Civic Theatre to Screen HD Broadcasts from London's Old Globe Theatre

Civic Theatre of Allentown will bring six highly acclaimed productions from the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre of London to Allentown's 19th Street Theatre and Theatre514 screens starting in January. The screenings are presented by Shakespeare's Globe, in partnership with Arts Alliance Media.

The productions will include high definition broadcasts of "Henry V," "Twelfth Night," "The Taming of the Shrew," "The Tempest," "Macbeth," and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." All the productions were taped at the Globe Theatre in London's Southwark neighborhood on the south bank of the River Thames. The productions are designed to pay homage to those from Shakespeare's original Globe Theatre. The Globe was originally built in 1599, destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt in 1614, and then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction is an academic approximation based on available evidence of the 1599 and 1614 buildings. It was founded by the actor and director Sam Wanamaker and opened to the public in 1997.

"We are very excited to bring these extraordinary broadcasts to Allentown," says Michael Traupman, Managing Director of Civic Theatre of Allentown. "As a producer of live theatre and as the oldest continually running art house in the region, we feel that these broadcasts are the perfect marriage of the art that we create onstage and present on screen. When we made the switch from 35mm to high definition digital cinema last year, we had hopes of presenting exciting programming like this. We look forward to sharing some of the world's best Shakespearean actors and performances with the Lehigh Valley."

The following is the schedule for the Old Globe Series at Civic Theatre. All screenings will be at 7:00 pm. Please note the date and location of each screening.

January 15 - "Henry V" - 19th Street Theatre
January 29 - "Twelfth Night" - Theatre514
February 12 - "Taming of the Shrew" - Theatre514
March 10 - "The Tempest" - 19th Street Theatre
March 31 - "Macbeth" - 19th Street Theatre
April 7 - "Midsummer Night's Dream" - Theatre514

Tickets to the Globe Series at Civic are available as a subscription or as single tickets. Single tickets are $15 (Civic members $14). Patrons may choose to subscribe to the entire series for $72 (a 20% savings over single ticket pricing). Group discounts are available. Tickets are available in advance online (www.CivicTheatre.com) and at the Civic Theatre Box Office by calling (610) 432-8943.

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