(January 16, 2009)

Contact: Rick DelaHaya, Centenary News Services, 318.869.5073

Traveling Troupe Brings Shakespeare to Marjorie Lyons Playhouse

ASCOT

Shreveport, La. — The spirit of the Globe Theater will live on at Centenary College when the American Shakespeare Center on Tour performs three of William Shakespeare's most enduring plays. The traveling troupe will perform The Comedy of Errors, Hamlet, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

The performances will take place in the Marjorie Lyons Playhouse Feb. 10 through 14 at 7 p.m. and Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. Ticket prices are $15 for adults and $10 for students, and can be purchased at the Marjorie Lyons Playhouse. For more information, contact the MLP box office at 318.869.5242. Specific performances and times are listed below:

The Comedy of Errors

The Comedy of Errors
Directed by Giles Block
Feb. 10 and 13 at 7 p.m.

Double your pleasure with a fantastic Shakespearean farce. When twin brothers and their twin servants are unexpectedly reunited after three decades apart, the unsuspecting port of Syracuse is torn apart at its seams and turned upside down in a hurricane of hilarity! With a zany cast of unforgettable characters and a myriad of mistaken identities, Shakespeare's greatest comedy delivers triumphantly on its famous title

Hamlet

Hamlet
Directed by Jim Warren
Feb. 11 and 12 at 7 p.m. and Feb. 15 at 2 p.m.

One of the greatest plays ever written, Hamlet has captivated audiences for 400 years with its explorations of life, love, duty and vengeance. Commanded by his murdered father's ghost to seek revenge, Hamlet struggles with the human and spiritual costs of pursuing justice. Featuring some of the most beautiful language ever written, Hamlet marks a turning point in Shakespeare's career toward more complex depictions of good and evil, of heroes and villains. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and Hamlet, who seeks to uncover the source of the stench, struggles to discover what is real and what is illusion in his world turned upside down.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Directed by Jim Warren
Feb. 14 at 7 p.m.

From the Oscar winner who gave us Shakespeare in Love, this wickedly funny companion piece to Hamlet turns Shakespeare inside out and shows us the Dane's story from the point of view of Hamlet's school chums. Tom Stoppard serves up a feast of wordplay, wit, and slapstick while exploring the timeless questions about identity, illusion, and toenail growing. An instant modern classic, R&G Are Dead won the 1968 Tony Award for Best Play, has appeared on stages all over the world, and became a major motion picture. The ASC uses Shakespeare's original staging conditions and our interactive style to shed new light on this brilliant comic masterpiece.

Operating from the heart of the Shenandoah Valley in historic Staunton, Virginia, the American Shakespeare Center is an internationally acclaimed theatre company that performs Shakespeare's works under their original staging conditions on a simple stage, without elaborate sets, and with the audience sharing the same light as the actors.

Direct from the stage of the American Shakespeare Center's celebrated Blackfriars Playhouse, the world's only re-creation of Shakespeare's indoor theatre, the American Shakespeare Center On Tour boasts nearly two decades worth of global touring experience. This elite troupe stands as one of America's foremost providers of quality entertainment to performing and fine arts centers on both sides of the Atlantic.


About Centenary College of Louisiana

Centenary College is a private, four year arts and sciences college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Founded in 1825, it is the oldest chartered liberal arts college west of the Mississippi River and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Centenary is one of 16 colleges and universities constituting the Associated Colleges of the South and is regularly rated as one of the top colleges in the South. In 2008 Centenary College celebrated 100 years in the Shreveport and Bossier City communities.