20th Annual Summer Repertory Season Moves From The Stage To The Radio Waves

Embracing the ubiquity of contemporary podcasts while harkening to the earlier radio dramas devised by the great actor and director Orson Welles, Shakespeare Theatre Company's Academy for Classical Acting presents its summer repertory season of three radio plays: Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw, and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

"Theatre, more than any other storytelling medium, asks the audience to contribute to the story by lending their imaginations to the experience. We build sets, but they can only suggest locations - the audience fills in the rest. Costumes give the illusion of character, but many productions use only a piece here and there: a coat, or hat, or a crown, to indicate character. The audience has to dress out the rest of the costume in their imagination." ACA Program Director Alec Wild, director of the visceral and haunting Hamlet, says, "Radio doubles down on this idea. Everything is up to the imagination of the audience! It is arguably the most purely theatrical experience, and we're thrilled to be adding these audio dramas to the STC/ACA repertoire."

Returning to the ACA after 2019's production of As You Like It, award-winning director and playwright Aaron Posner directs his adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman. Posner's adaption also marks the first ACA production of a 20th century classic. Helen Hayes Award winner Holly Twyford makes her ACA debut as the director of Romeo and Juliet, assisted by ACA alumna Sara Dabney Tisdale, with an honest and biting take on Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers.

ACA RADIO REPS features the talents of the ACA Class of 2020, coached by renowned voice actor and vocal coach Lisa Beley and audio engineered by the Shakespeare Theatre Company audio team, led by Gordon Nimmo-Smith.

STREAMING

Live Streaming Date(s): www.radio.co

July 16, 2020 Romeo and Juliet

July 17, 2020 Hamlet

July 18, 2020 Man and Superman

Online: http://aca.shakespearetheatre.org/radioreps

Podcast Availability: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and wherever you find your podcasts