Phil Brown, 2009

May 10 - Have you seen the 'countdown clock?' It faces Broad Street between 6th and 7th, hung on the construction trailers at Richmond CenterStage. All of us at Richmond Shakespeare are enormously excited about our new theatre---opening in very short time! In fact, I have a little miniature version of the clock on my desk and today, both of them read 124 Days.

In two days, on May 12, at 7:30pm we'll hold our last event of the indoor season at 2nd Presbyterian, a staged-reading of Cymbeline, about which you may already have heard. Daryl Clark Phillips (Falstaff '07 and '08) leads a stellar cast including Ray Bullock, Richard Koch, Vicki McCleod, David Janeski, Billy Christopher Maupin, Asher Nicholson, Brad Tuggle, Lucas Hall, Alan Sader (Exeter in Henry V), Ally Wepplo, and James Wingo. Cymbeline is directed by David White and produced by Liz Blake. Catch Liz herself in this summer's reprsise of Hamlet.

This fall (in four months!), Richmond Shakespeare will indeed move our indoor season to the new Gottwald Playhouse inside Richmond CenterStage. Look for an inaugural season announcement (it's also our 25th Year) right at the start of the summer Richmond Shakespeare Festival.

Those performances come first---we'll continue to bring great summer shows to marvelous Agecroft Hall, beginning this 12th annual festival with the performances we've all been waiting for: Phil Brown's Henry V and the return of Jeff Cole's Hamlet. Sandwiched in between, I'm happy to annouce another return--for a limited run--of Andrew Hamm's critically acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Just prior to the summer festival on Saturday, May 23, I invite you to our first public "Mission Meeting." We'll gather at Agecroft Hall, from 1-4pm, to re-craft, re-dedicate and help to re-write the mission of Richmond Shakespeare. To RSVP and to receive more information, e-mail us at MissionMeeting@RichmondShakespeare.com. Come be a part of charting our next 25 years.

Thank you for joining us on this adventure, and be sure to keep in touch! Call, write, and comment or e-mail me here. Of course, you can always just catch my arm at a performance of Richmond Shakespeare.

Cheers,

Grant Mudge
Artistic Director

Now Playing: "Henry IV, Part 2"

Preview performances begin Thursday, July 17 for the latest installment in the History Cycle, Henry IV, Part 2, opening Saturday, July 19.

Beginning mere minutes after the events of Part 1 (performed last summer), the production features the returns of Phil Brown as Prince Hal and Daryl Clark Phillips as the incomparable Sir John Falstaff, and the addition of David Bridgewater as King Henry. The cast is a talented mix of Richmond Shakespeare Festival veterans and newcomers. It all happens under the direction of Master of Play James Alexander Bond, who has directed many of Richmond Shakespeare's best-received shows (Julius Caesar, Henry IV, Part 1, and Measure for Measure), and Master of Verse Melissa Carroll-Jackson, a remarkably gifted newcomer to the company.

Last summer's Part 1 may have been the most acclaimed production in Richmond Shakespeare's 23-year history, but you don't need to have seen the first part to appreciate the excitement, the hilarity, and the emotion of Part 2. It absolutely stands on its own, and is in fact even bawdier than its predecessor.

Performances are Thursday through Sunday nights at 8:00 through August 3. Visit our website or call 1-866-BARD-TIX for your tickets.

Richmond Shakespeare's May Workhop

"Auditioning for Shakespeare"
with Daryl Clark Phillips
Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 7:00-9:30 PM
$20 to participate/ $10 to audit
at Second Presbyterian Church (5 N. 5th Street)

This workshop is designed to help actors develop focused and clearly understandable monologue material from Shakespeare’s plays. Actors are guided through the “how to” of finding a suitable selection from the plays, how to use the whole body of the play to create an environment which supports their delivery, and how to create an appropriate aesthetic distance and focus which can maximize their efforts. They are also guided through simple techniques for physical realization of the environment and tips on how the poetry in the language can aid them in the creative process.

Each participant must have a monologue either completely memorized or be VERY familiar with it with book in hand. High School seniors (seriously committed) and older. Previous experience performing Shakespeare is not important, just a love of the process. Actors should wear comfortable clothing in which they will feel free to get down on the floor, if needed.

Daryl has been a professional Actor, Singer, and Speech and Theatre Arts educator for 30 years. He has a B.A. in Speech, Communication and Theatre from Monmouth University and an M.S. in Speech and Oral Interpretation from Emerson College. The colleges, universities and private schools at which he has taught include: The Ranney School, Ocean County College, Northeastern University, Monmouth University and The University of Richmond. He was an Associate Artist at TheatreVirginia for many years and created the noted, “No Holds Bard” in-class teaching supplement program for TVA, which toured middle and high schools in Virginia for 10 years. Daryl is also a free-lance Theatre Arts and Voice, Articulation and Dialect Coach who has worked with actors and singers all across the country to prepare material for a wide range of audition situations. He currently lives in Richmond and teaches Theatre Arts at Prince George High School. He can be seen this summer in the Richmond Shakespeare Festival's production of Henry IV, Part 2, wherein he will reprise his critically acclaimed performance as Falstaff.

Email Andrew@richmondshakespeare.com or call him at 804-232-4000 for more information or to make a reservation.

Images from "Auditioning for Musical Theatre"

Scott Wichmann and Sandy Dacus joined forces on Tuesday to teach a magnificent workshop in musical theatre auditioning techniques. Seven participants and six auditors took it all in.

In addition to being a swell guy, Scott is a heck of a teacher, and Sandy may be the best accompanist I've ever seen. It was a rollicking fun educational evening.

Here are some pictures, in case you missed it:





Next up: Auditioning for Shakespeare with Daryl Clark Phillips (Falstaff in last year's acclaimed Henry IV, Part 1 and this summer's Part 2) on May 13. Call 804-232-4000 or email Andrew@richmondshakespeare.com to reserve your spot.