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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.
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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