Actors Shakespeare Company at NJCU announces Season 2011-12: "Rough Magic"

Christmas with Dickens & Dylan - A Christmas Carol and A Child’s Christmas in Wales; Macbeth - small-cast production; Shakespeare on Screen - free film series; No Holds Bard: Much Ado About Nothing - impromptu play-along; The Tempest - outdoors.
By: Peter Galman, Marketing Director
 
Nov. 2, 2011 - PRLog -- JERSEY CITY, NJ – The Actors Shakespeare Company at New Jersey City University has announced its 2011-2012 Season, “Rough Magic.” The season includes Christmas with Dickens & Dylan, a main-stage production featuring adaptations of A Christmas Carol and A Child’s Christmas in Wales; Macbeth, and a free film series, Shakespeare on Screen including Richard III directed by and featuring Sir Laurence Olivier and Throne of Blood, directed by Akira Kurosawa. An unrehearsed, audience participation performance of Much Ado About Nothing warms up the theater in January and the season finishes with an outdoor production of The Tempest in June.

October marks the company’s 11th anniversary, and the 2011-2012 Season will be the company’s seventh season as the professional theater in residence at New Jersey City University, all under the stewardship of Producing Artistic Director Colette Rice.

The Season 2011-2012 theme is "Rough Magic", inspired by Prospero in The Tempest, who marks his return to duty, civilization, and his own humanity with the vow, “This Rough Magic I here abjure.”  “What is the Rough Magic that keeps us from fulfilling our destinies, and living lives of truth and honor?  This year, ASC plunges into our relationship with the magic that takes us away from ourselves and leads us astray, as well as the magic that can bring us back to our purpose,” says Ms. Rice.  

ASC at NJCU initiates its main-stage production schedule in December with Christmas with Dickens & Dylan.  Characters from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," adapted by Greg Oliver Bodine,  and from Welsh poet Dylan Thomas' "A Child's Christmas in Wales" will be performed as a one-man tour-de-force by ASC Resident Artist Colin Ryan.  Heartwarming stories filled with Christmas cheer, ghosts and  presents make it the ideal holiday production for the whole family.  Peter Galman will direct the show. Performances run December 8-18, 2011, Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays and 3:00 p.m., at NJCU’s West Side Theater, 285 West Side Avenue, Jersey City.

On January 26, 2012, ASC at NJCU will open its stage to an unrehearsed staging of William Shakespeare’s beloved comedy, Much Ado About Nothing. The audience will assist in casting the play and may also participate in the performance.  “Join the Resident Artists of ASC for a fun-filled evening of out-loud, on-your-feet, seat-of-your-pants Shakespeare,” says Mr. Galman, the company's marketing director.  “Prizes will be awarded, and perhaps we’ll even discover our next Romeo or Juliet.”  The free event, No Holds Bard, will be held Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. at West Side Theater.

The 2011-2012 Season began informally with a new film series, Shakespeare On Screen.  ASC Resident Artist James Rana is hosting free screenings of films based on or inspired by Shakespeare.  On Sunday, October 23, 2011, ASC at NJCU presented Laurence Olivier's Richard III.  On Sunday, February 12, 2012, the Company will offer Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood.  Both films screen in the Grossnickle Hall Auditorium, Room 144, on the NJCU campus.

Continuing its main-stage schedule in early spring, the Actors Shakespeare Company at NJCU delves into one of Shakespeare’s most brutal and cynical stories, Macbeth.   Shakespeare’s tale of witches, apparitions and superstitions resonates with our own sense of foreboding in a world where nothing is as it seems, where “Fair is foul and foul is fair.” Ms. Rice directs.  Macbeth begins performances on March 16 and runs through April 1, 2012, at the West Side Theater.

The Actors Shakespeare Company at NJCU concludes its "Rough Magic" season with a series of performances of The Tempest, Shakespeare’s tale of shipwrecks, spirits, monsters and magic.  Ms. Rice directs the large-cast, outdoor production, which begins performances in June and runs for several weeks.  Stages along the waterfront in Hoboken, Jersey City and Bayonne are being considered for venues.

All the main-stage productions of Season 2011-12: Rough Magic have audience enrichment activities.  Before every performance, audience members are welcome to engage in Bard Banter, a discussion about the play held in the lobby of the theater. On select afternoons, Talkbacks are held after a matinee performance.  Visit ascnj.org/education/for-playgoers/ for details.

Advance orders for tickets to Christmas with Dickens & Dylan and Macbeth, including group sales, are now available.  Tickets for adults are $30, seniors $15 and students $10, persons under 18 pay their age in dollars.  A purchase of six or more tickets entitles a patron group to a 50% discount; Patrons can also earn single-ticket discounts of 20% by calling and mentioning where they saw the production notice.  Call ASC at NJCU at 201-200-2390 or visit www.ascnj.org.

The Actors Shakespeare Company at New Jersey City University’s Main Stage, the 125-seat West Side Theater is conveniently located in Jersey City at 285 West Side Avenue near Culver Avenue (on the NJCU campus), just minutes from Routes 440, 1-9 and 78.  There is ample parking in the University's lots on West Side Avenue.  There is also public transportation by bus from Port Authority Bus Terminal and Journal Square in Jersey City; and by Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to West Side Avenue.   For further help on getting to the theater, visit ascnj.org/your-visit/directions/.

The West Side Theater is wheelchair accessible.  Large print programs and assisted listening devices are available.  Some performances are audio described. Call 201-200-2390 for more information and requests.  




Season 2011 – 2012: Rough Magic

Richard III, a film by Laurence Olivier
Grossnickle Hall, NJCU
Sunday, October 23, 2011


Christmas with Dickens & Dylan
A Christmas Carol, adapted by Greg Oliver Bodine
& A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas
Directed by Peter Galman
West Side Theater, Jersey City
December 8 – 18, 2011

No Holds Bard: Much Ado About Nothing
Self-staged by the ASC Resident Artists
West Side Theater, NJCU Campus
Thursday, January 26, 2012

Throne of  Blood, a film by Akira Kurosawa
Grossnickle Hall, NJCU Campus
Sunday, February 12, 2012

Macbeth
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Colette Rice
West Side Theater
March 16 – April 1, 2012

The Tempest
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Colette Rice
June 2012
Times and places TBA

Call 201-200-2390 for more information.

# # #

The Actors Shakespeare Company at New Jersey City University is a professional, non profit ensemble theater, entering into its Twelfth Season of service to the Hudson County area, and its seventh at New Jersey City University. www.ascnj.org
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Source:Peter Galman, Marketing Director
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