Who says you can never go home again? Shakespeare & Company's Artistic Director Tony Simotes is thrilled to announce the much anticipated return to its birthplace this summer in an exciting special engagement at Edith Wharton's Home, The Mount. Beginning today, July 20, the Company's non-union schools tour, the Northeast Regional Tour of Shakespeare, will perform a special 90-minute version of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Plunkett Street address in Lenox where the landmArk Theatre Company was created in 1978.
Press Opening is today, July 20th at 12:30pm, and will include a special opening-performance-only dance, created by Company artist and choreographer Susan Dibble, which will serve as a blessing for the re-entry of the Company to the grounds after over a decade of distance. Performances run through August 17 on The Dell at The Mount, 2 Plunkett Street, Lenox, MA.
Pricing for adults is $15 while student/child admission is $5. To view a complete schedule, receive a brochure, or inquire about discounts, please call the Box Office at (413) 637-3353 or visit
www.Shakespeare.org. For customized group visits-which may include artist talkbacks, tours, parties and catered events-contact the Group Sales office at (413) 637-1199, ext. 132. Please feel free to bring your own blanket, lawnchairs, and/or picnic baskets!
TOURS OF
Edith Wharton'S HOME, THE MOUNT: For general inquires and tours visit:
www.edithwharton.org or call (413) 637-5111.
"We are very happy to once again be offering family theatre on the grounds," says The Mount Executive Director, Susan Wissler. "Working together with
Shakespeare & Company and
Tony Simotes seemed like a natural fit. We look forward to a successful and fun-filled summer with many more collaborations in the future."
Though this staging of A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by longtime Company member
Jonathan Croy (The 39 Steps, Richard III, The Real Inspector Hound), is purposely light on set design, the magic, humor, and power of Shakespeare's words in his most beloved comedy will resonate throughout the natural woodlands near the Dell for years to come.
"Over the past three decades," recalls Croy, "I have had several opportunities to visit this play, either as an actor or director. Shakespeare's title says it all, and dreams and plays have much in common-they come from a marriage of the unconscious and conscious mind, those things we know about and those things we know we don't know about. We hope our audiences can take away some sense of the delicious folly of people acting from the extremity of their needs."
S&Co. Founding member and Artistic Director
Tony Simotes gets a little misty-eyed when recalling the legendary inception of the theatre group and performing as Puck in its first production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, back in 1978.
"It's hard to believe that it's been over three and a half decades since we first arrived at The Mount," says Simotes. "And we thank The Mount for their efforts and help to make this happen. I simply can't wait to see our Northeast Regional School's Tour production of A Midsummer Night's Dream performed on the same grounds where Founding Artistic Director,
Tina Packer directed me as that 'merry wanderer of the night' for our inaugural production."
Now in its 36th performance season and one of the largest Shakespeare Festivals in the country,
Shakespeare & Company was founded by Packer, who today is still a major presence within the Company.
"The heart of the Company's aesthetics, mission and values were developed and took root in those early days at The Mount," continues Simotes. "Tina and a core group of us artists were able discover what the Elizabethan's already new, which was to create a theatre of unprecedented excellence rooted in the classical ideals of inquiry, balance and harmony. We wanted to create a Company that performs as the Elizabethans did - in love with poetry, language, physical prowess and the mysteries of the universe. And we did just that on the grounds of novelist
Edith Wharton's beautiful turn-of-the-century estate."
In 2000, the Company purchased its current 33-acre home at 70 Kemble Street, one mile from the Mount, where it continues to adhere to its mission, values and forward moving vision.
The Mount is both a historic site and a cultural destination inspired by the passions and achievements of
Edith Wharton. Designed and built by
Edith Wharton in 1902, the house embodies the principles outlined in her influential book, "The Decoration of Houses" (1897). The property includes three acres of formal gardens designed by Wharton, who was also an authority on European landscape design, surrounded by extensive woodlands.
The Dell, a lovely outdoor setting just behind the rustic Stables, will host a team of seven
Shakespeare & Company Education Artists who spent the Spring traveling to approximately 75 schools throughout the Northeast, performing a 90-minute non-union schools production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The emphasis of their education work with students is on the power of language, pleasure in playing, and the relationship that exists between the actors and the audience. Besides in-school visits, nearly 100 additional schools came to the Company's Kemble Street home to see the production.
Northeast Regional Tour of Shakespeare, now in its 33rd year, has proven to be one of the Education Program's most successful and popular programs, reaching over 25,000 students every year, with new schools added annually to the roster of participants.
The pairing of the Northeast Regional Tour of Shakespeare and The Mount makes for an especially good fit, considering the strong educational mission of
Edith Wharton's Home. Today, The Mount hosts over 20,000 visitors annually. Daily tours of the property run May through October with special events throughout the year. Annual summer programming includes Wharton on Wednesdays, Music After Hours, and the popularMonday Lecture Series. Exhibitions explore themes from Wharton's life and work.
Shakespeare & Company's award-winning Education Program is one of the most extensive theatre-in-education programs in the Northeast, and has reached over a million students since 1978 with innovative performances, workshops, and residencies including The Northeast Regional Tour of Shakespeare, the Fall Festival of Shakespeare, Shakespeare & Young Company, Riotous Youth, Shakespeare in the Courts (with the Berkshire Juvenile Court), Shakespeare in our Schools: Workshops for Teachers and Actors, and the National Institute on Teaching Shakespeare, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Guided by Director of Education Kevin G. Coleman and Associate Director of Education Jenna Ware, the Education Program received the Commonwealth Award in 2005, the highest award for excellence in the arts, sciences, and humanities given by the state of Massachusetts. It was also the subject of the two-year study by Harvard University's Graduate School of Education (Project Zero), which recommended national replication. The Education program has been identified by the Arts Education Partnership and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities as a Champion of Change.
THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS' mission is to enrich our nation and its diverse cultural heritage by supporting works of artistic excellence, advancing learning in the arts, and strengthening the arts in communities throughout the country. Established by Congress in 1965, the NEA is an independent agency of the federal government and is the largest annual funder of the arts. Since its founding, it has awarded more than 120,000 grants in all 50 states and the six U.S. jurisdictions.
ARTS MIDWEST administers the NEA's Shakespeare for a New Generationinitiative. Arts Midwest, based in Minneapolis, connects the arts to audiences throughout the nine-state region of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, enabling individuals and families throughout America's heartland to share in and to enjoy the arts and cultures of the Midwest and the world.
Pictured: Luke Reed (Lysander), Brittany Morgan (Hippolyta), Adam Huff (Demetrius). Photo by Chad Champoux.
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