The Acting Company's ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT SERIES Launches Tonight With Dakin Matthews and Angela Pierce in TEA
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jul. 08, 2020
The Acting Company today announced the launch of its Alumni Spotlight Series of virtual readings and concerts celebrating the multiple talents of The Company's acclaimed alumni actors, who over two generations have been at the forefront of theater, television and film. In this time of social distancing, events will be presented virtually on YouTube, making them accessible to a global audience.
The series begins tonight, July 8, 2020, at 7:30 PM with a reading of the new short play Tea, written by Dakin Matthews (Rocky, To Kill a Mockingbird), directed by Anne McNaughton (Les Liaisons Dangereuses at Antaeus Theatre), and performed by Dakin Matthews and Angela Pierce (The Great Society, Oslo).
The reading will stream on The Acting Company's YouTube channel at youtube.com/TACvideoreel. The video will remain available on YouTube for four days following its initial release, expiring at 7:29 PM on Sunday, July 12.
Written, directed and performed by Acting Company alumni, Tea follows two old friends discovering a new facet to their relationship as they reflect on a life in theater, the intimacy of creating art, and the meaning behind nightcaps. Featuring Dakin Matthews and Angela Pierce, this short piece is a sweet look at the complexities of love and friendship.
Continuing with a new event approximately every two weeks, the Alumni Spotlight Series consist of works performed, written and/or directed by Acting Company alumni, including David Manis (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), Dakin Matthews (Rocky, To Kill A Mockingbird), Anne McNaughton (Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Antaeus Theatre), J.D. Mollison (Octet, X: Or, Betty Shabazz v. The Nation), Angela Pierce (The Great Society, Oslo), John Skelley (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), William Sturdivant (X: Or, Betty Shabazz v. The Nation), Tatiana Wechsler (Love in Hate Nation, X: Or, Betty Shabazz v. The Nation). Also featured will be Sebastian Arroyo (Coriolanus, Shakespeare in the Park) and Baize Buzan (To Kill A Mockingbird).
Viewer donations are encouraged and will jointly support The Acting Company and Covid-19 charity Brooklyn for Life!, a non-profit organization founded by Acting Company alumnus Jeffrey Wright to engage Brooklyn restaurants to provide meals for frontline healthcare workers and first responders.
The series will continue on July 15 with a reading of the new play Words Fail Me by David Manis, followed by three additional events announced today and others to be added at a later date. All events will stream for free on The Acting Company's YouTube channel and remain available for four days after their release.
Complete series information is available at www.theactingcompany.org/in-new-york/spotlight-series/.
Series Schedule:
Wednesday, July 8 | 7:30 PM
Tea
Directed by Anne McNaughton
Featuring Dakin Matthews and Angela Pierce
Tea follows two old friends discovering a new facet to their relationship as they reflect on a life in theater, the intimacy of creating art, and the meaning behind nightcaps. Featuring Dakin Matthews and Angela Pierce, this short piece is a sweet look at the complexities of love and friendship.
Wednesday, July 15 | 7:30 PM
Words Fail Me
Written and directed by David Manis
Featuring Baize Buzan and Dakin Matthews
An aging actor, the role of a lifetime, and an epiphany of galactic proportions. David Manis's rollercoaster comedy reveals the unlikely secret to the improbable success of southeast Michigan's second-largest Shakespeare festival.
Wednesday, July 29 | 7:30 PM
Dear Friends: Tatiana Wechsler in Concert
An intimate evening of songs performed by Acting Company alum Tatiana Wechsler, Dear Friends is a collection of original tunes and covers curated to empower, uplift, and center love and joy. Enjoy familiar favorites, new songs inspired by Shakespeare and August Wilson, and more!
Wednesday, August 12 | 7:30 PM
Endgame
Directed by Devin Brain
Featuring J.D. Mollison, John Skelley, and William Sturdivant
A masterpiece of minimalism, Beckett's comedy finds four refugees from an unknown apocalypse trapped together and waiting for the end. Bleak and sweet, slapstick and morose, his exploration of the human experience dangles humor at edge of an abyss. Featuring a remarkable cast of Acting Company alumni, Endgame speaks to our current moment as we long for connection, think fondly of the past, and sustain hope in the face of an uncertain future.
Wednesday, August 26 | 7:30 PM
Letters from Cuba
By María Irene Fornés
Featuring Sebastian Arroyo, with additional casting to be announced
Based on three decades of letters María Irene Fornés received from her brother in Havana, Letters from Cuba moves back and forth in time and place and spirit, linking a young dancer and her relatives in Cuba as it explores lifelong connections that bind us to the people who truly make our lives sing. The play finds Fornés at the height of her mastery in a work of mature sentimentality from a writer renowned for her piercing insight and bold theatricality.
Comments
Videos