Kim & Occhiogrosso Reflect on Shakespeare in 'THE PLEASURE OF HIS COMPANY' at Centenary Stage Company

Today, April 23 at 2PM Centenary Stage Company's Great Authors Out Loud Series presents Randall Duk Kim and Anne Occhiogrosso in "THE PLEASURE OF HIS COMPANY: Our Love Affair with William Shakespeare," an afternoon of personal recollections, scenes and stories of Shakespeare's influence on Kim and Occhiogrosso's lives and careers for more than four decades and a special tribute to the First Folio of 1623, the text from which they have worked for forty years.

What makes a girl from a working class family in Maspeth, Queens, New York and a boy from a carnation farm in Honolulu, Hawaii fall head over heels in love with William Shakespeare, a playwright from whom most run away, and spend the next 45 years of their lives dedicating themselves to the works of this great playwright? Both encountered the playwright from a very early age and have gathered funny, heartfelt and inspiring stories and had the privilege of embodying some of his greatest characters and directing his best plays over that time and invite you to share the pleasure of his company with them this April.

The 2-character presentation, conceived and written by Kim and Occhiogrosso to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, which interestingly enough shares the day with that of his birth and to pay tribute to the First Folio of 1623, a collection of Shakespeare's plays which scholars cite as the most authentic and reliable versions of a majority of the playwright's texts. The audience will be treated to their own private lesson of how to use the text in performance. 2016 is a special year in which the Folger Shakespeare Library is sending eight copies on a national tour and exhibit. New Jersey will host one of these copies at Drew University this October.

"THE PLEASURE OF HIS COMPANY: Our Love Affair with William Shakespeare" is a free event. Reservations are highly recommended. Reservations can be made on-line at centenarystageco.org or by calling the Centenary Stage Company box office at (908) 979 - 0900. The CSC box office is located in the Lackland Center at 715 Grand Ave. Hackettstown, NJ and is open Monday through Friday from 1 - 5pm and 2 hours prior to every performance. Centenary Stage Company can also be found across social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.