Classical Theatre Company Launches New Junior Company

Classical Theatre Company will expand its Shakespeare Outreach Program in the Fall of 2016 by establishing a Junior Shakespeare Acting Company.

Hearkening back to the children's acting companies of Shakespeare's day, this company will accept children from ages 10-13 for an intensive acting and performance training program in Shakespeare.

The program will include vocal training, training in stage combat and movement, and performances of scenes from Shakespeare. Ultimately the Junior Company will work on plays written by Jonson, Lyly, Beaumont and Fletcher and other great Elizabethan playwrights specifically for the child players, some of whom went on to create the roles of children and young women in Shakespeare's company.

Shakespeare Outreach Program founder and director, Rutherford Cravens will continue to head up the program for students older than 13. The Shakespeare Outreach Junior Company will be led by longtime educator and Shakespeare expert, Kate Pogue. Mrs. Pogue is a playwright, librettist and theatre director. She received an undergraduate degree in theatre from Northwestern and an M.A. from the University of Minnesota. For ten years she was Artistic Director of both Opera to Go and The Shakespeare by the Book Festival, for which she directed numerous productions. Her book Shakespeare's Friends was published in January 2006 by Praeger and a companion volume, Shakespeare's Family, came out in June 2008. Her most recent Shakespeare books involve his training and include Shakespeare's Figures of Speech (2010) and Shakespeare's Education (2012). Her most recent project involved directing Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in the original pronunciation and taking the performance to the Edinbutgh Fringe Festival. She is a judge annually for the English Speaking Union high school Shakespeare competition. She is recently retired from the University of Houston Downtown where she recently directed Much Ado About Nothing. In 2011 she received the Outstanding Adjunct Professor award.

Ms. Cameron Wright will be the lead teacher for the program. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Theatre from the University of New Hampshire and began performing in film and television and on stage in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Film and television credits include Miss Congeniality 2, Midnight Run, Cherry 200, Tales from the Darkside, and The Turn of the Screw. Ms. Wright's favorite Shakespearean roles include Thaisa in Pericles, Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream (at The Globe Theatre in Los Angeles) and Gertrude (in a Las Vegas Shakespeare in the Park production of Hamlet). She appeared at the Odyssey Theatre in Hunger and Thirst as well as the U.S. Premiere of John Godber's SHAKERS in the role of Adele for the US/UK festival. She continued her studies with Stella Adler and at the London Academy of Music And Dramatic Arts. Returning to Nevada, she began pursuing a Master's Degree in Education at The University of Nevada, Las Vegas while artist in residence at a local private school. There she worked with the fifth grade team to direct the students in works of Shakespeare for performance and competition. Before moving to Houston in 2015, Ms. Wright spent six years teaching theatre at The Alexander Dawson School where her passion for kids performing Shakespeare was encouraged and the program grew.

Fall classes will take place at the Classical Theatre Company on ten Saturday mornings from October 1 - December 4, 2016 (taking off on Thanksgiving week). Admission is by interview and audition on Sunday, September 18, 2016. For more information email Kate Pogue at katep@classicaltheatre.org or call 713-963-9665.

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