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Who did kingsmen work for shakespeer12/18/2022 ![]() ![]() On that last poster is written, “Commemorating the Completion of Shakespeare's Canon on March 17, 2011.” In the Tavern lobby, 39 posters feature production photos of every Shakespeare play the company has done there from Pericles in 1999 through Edward III. Because his theater's near-term future might require more reliance on the always-popular titles, he said, “this last year I really wanted to reach out to the übergeeks in my audience, and I really wanted to sound the horn to say, ‘We're the company that does it all.'” Watkins decided to go for broke and do all five plays in a single season, not only because he's somewhat impetuous anyway, but also as part of a long-term economic strategy. “I start reading it out loud and I go, ‘It's Shakespeare. Then somebody pointed out that Edward III was in the Riverside Shakespeare. As he was planning out last season, he realized the company had done 34 of Shakespeare's known plays, lacking only Coriolanus, Henry VIII, Timon of Athens, and The Two Noble Kinsmen. Watkins, who founded the company in 1984 and started producing plays at the locally famous Manual's Tavern before moving to the company's own Peachtree Street digs in 1990, didn't necessarily set out to produce the whole canon of plays. company to play the entire canon of Shakespeare's plays, Watkins' enterprise staged not only all of those in the First Folio plus Pericles and The Two Noble Kinsmen, but also two plays of questionable Shakespearean authorship, Edward III and Double Falsehood, or The Distressed Lovers (nee Cardenio). The company performs a wide range of classics plus 19th and 20th century works, but its bread and butter-or, rather, what brings people to eat its breads and butter-is the namesake playwright. The company also sends some of its members out to local schools for eight-week workshops that end with the students performing plays at their schools as well as at the Tavern. The only full-time, year-round professional acting ensemble in Georgia, the Atlanta Shakespeare Company has 21 employees-17 of whom can perform on the stage, and 14 are full-time actors and/or directors. Patrons dine on such pub grub as shepherd's pie, roasted tarragon chicken, Cornish pasties, spinach and cheese enchiladas, and various sandwiches, salads, soup, and black bean chili (traditional pub grub legitimately has a bad rep, but the Shakespeare Tavern's food is quite good, with the shepherd's pie rivaling that of an Irish pub up the street in Buckhead). The 240-seat (plus tables) Shakespeare Tavern serves up The Bard, with a bar in the back offering some 25 imported and local beers and ales, including Guinness and British ales on draught. Watkins, a trained magician and one-time street performer in New York and Chicago, is these days pursuing his desires and next dinners-literally and figuratively-as artistic director of the Atlanta Shakespeare Company and its unique Peachtree Street theater just north of downtown. If you commit to his solutions, you're in good hands.” “Shakespeare had the same actors, the same costumes, the same set, the same audience, and his job was to get those people to come back day after day after day. “I think the closer we get to Shakespeare's own business model, the more successful we will be,” he said. It was a lesson confirmed for him as his Atlanta Shakespeare Company this year achieved a goal of producing at its New American Shakespeare Tavern every play credibly attributed to Shakespeare. Unparalleled drama, rich characters, soaring poetry, and an efficient rehearsal schedule: Shakespeare's First Folio has it all, said Jeff Watkins, and in that collected work of plays, he has found not just good theater but a good theater business model, too. Sign up for free weekly e-mail updates (safe, secure, spamless, and unshared)Ĭheck out the guy behind this website, Eric Mintonįollow interview with a Shakespeare Impresario Playing the Whole Shakespeare Canon: Sponsorship and Advertising opportunities The Tavern makes two appearances in the Top 40Ī list of productions seen, including The Tavern's Judi Dench Tackles Her Greatest Role: Judi Dench Much Ado About…What Exactly?-Changing Shakespeare's Text Results in Controversy beyond Creative Considerations Over-tweaking Shakespeare's texts in Commentary: ![]() Old Ways Yield New Ways with Twelfth Night Henry VI, Part 3- A Date with Destiny: Watching Genius Emerge Henry VI, Part 2- High Stakes and Hijinks, the Sequel Henry VI, Part 1- A Debut-Like Experience of Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream-A Dream With a Most Palpable Bottom Link to the New American Shakespeare Tavern: There's more there, even to the point where I've done the play five or six times in some cases.” ![]() "When I started I meant to let the plays teach me enough so I could monkey with them, but I've never gotten past that. ![]()
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