Unseam'd Shakespeare Company is a professional theatre company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1993, the theatre's mission is to "rediscover and reinvent classic and classically inspired plays for modern audiences and present these plays in artistically ambitious and innovative productions." [1] A member of the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America, the company has produced classic works by Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Brecht, as well as contemporary plays inspired by classic works such as Paula Vogel's Desdemona, A Play about a Handkerchief. Some of these contemporary plays have included premiere productions by Pittsburgh playwrights, such as Amy Hartman's Mad Honey, Anya Martin's Teatro Latino de Pittsburgh, and Wali Jamal's Braddock '76. [2] The company has received praise from local publications such as Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, City Paper, and Pittsburgh Magazine and has received recognition for their own productions as well as productions in conjunction with the Pittsburgh New Works Festival. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] The company has also received national and international attention, having been featured in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the National Performing Arts Conference. [8]
The Scottish play and the Bard's play are euphemisms for William Shakespeare's Macbeth. The first is a reference to the play's Scottish setting, the second a reference to Shakespeare’s popular nickname. According to a theatrical superstition, called the Scottish curse, speaking the name Macbeth inside a theatre, other than as called for in the script while rehearsing or performing, will cause disaster. On top of the aforementioned alternate titles, some people also refer to the classical tragedy as Mackers for this reason. Variations of the superstition may also forbid quoting lines from the play within a theatre except as part of an actual rehearsal or performance of the play.
Samantha Jane Bond is an English actress, who is best known for playing Miss Moneypenny in four James Bond films during the Pierce Brosnan years, and for her role on Downton Abbey as the wealthy widow Lady Rosamund Painswick, sister of Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham. She is also known for originating the role of "Miz Liz" Probert in the Rumpole of the Bailey series. Bond is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. In her television career, she is known for her role as "Auntie Angela" in the sitcom Outnumbered and the villain Mrs Wormwood in the CBBC Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Out of This Furnace is a historical novel and the best-known work of the American writer Thomas Bell. It was first published in 1941 by Little, Brown and Company.
Jessica Boone is an American film, television, and voice actress with extensive experience in Shakespeare and musical theatre, who used to work primarily for ADV Films, Funimation, Sentai Filmworks, and Seraphim Digital, when she lived in Houston.
Robert Cuccioli is an American actor and singer. He is best known for originating the lead dual title roles in the musical Jekyll and Hyde, for which he received a Tony Award nomination and won the Joseph Jefferson Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, and the Fany Award for outstanding actor in a musical.
Dame Harriet Mary Walter is a British actress. She has received a Laurence Olivier Award as well as numerous nominations including for a Tony Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2011, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to drama.
The Shakespeare Theatre Company is a regional theatre company located in Washington, D.C. The theatre company focuses primarily on plays from the Shakespeare canon, but its seasons include works by other classic playwrights such as Euripides, Ibsen, Wilde, Shaw, Schiller, Coward and Tennessee Williams. The company manages and performs in the Harman Center for the Arts, consisting of the Lansburgh Theatre and Sidney Harman Hall. In cooperation with George Washington University, they run the Academy for Classical Acting.
Paul Shelley is an English actor.
Michael Kahn is an American theater director and drama educator. He has, since 1986, been the artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. He retired from the Shakespeare Theatre in 2019. He held the position of Richard Rodgers Director of the Drama Division of the Juilliard School from 1992 to 2006.
The Liverpool Shakespeare Festival is an annual celebration of the works of William Shakespeare produced by the Lodestar Theatre Company. Originally centered on Liverpool Cathedral, each summer sees different plays performed in various exciting venues - some by the festival's organisers and others by visiting companies.
Rupert Goold is an English director who works primarily in theatre. He is the artistic director of the Almeida Theatre, and was the artistic director of Headlong Theatre Company (2005–2013).
PICT was founded in 1996 by Andrew S. Paul and Stephanie Riso in Pittsburgh. PICT has emerged as a significant contributor to the cultural fabric of Pittsburgh with almost 2,000 season subscribers, and annual attendance of over 23,000. A constituent member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), PICT has garnered a yearly position on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's list of the city's Top 50 Cultural Forces. The organization's productions are consistently ranked among the year's best by the critics of the Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Pittsburgh City Paper. PICT was named Theatre of the Year-in both 2004 and 2006 by the critics of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Following the 2007 season, feature actor David Whalen was named the Pittsburgh Post Gazette's 24th theatrical Performer of the Year. As of October 15, 2014, PICT has produced 89 main stage shows, including five world premieres, seven U.S. premieres, thirty-eight Pittsburgh premieres and four festivals.
Synetic Theater is a non-profit physical theater company located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It performs at the Crystal City Theatre in Arlington Virginia. Since its formation its productions have received numerous awards.
Pitt Stages', previously known as the "University of Pittsburgh Stages" orUniversity of Pittsburgh Repertory Theatre or Pitt Rep, is the flagship production company for the University of Pittsburgh Department of Theatre Arts. Pitt Stages features students on stage with professional actors and teaching artists staging public performances of classic masterpieces, contemporary productions, and student-directed labs. The company's primary performance spaces include the University's Stephen Foster Memorial and Cathedral of Learning.
Ako, or Ako Dachs, is a Japanese actress and founding Artistic Director of Amaterasu Za theatre company.
Pittsburgh New Works Festival is an annual festival where participating Pittsburgh-area theatre companies each produce an original one-act play. Established in 1990 by Donna Rae, the Festival features four weeks of productions of new plays as well as two weeks of LabWorks. The Festival has taken place in numerous locations, originally having performances at City Theatre's Lester Hamburg Studio, Open Stage, the Father Ryan Arts Center in McKees Rocks, and currently Carnegie Stage in Carnegie.
Theater in Pittsburgh has existed professionally since the early 1800s and has continued to expand, having emerged as an important cultural force in the city over the past several decades.
Stage Right! is a professional theatre company and performing arts school located in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Established in 1998 as an organization for young people to take classes in musical theatre by Chris Rizk, Stage Right! also became a professional theatre company in 1999, established by artistic director Anthony Marino, Rizk's brother. The company produces a full season of musicals, utilizing professional actors from the Pittsburgh theatre scene as well as students from their classes.
Bianca Amato is a South African actress known for her work in American theatre, as a prolific audiobook performer and for her portrayal of Philippa De Villiers in the original cast of the South African soap opera Isidingo.
Avant Bard Theatre is a small, primarily non-Equity theater based in Arlington, VA. The company was founded in 1990 under the name Washington Shakespeare Company; its name was changed to WSC Avant Bard in August 2011; its name was subsequently changed to Avant Bard Theatre in October 2017. Avant Bard focuses on producing "bold and experimental productions of classic and contemporary works".