Just when you thought you knew Shakespeare, a new theater company is coming to Lansing to dig deeper in the Bard.
The American Shakespeare Collective
will soon begin a unique, evolving theater experience in various
locations around the city. The professional theater company was born of
two thespian's desire to spend more time with the plays of Shakespeare.
"We
were sitting around talking one night and people were saying that we
just put these plays on," says TASC co-founder John Neville-Andrews. "We
kind of churn them out like a factory, and there is so much more to
explore."
Neville-Andrews, who ran
the Michigan Shakespeare Festival in Jackson for 15 years, and
actor/director Tommy Gomez spent two years developing their idea and
acquiring their non-profit status, and now the excitement is ready to
begin.
Rather than simply rehearsing
and performing plays, TASC will bring Shakespeare's works to audiences
during different points along the road toward full production. The
company's debut performance will be a reading of Othello at Schuler Books in the Eastwood Towne Center.
"We'll
be reading form a script, but it's been put together as an adaptation,"
says Neville-Andrews, "When we do it the second time it will be more of
a production and we'll add more."
Eventually,
each play will progress into a full-scale production, which will travel
all over the country. Eight members are currently part of the
Lansing-based company.
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