Saint Joan at Alabama Shakespeare Festival

At long last Bernard Shaw's masterpiece telling the extraordinary tale of Joan of Arc comes to the Genesian Stage in celebration of 600 years since the birth of Joan.

For many years the Genesian has wished to stage this play. This year we have taken the plunge but we were in no doubt of the size of this undertaking and the importance of bringing all the theatre's best resources to this hugely challenging project.

We are very pleased to announce that Kevin Jackson has agreed to direct the production. Kevin is well known to many of us for his long association with the Genesian Theatre but more widely for his inspiring work as one of Australia's most experienced acting teachers. In 2011 he retired from the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) after more than 20 years service to the school. For more than fourteen years Kevin also taught at the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) in San Francisco. Kevin has long held an interest in the works of Shaw and we are absolutely delighted he has agreed to make his skills and knowledge available to us. We are also delighted to announce that Merchant of Venice director Con Costi will be acting as Assistant Director to Kevin on this production.

Kevin considers that this is a production in which he would like to foster a sense of shared discovery, commitment and community, hopefully going beyond cast and crew to other interested members of the theatre community. Therefore instead of a standard rehearsal period we invite you to participate in a wider project featuring a series of public lectures and demonstration classes by Kevin Jackson under the umbrella title The Joan Project to bring this very special play to life and in the process to learn about theatre and Shaw generally, Joan of Arc and the historical context specifically. Needless to say, mastery of Shaw's rich language will also be a key focus, featured in a series of classes.

We begin the process of developing this production with a free day of introduction on June 2nd featuring guest speakers on George Bernard Shaw, and the Joan of Arc legend and historical period.

Authors

• George Bernard Shaw

Tony Awards and Nominations for Saint Joan