Download Taming of the Shrew - Commitment, Creativity, Community

Manhattanville College Department of Dance & Theatre
2900 Purchase Street, Purchase, NY 10577 · Phone: 914.323.5458 · Fax: 914.323.7293
[email protected] · www.mville.edu/DanceTheatre
Manhattanville College Department of Dance & Theatre
Presents
Taming of the Shrew
by William Shakespeare
DIRECTOR
SET DESIGN
LIGHTING DESIGN
COSTUMES DESIGN
SOUND DESIGN
CHOREOGRAPHY
FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGERS
ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR
FIGHT CAPITAN
Clista Townsend
Ken Rothchild
Mike Lounsbery
Liz Prince
Clista Townsend
Aubrey Snowden, Joyce Trotta
Matt Mainhart
Mike Lounsbery
Devon Pernice, Rebekah Sheffer
Lexi Pelayo
Chris Smalley
The Ensemble
LAILA BLUMENTHAL-ROTHCHILD
KEVIN BRETTAUER
CHRIS CAMPANILE
ROMAR DULAY
GENEVIEVE GEARHART
LAUREN GEMELLI
VANESSA GIBENS
DEVIN LANDIN
LUCY MCRAE
BRIGITTE MULHOLLAND
JOSHUA PANGBORN
EVAN SHAFRAN
CHRIS SMALLEY
JACK SARACENO
AUBREY SNOWDEN
RACHAEL STEIMNITZ
KRI TATRO
ALI VAN HORN
DARRYLLEE VANOUDENHOVE
Kit Minola, Haberdasher, Servant
Pedant, Servant
Vincentio, Chauffer, Servant
Petruchio
Tranio
Curtis, Mrs. Minola
Kate
Baptista, Mr. Minola
Tailor, Maid, Servant
Widow, Nurse, Servant
Gremio
Hortensio
Lucentio
Magical Jester, Servant
Magical Jester
Bianca
Magical Jester, Servant
Grumio
Biondello
DEPARTMENT OF DANCE & THEATRE
Upcoming Events
EUGENE O’NEILL SYMPOSIUM:
“Long Days Journey Into Night”
with David Hays, Designer, Broadway Production
Founder and Artistic Director Emeritus, National Theatre of the Deaf
Honorary Doctorate, Manhattanville College
& Prof. J Ranelli, Director, Playwright
Founder, National Theatre Institute, Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center
Artist in Residence & Visiting Professor, Manhattanville College, 1995-2004
Thursday, March 24, 2005 • 7:30 pm
EAST LIBRARY, Reid Castle
FREE
SPRING ’05 DANCE CONCERT
GUEST CHOREOGRAPHERS:
Ara Fitzgerald & Diane McCarthy
NEW WORK BY FACULTY & STUDENTS
Thursday - Saturday • April 7 - 9 • 8:00 pm
Sunday, April 10 • 2:00 pm Matinee
LITTLE THEATRE, Brownson Hall
$5 w/ Student ID • $10 General Admission
APRIL THESIS FESTIVAL
Wed. - Thurs. & Sat. - Sun. • April 13 - 14 & 16 - 17
Check DTH website for more information.
ACTING FOR THE CAMERA SCENE NIGHT
April 28 • 7 pm
BENZIGER CONFERENCE ROOM • Free
CABARET SHOWING
April 28 • 8 & 10 pm
WEST ROOM • Free
For Reservations & Information: 914.323.7175. All events are subject to
change. Please call 914.323.5458 for exact dates and times.
Production Staff
LIGHT BOARD OPERATOR
SOUND BOARD OPERATOR
Ellen Orlando
Patrick Benedict
MASTER ELECTRICIAN
Lauren Bliss
ASSISTANT LIGHT DESIGNER
Lauren Bliss
COSTUME SHOP SUPERVISOR
Midge Denton
SEAMSTRESSES
Jessica Barry, Sabrina Doolittle,
SCENE 1 A
SCENE 1 B
SCENE 2
SCENE 1 A
SCENE 1 B
SCENE 1 C
SCENE 1 D
Lexi Pelayo
PROP MASTER
STAGE CREW
Evan Shafran
Jessica Barry, Patrick Benedict,
Jessica Burns, Suzanne DiPasquale,
Jamie London, Ellen Orlando,
Kelly Scallion
ELECTRICIANS
SCENE 1 A
SCENE 2 B
SCENE 2 B
SCENE 2 C
SCENE 2 D
Jessica Barry, Alexandra Benus,
Sabrina Doolittle, Ilene Echavarria,
Monica Moreau, Yoshito Sakuraba,
Christin Wagner
SET CONSTRUCTION
Andrea Cordaro,
Geoffrey Dilenschneider,
Taylor Donofrio, Amanda Kiss,
Chris Smalley
STAGE MANAGEMENT SUPERVISOR
HOUSE MANAGER
BOX OFFICE
POSTER DESIGN & PROGRAM
Bob Daley
Savanah Bodnar
SCENE 1 A
SCENE 1 B
SCENE 2 A
SCENE 2 B
SCENE
SCENE
SCENE
SCENE
SCENE
3A
3B
3C
4
5
Britt Stevens
Claudia Flores-Aldana
The Minola House in the midst of moving and selling the house.
And a puppet show in the Chautauqua Tent.
Padua. A public square.
The same
Act II
Padua. A room in Baptista’s house. Kate “questions” Bianca
about her suitors.
The same Many Suitors come to call
The same The Kate Petruchio Wooing scene
The same Auctioning off Bianca
Act III
A garden of the Baptists house, Bianca’s 1st Music
and Latin Lesson.
Padua outside the church waiting for the groom
The same Petruchio’s late arrival for the wedding
The same Tranio explains the fake dad plot. Gremio describes
the wedding
The same Petruchio declares they must skip the wedding
festivities
 Intermission 
Valery Cavadini, Dierdre Dillon,
Kelly Scallion, Rebekah Sheffer,
Act I
SCENE 1
SCENE 2 A
SCENE 2 B
Act IV
A hall in Petruchio’s house. Servants meet & greet
the new bride, bad dinner
The same Petruchio tells us his strategy for taming
Padua, a garden of Baptista’s house. Hortentio gives up courting
Bianca says Widow is the one
The same Biondello finds a Pedant to play the part of the fake
dad & Tranio sells the idea to the Pedant
A room in Petruchio’s house. Kate begs for food
The same Petruchio tells Kate of plan to go to Padua
The same The Tailor brings a new dress
Padua. Before Baptista’s house.
On the road to Padua.
Act V
Padua. Before Lucentio’s house.
A room in Lucentio’s house.
The Minola House
Director’s Notes
Biographies
Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, (Shrew) has been called,
variously, a farce, Commedia dell’Arte, poetic fantasy, a rudemanner’d shew, a festive comedy, a brutal commedy, a righte pleasante comity, a gem, a blasphemy, a dream, a plagiarism, a vaudeville, a comedy of manners, a comedy, and (of course) “that problem
play.” As we worked on this play I think we honestly found it to be all
of these except “a problem.” George Bernard Shaw wrote of the play,
“…is a remarkable example of Shakespeare’s repeated attempts to
make the public accept realistic comedy.” What? How can a play
which borrows so much from the Commedia dell’Arte be considered
realistic? Well, I think that the answer is that amidst the clowning and
buffoonery we find the very real love story of Kate and Petruchio—
perhaps a problematic love story but* a love story all the same.
manent ensemble that creates and presents new work and reworked classics in original and startling productions. His forty
off-Broadway productions for that company include: The Good
Woman of Setzuan, Antigone, St. Joan of the Stockyards, Ghost
Sonata, Danton's Death, Irondale's productions on both Russian
tours (Uncle Vanya, Sacrifice, and You Can't Win), and most
recently Wasted: The History/Mystery of Public Education in
America, and How It Got That Way. Recently his work as an Art
Director for film was seen in the WNET-Channel 13 documentary None Without Sin, the story of the relationship between
Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan. A graduate of NYU's Tisch School
of the Arts Design Program, he is a member of United Scenic
Artists Local 829. He is also the proud father of Laila and Kaya,
both of whom seem to be exhibiting an interest in show business.
This production isn’t an entirely traditional telling of Shakespeare’s
Shrew, as we have created a “new” Induction Scene to replace the
original Christopher Sly one. And yet, in another very important sense
this production is entirely traditional as the “play-within-the-play” of
Shrew is firmly rooted in the playing style of the Commedia dell’ Arte.
The Sly Induction scenes are often cut, but I found them useful as a
means to induce the play and to introduce many of the themes that
are more fully developed in the play itself, such as, public versus private identity, game playing, education and the battle between the
sexes. In our Induction scene we discover a wealthy 1940’s American
family (The Minola’s) suffering from financial ruin and being forced to
sell everything and move. The Minola’s Nanny and Chauffer have
taken nine year old daughter, Kit Minola to the Chautauqua Fair as a
distraction from the family “problems.” Eventually, young Kit listens
to a live radio broadcast of The Taming of the Shrew while reading
along with the text. Our production of Shrew emerges from Kit’s
imagination fusing her impressions from her life, story books, the circus and Shakespeare’s play (that she is reading). The idea came from
my own childhood, actually. My mom loved telling about the time
when she and my dad were surprised to find me at age eight glued to
our brand new black & white TV set. (We were the last ones on our
block to get a TV, mainly so my dad could watch his “Huntley, Brinkley.” ) I was watching a British production of Shakespeare’s Tempest
Acknowledgments & Thanks
President Richard Berman, Provost Gabriele Wickert,
Vice President Mary Corrarino, Professor Michael Posnick,
Judi Guralnick and the SUNY Purchase Props Department,
Ken Rothchild and Hilarie Blumenthal for allowing and
even encouraging their daughters Laila and Kaya to join
our "family".
Special thanks to Professor Michael Posnick for having the
creativity and wisdom to experiment with adding Playing
Shakespeare to DTH’s curriculum.
Biographies
Director’s Notes Cont...
iz Prince, Costume Design, has worked extensively with Bill T. Jones designing for his works on
his company, Boston Ballet, Berlin Opera Ballet
and Alvin Ailey American Dance. Other work includes designing for works by: Doug Varone (Doug Varone and
Dancers, Jose Limon Dance Company, Dayton Contemporary
Dance), Mark Dendy (Dendy Dance, Pacific Northwest Ballet,
Dortmund Theater Ballet), Trey McIntyre (American Ballet
Theater, Washington Ballet, PHILADANCO, Pennsylvania Ballet,
Houston Ballet), Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project,
Bill Irwin, Neil Greenberg, Ralph Lemon, Pilobolus, Jane Comfort, Lenora Champagne, Bebe Miller, Sarah East Johnson,
Gerard Alessandrini (MOBIL Masterpiece Theater Celebrates 20
Years on PBS), David Dorfman, Patricia Hoffbauer, Jennifer
Monson, Lawrence Goldhuber. Photographs of Prince's costumes
and sketches for Ralph Lemon's GEOGRAPHY were recently published by Theater Communication Group as part of THE PRODUCTION NOTEBOOKS volume II, edited by Mark Bly. Her work
has been exhibited at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts , Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art and Snug
Harbor Cultural Center. She received a 1990 New York Dance
and Performance Award for costume design. She has designed
and taught at Manhattanville College since 2000.
while reading from our “big Shakespeare book.” The only thing I seem
to remember is Richard Burton playing Caliban and that my dad
missed his “Huntley Brinkley” that night. I sometimes wonder if my
dad had changed the channel if I’d have still ended up with a life in
the Theatre.
L
K
en Rothchild, Scene Design, Adjunct Professor and
Resident Scene Designer. Ken has been designing and
teaching at Manhattanville College since the 2000
Spring Semester; his designs here include A Funny
Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Last Enemy,
The MacBeth Project, Peer Gynt, Twelfth Night, Cymbeline,
The Bacchae, A Winter's Tale, and King of Hearts. He is also the
Associate Artistic Director and resident scene designer for the
Irondale Ensemble Project, a 20-year-old, New York-based per-
Many find Shrew to be a “problem” in the context of our contemporary sensibilities, especially with regard to gender issues. In researching the production history of Shrew, I discovered there have been several approaches that put misogyny at the center with examples like
Charles Marowitz’s 1973 production that had Kate at one point in the
play held by several men, including her father, while Petruchio
mounts her from behind. In another interpretation, at the end of
Kate’s final monologue it is revealed that she has slit her wrists. I
didn’t find the text to support these choices.
I looked to other examples for inspiration such as Glynis Leyshon’s
2001 production that concludes, “we delight that these two fiery beings have triumphantly joined in mind, body and spirit.” Or from Julie
Taymor’s 1988 production of Shrew:
Then there is the audience who writes it off as a dated, misogynist tract. I pity that audience. I am with those who adore
Kate and her sharp and brilliant tongue and cannot possibly
imagine that Shakespeare would give her all that great language, wit, and character if he did not love and respect her
also.
And there is Harold Bloom who states in his Shakespeare, The Invention of the Human that Kate and Petruchio are “going to be the happiest couple in Shakespeare.”
There has been no blood but a lot of sweat and tears (tears of laughter) in the making of this production. There has been extraordinary
collaboration and feeling of ensemble from the very beginning going
all the way back to last fall’s Playing Shakespeare class were we first
began exploring the world of commedia and working toward becoming
“la familia.” Our family grew with the addition of all our designers,
Director’s Notes Cont...
Stage Managers, Choreographers, Technicians, as well, as Fight Director, Assistant Director and, of course, Laila. The only missing element
has been you, the audience. So, welcome to our crazy family and enjoy.
This production is dedicated to the memory of Bettye J. Towne who’s
laughter will ring in my heart forever and a day and to Reginald M.
Towne for giving up his “Huntley Brinkley.”
*but This is one of the “little big words” that Kristin Linklater writes
of in her book, Freeing Shakespeare’s Voice. We’ve found these words
to be so important in exploring Shakespeare’s text; they redirect the
action and are inherently dramatic. So, you might want to pay special
attention to all the buts in the show.
About Commedia Dell’Arte
The touring Italian acting troupes of the 16th and 17th centuries left
a legacy that has filtered down throughout the ages with the characters invading the literature and theatre of much of Western
Europe inspiring the likes of Shakespeare and Moliere. They were
passed on to the Music Hall and Vaudeville then to the clowns of
the silent films. Each generation has reinvented the form to fit its
own age. Commedia scenarios were populated by tightfisted fathers, horny old Pantaloons, braggart Captains, scheming servants
and aching lovers. The actors were well trained in their particular
character, often wearing masks and having a plethora of routines
and stage buffoonery (lazzi) and jokes (burli). They relied on improvisation, physical humor and outlandish gestures to supply the
meat of their material. It was a world were the actor was creator,
for whom the empty space, the ensemble and the audience were
equal partners, a world were masks were a means to explore essential human archetypes and relations as well as the art of comedy. To this world Shakespeare brought language; rich, crackling,
powerful, sharp, bawdy, clever and newly coined words, words
that now also become part of the actor’s means to reveal character and the human condition.
C
Biographies
lista Townsend, playwright, actor, director and
teacher, was a founding member of Novel Stages
in Philadelphia and Ark in Los Angeles. Both theatres develop new plays through literature and inter-disciplinary collaborations as well as innovative productions
of classic plays. Novel’s 19 world premieres included plays
adapted from Nadine Gordimer, Emile Zola, William Faulkner
and Kurt Vonnegut and original plays by Chaim Potok and Townsend. Her play, Marks in the Water, about painter Thomas
Eakins was Ark’s first production in 2000. At University of the
Arts and Arcadia University she taught mask technique (from
Neutral to Commedia) and other courses that included Improvisation, Acting Shakespeare and Scene Study. She’s worked in
regional theater as well as in television and film, most recently
Jesus’ Son. Townsend has an M.F.A. in Acting from Southern
Methodist University with further training with Lecoq, MazzoneClementi and Gaulier. She teaches Acting Scene Study and Ensemble Creation at SUNY Purchase in addition to the classes at
Mville, Acting I, Voice & Speech I and II, Playing Shakespeare.
M
ichael Lounsbery, Lighting Designer, Technical Director, Adjunct Instructor, holds an MFA
in Theatre Design from The University of
Memphis and a BA in Fine Arts from St. Michael’s College in Vermont. He has designed sound and lights
for theatres including Northern Stage, Vermont Stage, Memphis
Black Rep, University of Vermont, Smith College, Pioneer Valley
Summer Theatre and New Century Theatre. In his free time he
has worked to develop some radio plays including a version of
Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax and his own creations, Henry Kissinger: A
Man About Town, and Xanthar Borax: Hyperspace Hyper Detective. Michael has also co-authored a children’s play that will
premier this April n Florida.