First Folio Theatre is a not-for-profit theater company affiliated with the Actors' Equity Association. Founded in 1996, First Folio, originally named First Folio Shakespeare Festival, is located on the grounds of the Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. First Folio utilizes the "Folio Method" as developed by Patrick Tucker (at one time of the Royal Shakespeare Company), who first introduced his approach to American actors, directors and teachers in a series of workshops sponsored by the Riverside Shakespeare Company of New York City at The Shakespeare Center beginning in 1982, which led to an awakened interest in the First Folio.
The Folio Method employs the text of William Shakespeare's First Folio to illuminate the textual clues for the actors and the audience.
First Folio Theatre is listed as a Major Festival in the book Shakespeare Festivals Around the World by Marcus D. Gregio (Editor), 2004.
Video First Folio Theatre
Mission statement
First Folio's Mission Statement as quoted from their website:
- Our mission is to provide high quality professional productions of Shakespeare and other classics, while enhancing the cultural activities at Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook, and creating awareness of this historic site.
- Our mission emphasizes a training initiative for young theatre artists, as well as educational touring productions, that provide a living counterpoint to school literature programs.
Maps First Folio Theatre
Performance venues
First Folio currently has three separate performance venues on the grounds of the historic Mayslake Peabody Estate. The first venue created was its outdoor stage, built in 1997 and located adjacent to the beautiful Portiuncula Chapel. Lawn seating allows up to 500 audience members to enjoy a picnic while they watch Shakespeare-under-the-stars. The second venue is First Folio's chamber theater, opened in 2004 and located in the formal library of Mayslake Hall. With seating for 80, this venue is used for more intimate productions. The third venue is the Event Hall, opened in 2008 and located in the Retreat Wing of Mayslake Hall. This venue seats up to 130 and is First Folio's primary indoor venue.
Educational outreach
Along with their formal stagings, First Folio's Educational Outreach program also offers four educational touring shows and an artist-in-residence program. The four touring shows include Master Shakespeare and His Stories, designed for grade-school aged children; Shakespeare's Warring and Wooing, The Fifty Minute Midsummer Night's Dream, and Edgar Allan Poe and the Tell-Tale Heart, all geared toward middle and high school students. First Folio has given over 250 performances of their touring shows for over 125,000 students throughout Illinois and Iowa. These programs are included in the Illinois Arts Council's Arts Tour Roster. First Folio's outreach program was chosen as the Artists-in-Residence for the Quad Cities Arts Program in November 2006.
Awards and local recognition
First Folio has received five Joseph Jefferson Award: Larry Neumann, Jr., Best Actor, A Moon for the Misbegotten (2009); Michael McNamara (Lighting Design Midsized Theater) The Turn of the Screw (2012); Christopher Kriz (Sound Design Midsized Theater) The Turn of the Screw (2012); David Rice (New Adaption) Cymbeline: A Musical Folktale (2013); and Michael Keefe & David Rice (Original Music) Cymbeline (2012). The theater's productions have been Jeff Nominated thirty times.
Past performances
1997
- The Tempest
1998
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
1999
- The Taming of the Shrew
2000
- Romeo and Juliet
- Much Ado About Nothing
2001
- Macbeth
- As You Like It
2002
- Antigone
- Twelfth Night
2003
- The Comedy of Errors
2004
- Hamlet
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
2005
- The Importance of Being Earnest
- The Taming of the Shrew
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
2006
- Private Lives
- The Tempest
- The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe: A Love Story
2007
- Angel Street
- Richard III
- The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe: A Love Story
2008
- Jeeves Intervenes
- Driving Miss Daisy
- Much Ado About Nothing
2009
- Design for Living
- A Moon for the Misbegotten
- Macbeth
- The Castle of Otranto
2010
- Jeeves in Bloom
- Will Rogers: An American Original
- Twelfth Night
- The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe
2011
- Blithe Spirit
- The Woman in Black
- Romeo and Juliet
- Tea at Five
2012
- Unnecessary Farce
- The Turn of the Screw
- The Merchant of Venice
- Shylock and His Daughter
- The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe
2013
- Jeeves Takes a Bow
- Underneath the Lintel
- Cymbeline: A Musical Folktale
- The Rainmaker
2014
- Rough Crossing
- Salvage
- The Merry Wives of Windsor
- The Gravedigger
2015
- Laughter on the 23rd Floor
- Love, Loss, and What I Wore
- The Winter's Tale
- The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe
References
External links
- Official Home Page
Source of article : Wikipedia
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