Saturday, July 28, 2012

AYLI Review!

Sandy Holt from The Stratford Herald sang praises for our production of As You Like It at the Shakespeare Institute.  Naming it our "best performance to date."

I got a small mention in the article concerning my performance as Rosalind, words of encouragement that I am happy to share with you today:

"Jamie Sowers provided a convincing Rosalind who worked well with a strongly cast Cecilia Kendall White as Celia. These two offered the audience just the right balance of heroine, quaintness, determination and grace."

Check out the article here.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

An inventive Twelfth Night!

Kate Parson's new company, Squeezed, presents a 3 person adaptation of Twelfth Night coming to a pub near you! This innovative 1 hour production is sure to please with many laughs to go around.

Armed with two large baskets, hand puppets, and kazoos, these actors know how to put on a show.  This clever production, slap-stick at times, managed to evoke the touching love story central to the plot of the play. Parsons as actor and director made use of each actor's strengths.

Laura Young plays Viola, Sabastian, Maria, and a plethora of other characters.

Jon Harvey plays Orsino and Malvolio among others.

And the lovely Kate Parsons plays Olivia and everyone in between.

Make sure you don't miss this one!

Monday, July 9, 2012

10 Day Countdown for AYLI!

Only 10 days left until As You Like It opens, and the butterflies are fluttering. I am so excited for the opportunity to portray one of Shakespeare’s greatest heroines. We are working through the second half of the show in rehearsal today, putting the finishing touches on before run-throughs begin. The adrenaline is already kicking in. I know this one will be one to remember.

To all of my L.A. and state side friends, I wish you could be here with me, but I feel your positive energy all the way across the pond. Thank you for your love and support.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Love's Cure Performance

After standing in as Clara in the final dress rehearsal of Love's Cure, I was excited to see the show from the audience tonight in the Shakespeare Institute Hall.

This morning the play took its final shape, complete with set, costumes, and enthusiastic performances. The last staged performance of Love’s Cure, or The Martial Maid, was an extraordinary 400 years ago. This morning José Pérez Díez treated us to the staged reading of the play as part of his thesis project. Directed by Robert Ball, and written by John Fletcher (an apprentice and collaborator of William Shakespeare), this play was sure to please at the onset. None-the-less, Love's Cure delivered many delightful surprises along the way, including men in drag, sword fighting, and comical disguises.

The play takes place in the Spanish city of Seville and concerns a feud between two aristocratic houses, Don Pedro de Vitelli and Don Ferdinando de Alvarez.  The family of Alvarez proves the most "dysfunctional" as his daughter, Clara, has been raised as a boy and his son, Lucio, has been raised as a girl. When the two siblings are united early in the play, they must cast off their upbringing and return to their proper gender roles. To complicate matters further, Clara instantly falls in love with Vitelli. Love triangles and mistaken identities are abound in this play, full of gender dysphoria.

Robert Ball has cleverly staged this production with original practices in mind, employing an all male cast, live music, classical costumes, and a three entrance set.

Through my brief involvement with the production I have fallen in love with this gem of a play. Congratulations to all on a job well done.