Nebraska Shakespeare

Films, Collaborations Highlight Big Year

When Nebraska Shakespeare in Omaha sent out a "Save the Date" email notice this week, it promised to pretty much fill your calendar. After all, the company is celebrating its 30th anniversary season, which dovetails with the world's marking of the fourth centennial of William Shakespeare's death.

Festivities kick off this month with the company's annual film festival featuring two landmark Royal Shakespeare Company productions that saw second life in the video/DVD market. The Gregory Doran-directed Hamlet starring David Tennant with Patrick Stewart as Claudius, screens February 10, and the 1979 Macbeth with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench in the lead roles will be shown February 24. Both films screen at the Aksarben Cinema, and following each will be a discussion led by Vincent Carlson-Brown, Nebraska Shakespeare Artistic Director, and D. Scott Glasser, professor and theater coordinator at the University of Nebraska-Omaha's (UNO) School of the Arts covering the film itself, the history of its production, and the interpretation of Shakespeare's texts.

Nebraska Shakespeare is partnering with the Durham Museum to host the Folger Library's national touring exhibit, "First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare," opening April 9 for a monthlong residency. Celebrating the exhibit's opening day at the museum will be a Director's Reading Series program featuring a Shakespeare play not in the First Folio: The Two Noble Kinsmen. Actors will read excerpts from the play and lead discussions on the Shakespeare-John Fletcher collaboration.

Shakespeare on the Green, the company's annual slate of plays performed at Elmwood Park, kicks off June 23 with The Taming of the Shrew. Macbeth joins the repertory June 30 for the season, which ends July 10. Each presentation is accompanied by talks, green shows, and, later in the runs, performances by participants in Nebraska Shakespeare's Camp Shakespeare program for kids.

Camp Shakespeare, June 27–July 10, has proven so popular over the years it is expanding by 10 hours this year. The camp gives kids a chance to learn about sword fighting, wearing costumes, and acting while gaining hands-on experience performing the works of Shakespeare. Three programs are available: Jesters for children 8–11, Apprentices for 12–14, and Players for 15–18. To enroll, click here.

From September 19 to October 14, Nebraska Shakespeare will take a 75-minute version of Hamlet on tour to Nebraska and western Iowa classrooms and communities. In November, Nebraska Shakespeare is collaborating with UNO and Creighton University on A War of Roses, a two-part retelling of Shakespeare's Henry VI trilogy. The first installment, Foreign Flames, will run November 3–13 followed by A Fire Within November 11–20. These productions will be staged at Creighton's Lied Center.

February 3, 2016

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