Commonwealth Shakespeare Company Announces New Leadership

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC) has announced that Associate Artistic Director Adam Sanders has assumed the position of Managing Director of CSC. His past position of Associate Artistic Director will be filled by Elliot Norton Award-winning director Bryn Boice, who will be in charge of CSC's Apprentice Program, CSC2 and Stage2, CSC's Shakespeare performances for young audiences. They will both support Artistic Director Steven Maler in continuing the work of CSC for future seasons.

Artistic Director Steven Maler stated: "As we celebrate CSC's 25th season and look to the next 25 years of service to Boston, I couldn't be more thrilled to have Adam and Bryn in key leadership roles. The wealth of experience, expertise, vision, and passion they bring to the company bring immeasurable strengths and help carry forward the exciting momentum of CSC."

CSC will be celebrating its 25th anniversary this July with Shakespeare's The Tempest, directed by Steven Maler, with sets by Tony Award-winning designer Clint Ramos (Birdy, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Death and the Maiden, and Hamlet 360: Thy Father's Spirit at CSC), at the Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common.

Adam Sanders is a theater artist, director, and administrator with a background in educational theater and community outreach. He began working at Commonwealth Shakespeare Company in 2011 as Artistic Associate. In 2012 he was made Associate Artistic Director and built its CSC Academy educational and training programs.

As Associate Artistic Director, Adam directed the Apprentice Program, an intensive classical actor training program for undergraduate and recently graduated students where he also taught text analysis and directed public performances. During Adam's tenure, the Apprentice Program served over 200 acting students from across the country. Adam created and directed CSC2, a cohort of early-career actors that works with CSC for an extended period. As part of the CSC2 program, Adam led the creation of the Stage2 performance series, Shakespeare performances performed by CSC2 actors and staged for middle and high school audiences that serve over 3,000 students a year. Adam developed several community performance/education pieces including The Greenshow and CSC's Lecture in the Grove series on the Boston Common and Henry, a Shakespeare for Young Audiences script. He created and ran several long-term theater residencies at Everett High School, Boston Collegiate Charter School, as well as the Blue Hill, Charlestown and Jordan Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston. Under Adam's leadership, education and training have become key components of CSC's success and continue to grow in scope, reputation, and quality.

Adam has supported CSC's artistic programming as a director and dramaturg. Credits for CSC include: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar (CSC2 Company); Symphonic Shakespeare (in collaboration with Boston Landmarks Orchestra at the Boston Hatch Shell); and Shakespeare and Leadership and Shakespeare and Law; co-director: Kiss Me Kate, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Boys From Syracuse (also BLO/Hatch Shell collaborations), and CSCs unprecedented Shakespeare at Fenway performance in 2014. He served as dramaturg for CSC's 2018 production of Richard III. Adam is also at the center of CSC's work in virtual reality, promoting Hamlet 360: Thy Father's Spirit, the first of its kind feature length VR adaptation of Shakespeare's classic play Hamlet. His work involves bringing the piece to college and high school students and teachers, theater companies, and audiences across the country.

During CSC's residence at Babson College, Adam supported the artistic development of undergraduate students as the Associate Director of the Sorenson Center for the Arts. He worked with student groups to advance artistic missions on campus and ran a scholarship program of his own design called the Sorenson Scholars, a cohort of undergraduates that present new artistic projects to the community yearly and grow through peer feedback. He curated programming that included workshops, conversations, and performances meant to complement Babson's entrepreneurship curriculum. Adam has also directed and performed with a dozen theater companies in Boston and Western Massachusetts and is a former company member of Theater Espresso and the Improbable Players, educational companies that tour to New England middle and high schools. He holds a B.A. in English from UMass, Amherst, an M.A. in theater and community from Emerson College, and an M.B.A. from Babson College.

Bryn Boice is an award-winning director, educator, actor, and producer. She has spent the past three summers as a Showcase Director working with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's Apprentice Program, coaching and directing Henry IV part 1, Henry VI part 2, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Also for CSC, Bryn directed last season's 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. Other recent Boston-area credits include: Last Night at Bowl-Mor Lanes with Paula Plum and Nancy E. Carroll (Greater Boston Stage Company); an all-female production of Julius Caesar for Actors' Shakespeare Project with Bobbie Steinbach, Marianna Bassham, and Marya Lowry; and the Boston premiere of Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti (OWI Theatre).

She is the Artistic Director of Boston fringe ensemble Anthem Theatre Company, a member of the 2016-2019 cohort of Resident Performing Arts Companies at Boston Center for the Arts. With Anthem she has created and directed multiple devised works and reimagined classics including the Red Sox/Yankees-themed Romeo vs. Juliet, performed free in Cambridge's Joan Lorentz Park; I, Snowflake, a devised post-election reaction play; and her original work, The Merry Way, featuring traditional Irish folk song. Upcoming directing projects include My Fascination with Creepy Ladies (devised with Anthem), Admissions by Joshua Harmon (The Gamm Theatre), and The Children by Lucy Kirkwood (Speakeasy Stage). She will also be directing the reading of Pru Payne by Steven Drukman for The Derrah Theatre Lab, the newly formed theatre company honoring Boston great, Tommy Derrah. New York and Regional credits as an actor and/or director include work with Asolo Repertory Company, Boston Playwrights' Theatre, InProximity Theatre Company, Theatre Row, Martha's Vineyard PAC, Monomoy Theatre, Caroline's on Broadway, and Manhattan Theatre Club.

As a theatre educator, Bryn currently teaches at Salem State University, where her wide-ranging experience has allowed her to teach Voice for Performance, Applied Stage Movement, Public Speaking, 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), and a Master's Certificate in Arts Administration from Boston University. She also holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from Emporia State University (KS) and a BS in Journalism from the University of Kansas. For more information, visit www.brynboice.com

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC), 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 24-year history and has become a beloved summer tradition enjoyed by over 50,000 people annually. CSC also presents fully staged productions including past productions of the world premiere of Our American Hamlet, Beckett in Brief, Death and the Maiden, Old Money, Caryl Churchill's Blue Kettle and Here We Go, and Naomi Wallace's adaptation of William Wharton's novel Birdy. It also produces an annual "Theatre in the Rough," semi- staged readings including 2017's Fear and Misery in the Third Reich featuring Tony Shalhoub and Brooke Adams. CSC also hosts two annual series, entitled 'Shakespeare and the Law' and 'Shakespeare and Leadership,' which analyze Shakespeare's work as it relates to contemporary issues, leadership, and laws. CSC fulfills its educational mission with actor-training programs for pre-professional and professional actors through the summer Apprentice program and CSC2. To learn more about these programs, visit commshakes.org.

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