CSC and the Coolidge to Present SHAKESPEARE REIMAGINED: A MIDWINTER'S TALE This Month

The plays of Shakespeare have been translated into more than one hundred languages, and his timeless stories have inspired great works in many art forms. For the second year in-person after creating the series during the pandemic, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC) and the Coolidge Corner Theatre (‘the Coolidge') are teaming up to take an in-depth look at how some filmmakers have brought Shakespeare's stories to the screen. 

The “Shakespeare Reimagined” series consists of three film screenings followed by Q&A sessions with experts in both theater and film at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA.  

General Information

Admission is $16.25 general admission, $13.25 for Coolidge Corner Theater members. The price includes the film screening (123 minutes) and the panel discussion (which will run approximately 30-40 minutes). 

Tickets are available at the door or at the button below. For further information, visit commshakes.org/production/shakespeare-reimagined/ or coolidge.org/programs/shakespeare-reimagined

The Coolidge's film and video exhibition areas are accessible by elevators. All are also equipped with a variety of options for patrons that are hard of hearing, deaf, blind, and/or visually impaired. For questions about accessibility or to make any disability-related accommodation requests, please email info@coolidge.org.

Masks are optional but encouraged for all patrons, including in the lobby and theatre spaces. For further information about the Coolidge's safety protocols, visit coolidge.org/safety. 

About A Midwinter's Tale

Kenneth Branagh writes and directs this comic tale about an out-of-work actor's desperate attempt to salvage his career and his life by staging a production of Hamlet. In this salute to dyed-in-the-wool and other woolly-brained thespians, Michael Maloney (Truly Madly Deeply) portrays Joe, maxing out credit cards and his wits to realize his dream. Does he succeed? Well, with Richard Briers (Branagh's Hamlet), Joan Collins (“Dynasty”), Nicholas Farrell (Chariots of Fire), “Absolutely Fabulous” alumna Jennifer Saunders and Julia Sawatha, and more joining Maloney, one thing's certain: the show must go on!

Bryn Boice, director of CSC's 2024 Shakespeare on the Common production of The Winter's Tale, will lead a post-screening discussion with guest panelists, professor Nathan Blake and actress Karen MacDonald (Gertrude, CSC's Hamlet.) 

Admission is $16.25 for general admission, $13.25 for Coolidge Corner Theater members. The price includes the film screening (123 minutes) and the panel discussion (which will run approximately 30 minutes). 

About the Panelists:

Bryn Boice is an award-winning director, educator, actor, and producer. She is CSC's Associate Artistic Director and Director of Education & Training. She will helm the upcoming Summer 2024 Shakespeare on the Common production of The Winter's Tale. Also for CSC, Bryn directed Universe Rushing Apart: Blue Kettle & Here We Go – two Caryl Churchill one-acts – which garnered her the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director, Large Theatre. Recent New England-area credits include: The Sound Inside and The Children (both Elliot Norton nominated for Outstanding Production, Speakeasy Stage); The Book of Will, Into the Breeches! (Elliot Norton nom for Direction and Production, Hub Theatre Company); Tall Tales from Blackburn Tavern, Gloria (Gloucester Stage); The Half-Life of Marie Curie (The Nora Company); Admissions (The Gamm Theatre); Last Night at Bowl-Mor Lanes (Greater Boston Stage Company); and an all-female production of Julius Caesar for Actors' Shakespeare Project. Before turning full-time to CSC, she taught at Salem State University, where her wide-ranging experience allowed her to teach Voice for Performance, Applied Stage Movement, Public Speaking, Directing, Acting III, Dramatic Theory & Criticism, and Dialects, among others. A great proponent of higher education and lifelong learning, she holds an MFA in Directing from Boston University, an MFA in Acting from the Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training (FSU). For more information, visit www.brynboice.com

Nathan Blake is a Teaching Professor in the Media and Screen Studies Program at Northeastern University. He has written on computers and control systems in film and television, the use of motion capture for the gait analysis of amputees, and the visual rhetoric of disabled veterans. He also teaches Coolidge Education classes on a regular basis. PhD, UC Irvine.

Karen MacDonald is an award-winning Boston-based actor, director and educator, who has previously worked with CSC in Hamlet as Gertrude, as well as appearing in CSC's Universe Rushing Apart, Twelfth Night, Coriolanus, and All's Well That Ends Well. On Broadway, she understudied and performed the role of Amanda Wingfield in John Tiffany's production of The Glass Menagerie. New England area credits include The Huntington Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Portland Stage, Hartford Stage, Trinity Rep, Speakeasy Stage Company, Lyric Stage, Greater Boston Stage Company, Gloucester Stage, GAMM Theatre, Israeli Stage, Sleeping Weasel, ARTS Emerson, Boston Playwrights Theatre, Bridge Rep, Boston Theatre Company, New Repertory Theatre, The Vineyard Playhouse, Dorset Theatre Festival, Shakespeare and Company, Berkshire Theatre Festival. She was a Founding Company Member of The American Repertory Theatre, performing in 73 productions. She has worked nationally from The Wilma Theatre to Berkeley Rep. Karen has been awarded several IRNE and Elliot Norton Awards for her work. She received the Robert Brustein Prize for Sustained Achievement in the Theatre and the Eliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence. 

About Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC) 

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, best known for its annual free performances on Boston Common, is a non-profit theater organization founded in 1996, dedicated to artistic excellence, accessibility, and education. CSC's Free Shakespeare on the Common has served over one million audience members over its 27-year history and has become a beloved summer tradition enjoyed by more than 50,000 people annually. CSC's next production on the Boston Common will be Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale, directed by Associate Artistic Director Bryn Boice in July 2024. 

In addition to its live theatre productions, CSC also provides robust Education and Training programs, including our Apprentice Training Program and CSC2 company for early-career actors, and Stage2 programming for middle and high school students and educators. For more information, visit commshakes.org. 

About the Coolidge Corner Theatre

The nonprofit Coolidge Corner Theatre is a premier American independent cinema renowned for its curated feature film programming and innovative signature educational, cultural, and entertainment programs. A beloved movie house, the Coolidge welcomes over 225,000 patrons per year and has been pleasing audiences with the best in cinematic entertainment since 1933. 

In addition to showcasing the best in contemporary independent cinema, the Coolidge has developed a wide range of programming to reach all sectors of the community, including: the prestigious Coolidge Award, Science on Screen (expanded nationally with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation), Big Screen Classics, After Midnite, Senior Matinees, Talk Cinema, Cinema Jukebox, PANORAMA, The Sounds of Silents, Kids' Shows, Rewind!, Box Office Babies, and adult education film classes. The Coolidge has presented several prominent film festivals and has hosted film luminaries such as Meryl Streep, Werner Herzog, Jane Fonda, Liv Ullmann, Ethan Hawke, Viggo Mortensen, and more. For more information, visit coolidge.org.

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