Hero

Beatrice

Leonato

Conrade

Margaret/Verges/ Beatrice U/S

Ursula

Don Pedro

Benedick

Claudio

Borachio

Don John

Antonio

Dogberry

Sexton/Understudy

Watch/Understudy

Laylah Cooper-Holman

Kim Shively*

Cliff Odle*

Matías Kruse

Katie Gaven

Rebecca Lembcke

Julian Stetkevych*

David Johnson III

Jakob Gruntfest

Jaden Carlisle

Julian Mudge-Burns

Jahleel E. Johnson

Eric Feucht

Mary Kathryn Brown

Sam Olt

Director

Scenic/Props Designer

Props Procurer

Costume Designer

Music Arranger

Music Director

Assistant Director

Intimacy Choreographer

Voice and Speech Coach

Voice/Dialect Intern

Stage Manager

Assistant Stage Manager

*Appearing through an agreement between this theater, PSC, and actors’ equity association. The Union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States

Carl Forsman

John Coyne

Tannis Boyajian

Zoe Gilreath

Blake Moran

Cristian Albee

Gianna Marullo

Lyric Dukes

Brett Radke

Ellie Chickoree

Nikki Hyde*

Katie Karleskint

Asst. Costume Design/

Wardrobe

Wardrobe Intern

Electrician

Aud. Engagement Intern

Aud. Engagement Intern

Marketing Intern

Company Manager

Executive Producer

Jaidan Chambers

Magda Riha

Cadence Amaral

Addison Gully

Mary Kathryn Brown

Addie Rankin

Loren Brunson

David J. McGraw

Director of Artistic Sign Language

Director of Artistic Sign Language

ASL Interpreter

ASL Interpreter

ASL Interpreter

ASL Interpreting Intern

Frank Griffin

Cole Hayes

AmyRuth McGraw

Jennifer Vega-Cook

Sarah Ferguson

Reyna Harper

UNCSA School of Design & Production and Michael Kelley

UNCSA School of Drama and John Langs

Elon University Costume Shop and Heidi Jo Schiemer

Capture Public Relations and Marketing

A&M Balanced Books

Brandon Bagwell

Sara Becker

Kai Crafton

Monte Heath

Tommy McMasters

Karen Boyd

Ryan Shively

Kaye Kennedy

Mallory Forsman

AmyRuth McGraw

A Note on Original Practice

The twentieth century saw Shakespeare performance undergo radical reinvention time and again. Almost every theatrical movement and style in the western theatrical tradition (and many eastern ones too!) has been adapted to confront Shakespeare’s legacy.

One strain of this invention was a technique known as “original practice”. The originating idea was to produce Shakespeare’s plays as Shakespeare and his company might have done. There were gradations of this idea, from the reconstruction of the Globe in London, to Cheek by Jowl’s famous all-male company in their touring AS YOU LIKE IT, to Atlanta’s Shakespeare Tavern’s intensely period-specific costumes.

At Piedmont Shakespeare, we are exploring our own rendition of original practice: our work is animated by our understanding of Shakespeare’s theatrical practice as driven by necessity and intention.

Shakespeare didn’t use representative scenery. This practice allowed his plays to range freely and quickly from forest to castle, from ships at sea to nomads in a desert. We attempt to create a theatrical space as limitless as the Globe.

Shakespeare’s actors wore contemporary clothes. The idea of period costumes was still at more than a century away; and the the idea of making his characters look and feel like they were from another time doesn’t appear to have interested Shakespeare. By insisting his characters were contemporary and alive (even Caesar and Cleopatra and ancient kings), he humanized history and drew parallels between their experience and our own. We dress in contemporary styles to emphasize that our work is immediate.

Shakespeare’s plays were filled with music. He employed musicians who were present onstage, and many of the plays feature songs, which were often to recognizable tunes. Music is always a part of our approach to the plays.

Shakespeare was an actor himself, and his partners and collaborators were all actors. Their work was centered on stories told thru language and poetry. The spoken word is the center of everything we do.

We aren’t trying to do what Shakespeare did: we’re using some key elements of his performance practice to inform our own attempt to connect his work to our lives and times, and to let him inform and reflect our own lived experience.  As we say to anyone who will listen: Shakespeare is for everyone. We haven’t brought him here. He brought us. 

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Papp Circle

Named for Joseph Papp, founder of The Shakespeare Workshop in 1954, which eventually became New York’s Public Theatre and Shakespeare in the Park

Mark and Alison Hunt

Sheila Virgil

Guthrie Circle

Named for Sir Tyrone Guthrie, founder of the Guthrie Theatre in Minnesota

Jacob Brent & Derek Tucker

Jack and Susan Campbell

Choplin Family

Carol Forsman

Carl & Mallory Forsman

Patricia Goeldner

Katherine Hoyt

Melinda Johnston

Peter & Beth Juran

Laurie & Leo Lambert

David & AmyRuth McGraw

Robert & Michelle Oppenheimer

Kim & Ryan Shively

Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych

Anonymous

Bradac Circle

Named for Tom Bradac, founder and artistic director of Shakespeare Orange County and the Grove Shakespeare Festival

Laura Archer

Chris Bridgeman

Theodore Colaluco

Ernie Dishner

Ray Dooley

Phyllis Dunning

Martha Houston

Derek Mobley

Peter Felton & Sara Walker

Richard & Nola Miller

Shawyer Spielberg Family

Greg Wright

Basil Circle

Named for John Basil, artistic director of the American Globe Theatre

Lincoln Bennet

Robert Beseda

Robert Blythe

Mary Boyd

Suzanne Bridges

Matthew Burczyk

Robert Burgin and Linda Willis

Emily Carrigan

Kenneth Cham

Nora Chambers

Tory Watkins Cherry

Robin Christian-McNair

John Coyne

Sara Eastwell

Lisa Feucht

Marcia Freed

Kathy Fruge

Richard Hess

Phillip Garland

Sandra Garner

Anne Geggie & Barb Watkins

Josephine Gorman

Kathryn & Henry Grillo

Kim Gruntfest

Marian Gully

Susan Ishmael

Lynda Ivey

Evie Johnson

Kathleen Kelly

Tangie Key

Jessica Klein

Megan Lembcke

Michael Lippert

Robert Lyons

Buddy Marterre

Lori Mudge

Edward Musco

Joe & Nancy Muster

Christian Parker

Margaret Patton

Louisa Petersen

Melissa Phillips

Jason Pierce

Antoinette Polito

Kathy Pounds

Sarah Putnam

Laura Rickard

L.D. Russell

Megan Russell

Katie Sanders

Kathryn Sears

Joel Shelton

Natasha Shepherd

Janna Showfety

Jeremy Skidmore

Jeff & Chrissy Stein

Jonathan Stephens

Pamela Timmerman

Robert Thurston

Nicholas Toren

Michael Tourek

Laurie Valentine & Scott North

Kirby & Laura Wahl

Courtney & Stephen Willis

Virginia Young

Franco Zauli

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