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THE BRITISH AMERICAN DRAMA ACADEMY
The British American Drama Academy was founded in 1983
by Anthony Branch and Carolyn Sands and enables students from overseas to study
theatre with leading teachers from Great Britain. BADA prides itself on its
close ties to the professional theatre and its programs are based on the abundant
resources of the theatre world that exist in London, Stratford-upon-Avon, and
Oxford. BADA's teachers come from the front ranks of the theatrical profession
and many regularly work for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National
Theatre.
Ian Wolldridge, formerly Artistic Director of the Lyceum
Theatre Company, became Dean of the Academy in the fall of 1996. Other BADA
teachers have included Norman Ayrton, Simon Callow, Brian Cox, Alan Rickman,
Rosemary Harris, Jane Lapotaire, Fiona Shaw, Deborah Warner, Richard Cottrell
and Sean Mathias.
During the winter months, BADA is based in London at
Groucester Gate near Regents Park where the Academy offers a number of courses
including an undergraduate program presented in association with Sarah Lawrence
College. In the summer BADA moves to Balliol College, Oxford where it presents
the Midsummer in Oxford courses for students at all levels in association
with the Juilliard School and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).
BADA is registered as a non-profit making charity in both Britain and the United
Stated and has Sir Derek Jacobi as its Patron. BADA alumni include Orlando Bloom,
Jennifer Ehle, David Schwimmer, Paul Giamatti, Oliver Platt and Paul Rudd.
SKIDMORE COLLEGE
Skidmore College, which accredits the Shakespeare Programme,
is a highly respected liberal arts college for men and women founded in 1903
and registered as a four-year degree-granting college in 1922. In keeping with
the College's founding principle of linking theoretical with applied learning,
the Skidmore curriculum balances a commitment to the liberal arts and sciences
with preparation for professions, careers, and community leadership. Skidmore
offers more than sixty degree programs, including majors in both traditional
liberal arts disciplines and preprofessional areas. Education in the classroom,
laboratory, and studio is enhanced by cocurricular and field experience opportunities
of broad scope. The Theatre Department offers an opportunity to pursue the serious
study of the theatre arts within a liberal arts setting. Courses afford training
in the basic demands of the discipline as well as the opportunity for advanced
study, practical production experience, and off-campus internships in the professional
theatre. Professor Lary Opitz,
Skidmore director of the Shakespeare Programme, is a playwright, director, actor
(AEA) and designer (United Scenic Artists) with a rich background in the professional
theatre and international touring. Associate Director Barbara Opitz serves as
Assistant Director for the Dean of Studies Office and teaches Movement for the
Actor in the Theatre Department.The department is the summer home of SITI (Saratoga
International Theatre Institute), founded by Anne Bogart and Tadashi Suzuki.
THE SHAKESPEARE
INSTITUTE AND THE SHAKESPEARE BIRTHPLACE TRUST
The Trust and the Institute began formally to offer
programs jointly in 1990, though the Trust had earlier contributed extensively
to courses previously organized by the Institute alone. The courses deal with
the plays in the current repertoire of the Royal Shakespeare Company and provide
programs of play visits, lectures by members of the academic staff of the Institute
and the Trust on plays to be seen and on more general topics, seminar classes
on the productions, information on earlier productions of plays being seen,
and the opportunity to discuss plays and roles with members of the Royal Shakespeare
Company involved in the productions.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust came into existence
after the purchase of Shakespeare's Birthplace as a national memorial in 1847.
The Trust is an independent non-profit charity whose aims, set out in the Act
of Parliament under which it operates, are to promote knowledge and appreciation
of Shakespeare's work and to maintain the Shakespearean properties (Shakespeare's
Birthplace, Ann Hathaway's Cottage, Mary Arden's House, New Place, and Hall's
Croft) as part of the national heritage. The administrative headquarters of
the Trust is the Shakespeare Centre. This is situated next door to Shakespeare's
Birthplace, which also houses its library, records office, and educational facilities.
The Trust is active in the educational field, arranging courses, lectures, and
study facilities for students and teachers at all levels. It also promotes exhibitions
and occasional concerts and organizes the annual Stratford Poetry Festival.
Its library, comprising the combined collections of the Trust and the Royal
Shakespeare Theatre, is a major resource for Shakespearean study.
The Shakespeare Institute is a postgraduate and research
center of the University of Birmingham, founded in 1951 by Professor Allardyce
Nicoll. It offers opportunities for full-time or part-time research for the
degrees of M. Phil., M. Litt., and Ph. D., and a one-year course in Shakespeare
Studies, leading to the degree of MA. This course includes study of critical
and theatrical history and of textual and editorial problems as well as work
on the plays and poems themselves. Workshops on the plays in performance are
conducted by members of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the course emphasizes
plays in the company's current repertoire. The Institute has always had a strongly
international flavor, welcoming students and visiting scholars from the Commonwealth,
the United States, Europe and other parts of the world, as well as from Britain.
The Institute has a large research library, with great strength in Shakespeare
and the drama of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Publications from
the Institute include Shakespeare Survey, The New Penguin Shakespeare, The Penguin
Shakespeare Library, and the earlier volumes in the Stratford-upon-Avon Studies
Series. A number of volumes in the new Arden Shakespeare, The Revels Plays and
other series have been prepared by scholars working at the Institute and The
Revels Plays Companion Library and the microfiche project Shakespearean are
now edited here. The Birthplace Trust organizes a series of visits, classes
and events for the Shakespeare Programme while students are in Stratford.
THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
The internationally famous Royal Shakespeare Company
brings together the finest actors, directors and designers in the world to work
on the greatest plays in some of the most superb theatres available. The RSC
operates a repertoire system under which actors take on the challenges of several
demanding roles in a season consisting of range of plays including those of
Shakespeare as well as classical theatre of all periods. The Company aims to
provide a fresh insight into well-known plays, new and distinctive approaches
to neglected texts and plays of merit which have never been seen before. In
addition to West End theatres in London and tours throughout Great Britain and
the world, the Company operates three uniquely different theatres in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The largest, the world famous Royal Shakespeare Theatre, built in 1932, has
recently been completely redecorated and refurbished. The Swan Theatre is an
atmospheric galleried playhouse while The Other Place provides a modern and
intimate theatre space. Recent years have seen a steady stream of award-winning
RSC productions transferring to the stages of the West End and Broadway including
such productions through the years as Nicholas Nickleby and Les Misérables.
While in Stratford, students attend a number of RSC productions, take RSC workshops
(such as a voice class), meet production directors, designers and actors, and
visit various RSC facilities (such as the costume department).
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