ISC teams with LAMDA for Folio | O, What Learning Is!

The new International Shakespeare Center wants to make Santa Fe a destination for Shakespeare education, performance, and training. Board member Robin Williams spoke with Richard Gaddes, then general director of The Santa Fe Opera, about beginning the center several years ago. According the Santa Fe New Mexican, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art was simultaneously looking to create more of a presence in the United States for its American graduates. Eventually, the two associations teamed up to offer forthcoming workshops and performances that will hopefully establish Santa Fe as a destination for Shakespeare similar to the festivals in Ashland, Oregon or Stratford, Ontario.

Three staffers from the London Academy will offer workshops during the month of February to coincide with the visiting exhibit of the First Folio, on loan from the Folger Library, at the Museum of Art in Santa Fe. Joanna Reed, the Academy’s principal, Rodney Cottier, director and instructor for acting, stage combat, and text, and Judith Phillips, head of voice, will leading three sessions: “King Lear and the Text,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and “The Sonnets.”

First Folio! The Book that Gave us Shakespeare will run at the museum from February 5 through 28. Robin Williams and fellow board member Kristin Bundesen will be serving as scholars for the exhibit, funded by the Folger Library, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Library Association.

Building on the momentum created by the visit of Shakespeare’s First Folio of plays from the Folger Library, the ISC is hosting instructors from one of the most prestigious acting schools in the UK, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). LAMDA will present workshops in February while the Folio is in town. – ISC website

Fifteen members from Ducdame Ensemble, a New York theater company, will also become involved in the presentations with their own show. In addition, the International Shakespeare Center is partnering with Upstart Crows, a troupe for students ages 10 to 18, for a January presentation of Measure for Measure in January and pop-up performances on February 14 around the Museum of Art.

Beyond this coming winter, the center plans to sponsor summer acting workshops, a youth Shakespeare festival, a conference, and an initiative to support Shakespeare reading groups.