[247] Actors from London Stage Bringing Shakespeare to MTSU Feb. 8-10

Actors from the London Stage bringing Shakespeare to MTSU Feb. 8-10

FOR RELEASE: Jan. 31, 2012
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina E. Fann, 615-898-5385, Gina.Fann@mtsu.edu

MURFREESBORO—Shipwrecks! Mistaken identities! Plot twists! Cross-dressing! And all of this before midterms?

Yes! MTSU will reap the benefits of Queen Elizabeth I’s midwinter boredom—or so legend has it—Feb. 8-10 with special performances of William Shakespeare’s comedy “Twelfth Night” by a visiting quintet of Actors from the London Stage.

Performances are scheduled nightly at 7:30 in MTSU’s Tucker Theatre. Admission to the performances is free to MTSU students, faculty and staff with their MTSU IDs, $5 for K-12 students and $10 for the general public.

The spring 2012 AFTLS troupe includes Richard Daniel Stacey, Katherine Heath, Michael Palmer, Dan Winter and Jennifer Higham.

“Note that the performances will be full-length, with few or no cuts, calling for virtuosic doubling and tripling of roles by the five troupers,” explained Dr. Kevin Donovan, an MTSU English professor and director of the department’s graduate program.

“As those of us who have attended performances by past AFTLS troupes can testify, this makes for very exciting theater.”

The visit is part of a weeklong educational residency by the AFTLS group, one of the oldest established touring Shakespeare theater companies in the world.

Founded by renowned actor Patrick Stewart and developed by Professor Homer Swander at the University of California-Santa Barbara, AFTLS brings a different five-actor troupe to 16 to 20 different universities each year.

While on campus, the AFTLS members devote a large part of their time to student interaction in classroom workshops, on-stage demonstrations, text readings or informal meetings with students.

Each troupe spends the tour performing a single Shakespeare play at universities, but their vast theater experience also allows them to cover other texts to help students better understand and enjoy the performing arts.

For more information about Actors from the London Stage, visit www.nd.edu/~aftls/at_a_glance. For MTSU ticket information, call 615-494-8821 or visit www.mtsu.edu/tuckertheatre.

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