07 August 2014

LONDON PREVIEW 2014: 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF LONDON THEATRE PROGRAM


20TH ANNIVERSARY OF LONDON THEATRE PROGRAM - 2014


Cheers Everyone!   Welcome to my first blog of the 2014 London Study Abroad Program!  As you may know this is the 20th Anniversary of the London Theatre Program.  We initiated this program for the Theatre Department in 1994 and made it a requirement for our majors to spend a semester in London.  That year we did the musical, Working, at the Wimbledon Studio Theatre.  Ironically, we are performing there again this year with the production of How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel.  Tara Arts Studio where have been performing for the past five years is closed for re-modelling.  


                                       
                                          Lord Dr. Gary Diomandes, Lord of Glencoe                                       outside Tara Arts  (That's me! and my bobblehead                             in photo above!)

We would like to remind ALL London Alumni that we are doing a reunion the weekend of our play this year in London.  Most of you tell me that you would love to return to London.  Here is your chance!  The play is October 15-18.  Please contact Bob Fisher in the Alumni Office if you are interested in attending.  I will also be directing Working in February to celebrate the 20th Anniversary back on campus!  More info on that later!

We will be doing our Friday day trips this year going to 

Bath

Canterbury

Cambridge and Bleheim Palace.

We will also be doing a long weekend in Scotland.
               
                           
and two weeks at the end of the semester at The Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin with Patrick Sutton.

                                                                  The Temple Bar in Temple Bar, Dublin                                 
                                
                                   The Patrick Sutton!!!!

One of the highlights of our program, other than being the only American University that actually rents a theatre and produces a full-length American play in London, is the number of shows we will see during the semester.  Here is a partial list of what I have already booked.   At the Globe we are seeing A Comedy of Errors.  The evening before we will see the new production that just opened of Shakespeare in Love, based on the film.


                            The Globe Theatre

We are also going to see the two shows below on the West End:




Other shows we are booked for are:  Medea and The Three James Plays (Where we are seeing all three plays in one day and sitting on the stage!!!  It is also Press Night!) at the National Theatre,  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Urinetown, the farce, The Play that Goes Wrong, and God Bless the Child at the Royal Court Theatre and The Scottsboro Boys with my friend, cast member Forrest McClendon coming in to class to speak to the students about the production and life in the theatre!

Other shows that have opened in London are Once, Miss Saigon (a fantastic production I saw this summer in London), Les Miz, 1984, Cats, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Forbidden Broadway, plus many, many more and this list does not include any of the Fringe Theatre productions.  

So if you want to follow our adventures and get more details of our experiences join this blog and you will be notified when I post something either every week or every other week!!!

THAT'S ALL FOLKS!