The African-American Shakespeare Company Reschedules Streaming Of TWELFTH NIGHT; New Dates TBA

The African-American Shakespeare Company was to begin streaming its colorful new production of Twelfth Night on May 17, but due to technical/production delays will be rescheduled; new dates TBA.

Set in New Orleans after the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, viewers can expect to find resonance with our current collective situation as we begin to emerge from the pandemic and look around, eager to recover, rebuild and find happiness.

"My hope, says Director Bruce Avery, "is that those who've lost so much in this past year-students and teachers, performers, workers who lost jobs and careers-will find elements both heartbreaking and heartening in this show that resonate with them."

The performance was recorded and edited with the purpose of streaming in mind, meaning post-production sound effects and editing that will also include a soundtrack that fuses New Orleans Blues and Jazz to Shakespeare's text/lyrics.

This is the second AASC production of Twelfth Night, the first being in 2012, which was set in San Francisco.

Twelfth Night is made possible through a grant from Shakespeare in American Communities.

What: African-American Shakespeare Company Presents Twelfth Night
When: NEW DATES TBA
Where: Twelfth Night will stream via Onthestage.com
Cost: FREE for schools and other like-minded organizations; otherwise, donations encouraged
Links: Links to stream the production will be available at african-americanshakes.org

High-Res Images can be found HERE

Cast

Director: Bruce Avery
Editor and Designer: Lana Palmer
Stage Manager: Vanessa Hill

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Diana Lauren Jones - Viola/Sebastian
Jasmine Afshar - Olivia
Joshua Williams - Orsino
Olivia Obadiah Dunn - Malvolio
Zaya Kolia - Sir Andrew Aguecheek
Caleb Cabrera - Sir Tony Belch
Vanessa Barrantes - Maria
Cherokee White - Feste
Weslei Thomas - Fabian/Antonio
Eiko Yamamoto - Sea Captain/Priest

About the African-American Shakespeare Company
The award-winning African-American Shakespeare Company (AASC) was established in 1994 by professional theater artists from The American Conservatory Theatre as an alternative answer to the "Color Blind Casting" initiative that began in the early 90s. While this initiative temporarily changed the diversity on stage, African-American Shakespeare Company noticed color blind casting was ignoring these artists' rich cultural heritage and not making the most of the dynamic, cultural vibrancy that actors of color could bring to classical works. Moreover, since mainstream classical theaters often lack the ability to attract truly diverse audiences, The African-American Shakespeare Company aspires to highlight the dynamic cultural vibrancy that artists of color bring to classical productions.

The African-American Shakespeare Company's received a Certificate of Honor in 2004 from then San Francisco Mayor and now California Governor Gavin Newsom, was named "Best Live Theatre" by San Francisco Magazine in 2018, received a Jefferson Award for Public Service (Silver Recipient) in 2018, The Paine Knickerbocker Award in 2014 for Outstanding Achievement for a Theater Company by the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, along with a Community Partner Award from University of San Francisco's Leo T. McCarthy Center for outstanding collaboration in providing a quality Service-Learning program.

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