London.William is facing a creative crisis of his own. Struggling through his late career and inching into his collaboration with John Fletcher, William must come up with a play worthy of the stage in three month's time. He's also got to cool several fires at home -- his daughter, Jude is set to marry a man of whom his wife, Anne, does not approve. An act of creative thievery turns Will's world upside down and threatens to end not only his career, but his relationship with Judith as well.

AUI/AURA presents this workshop production by THE COMPOUND, a newly formed theatre company in Acadiana. The play will receive its official world premiere by Playhouse Theatre Tulsa in Tulsa, OK in February 2012.

The play is directed by Alicia Chassion and designed by Duncan Thistlethwaite and Gina Baronne. The cast is as follows: Aren Chaisson (William Shakespeare), Sarah Gauthier (Judith Shakespeare), Duncan Thistlethwaite (Richard Burbage), Steven Cooper (John Fletcher), Anne Hathaway Shakespeare (Kate Schnieder), Jude Shakespeare (Martha Diaz) and Thomas Quiney (Nick Dooley/ Gerard Ducharme).

The play runs at the AUI studio space downtown at 810 Jefferson (next to Carpe Diem Gelato) on the following schedule:

Opening night special event: Sept. 17

Sept. 22, 23, 24, 29, 30 and Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Sept 18, 25 and 
Oct 2 at 2 p.m.




Aren Chaisson, one of the actors, will be video blogging the production.  This is the first installment.

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