Teaching Company Shakespeare
Outdoor Theater
How does theater relate to the environment? When you take it back to its roots, it does. Stuart Handloff, Artistic Director and Producer of The Great American Laughing Stock Company (GALSCO) wanted to direct plays. With no venue in Steamboat Springs for him to perform in, he took the show outdoors.
Currently held in Spring Creek Park in Steamboat Springs, CO, Handloff at first thought “this is a cool idea,” referring to the outdoor space, but couldn’t quite express what it was that changed theater by bringing it outdoors. Today he can. Today, he understands that outdoor theater has a different kind of energy. It brings together the “rehearsed and the natural, the improvised and the unpredictable, the natural and the theatrical.”
GALSCO’s performances are much like in the days of Shakespeare. Admittance is free and people have about a 15 minute walk to access the venue. It is away from the urban and even the suburban with no noise and no cars. Set amongst a grassy opening, there is a river that flows through the space with hills of trees and embankments creating a natural amphitheater. The environment is used not only as a backdrop, but is sometimes incorporated into the plays. The format is Repertory Theater, meaning three different plays on three consecutive nights. The plays usually include a Shakespeare play, a musical and a third play often from a local playwright.
Guests are treated to sunshine and sometimes rain, which is what brings the element of unpredictability to the show. This past summer, during a performance of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ black clouds started gathering on the horizon. There was electricity in the air – literally. As the cast saw the storm getting closer, there was an urgency within the actors to finish the play. The audience may not have understood the urgency, but they felt it and it made the performance more electric. The clouds finally opened letting down a deluge of rain. In some ways, the timing couldn’t be better as the interior story of the play was finished. However, there was one final scene remaining. Some people ran for their cars, but many people huddled under a single tented structure. The actors were soaking wet. As the rain began to let up, they gathered for the final scene. Dialogue was improvised to bring humor to the situation. The audience cheered for the spirit of the actors and the new repartee never to be seen again. “There was an intimate connection,” says Handloff, “it was a real Shakespearean moment, one that neither the cast nor the audience will forget. It was a magic moment.”
This year Handloff is looking at “As you Like it,” There will be a devised piece, meaning the piece will basically be created and fleshed out during the course of a one month rehearsal time. Pieces develop according to whom the cast consists of and the strengths they all bring to the table.
GALSCO is extraordinary not only in that it is outdoor theater, but also that it is a blend of actors from New Zealand and Steamboat Springs and Colorado. All actors from New Zealand are established in their own right and bring their culture of small town, small country New Zealand to small town Steamboat Springs, CO.
GALSCO is a non-profit organization that relies on donations and grants for continued success. In order to give back to the community, the actors from New Zealand teach theater workshops to the local children to share their culture and experience and hopefully nurture a love of the theater.
If you want to check out GALSCO, head to Steamboat Springs. This year may see them expanding their performing space to the base of the ski area. They can also be found throughout July in the Botanic Garden, outdoors at the Library and of course, Spring Creek.
About the Author
Undiscovered Earth is a resource for Exploration, <a href=’http://www.undiscoveredearth.com/’>Environment</a>, and Expression. Undiscovered Earth is a voice for those who love the outdoors, nature and the environment and features profiles <a href=’http://www.undiscoveredearth.com/category/profiles-environmental-profiles-people-and-environment/’>wedding venue</a> , product reviews and poetry, fiction and essays.
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Teaching Company CD – William Shakespeare, Comedies Histories Tragedies Part 1-3 $2.50 |
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TEACHING CO. SHAKESPEARE 3 VOLUME VHS SET PART 2. $9.99 |
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TEACHING CO. SHAKESPEARE 3 VOLUME VHS SET PART 3. $9.99 |
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Shakespeare Word & Action Great Courses Teaching Company 4 Videos & 2 Books NEW $15.95 |
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Teaching Company William Shakespeare: Comedies Histories Tragedies Audio SET $36.00 |
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Teaching Company SHAKESPEARE: The Word and the Action Great Courses Audio Set $38.00 |
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Teaching Company: Shakespeare: Comedies, etc. P. SACCIO $49.00 |
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Teaching Co CDs: SHAKESPEARE : The WORD and the ACTION New $49.99 |
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Shakespeare: The Word and the Action DVD NEW Teaching Company Great Courses $67.99 |
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Teaching Co Great Course DVDs : SHAKESPEARE’S TRAGEDIES Brand New $69.99 |
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Teaching Co CDs: SHAKESPEARE : Comedies Histories Tragedies New $69.99 |
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Teaching Company: Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies $84.95 |
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Teaching Co Great Course: SHAKESPEARE COMEDIES HISTORIES TRAGEDIES + BONUS $85.99 |
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Teaching Co. Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories NEW DVD $85.00 |
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William Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies (The Great Courses, Parts I, II, III) Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies introduces the plays of Shakespeare and explains the achievement that makes Shakespeare the leading playwright in Western civilization. The key to that achievement is his “abundance,” says Professor Saccio-not only in the number and length of his plays, but also in the variety of experiences they depict, the multitude of actions and characters they c… |
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Shakespeare: The Word and the Action. Parts 1 and 2 $20.00 The Great Courses Vhs series by The Teaching Company. Teaching that engages the mind…. |
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WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Comedies, Histories, and Tradegies PARTS 1,2, & 3 Parts 1 , 2 , & 3. Contains 6 vhs videos and 3 books. Each one has 12 lectures for a total of 36 lectures. By Professor Peter Saccio of Dartmouth College…. |
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Playing Shakespeare $47.99 Former director of Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company Trevor Nunn joined forces with RSC co-founder John Barton and leading actors from the company to offer fans of theater and aspiring actors master-class workshops on acting in the plays of the Bard. Exploring character motivation, the performance of verse, and more, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Ben Kingsley, David Suchet, and othe… |
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The Great Courses: Shakespeare’s Tragedies Shakespeare Tragedies – Lectures included are on Hamlet – Othello – King Lear – Macbeth – Antony and Cleopatra – Coriolanus… |
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The Great Courses — Shakespeare : Word and Action [DVD Set of 4] $69.99 Shakespeare is the leading playwright, and probably the leading writer, in Western civilization. His works are one of the greatest achievements of the human mind and spirit. And yet, for many of us they remain a closed book. Why? Unready Minds? Missing Notes? Too often, we were force-fed Shakespeare as adolescents-when our own dramas were all-consuming. The language of Shakespeare is 400 years o… |
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Twelfth Night (Cambridge School Shakespeare) $0.90 Book Description Publication Date: September 26, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0521618770 | ISBN-13: 978-0521618779 | Edition: 2nd This new edition of Twelfth Night is part of the established Cambridge School Shakespeare series and has been substantially updated with new and revised activities throughout. Remaining faithful to the series’ active approach it treats the play as a script to be acted, explored and … |
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Romeo & Juliet: Plainspoken $15.00 If glazed eyes and reluctant moans greet your introduction of this classic, then you need this book! Make this Shakespearean work come alive with parallel text that features both the original version as well as a contemporary adaptation. Connect literature to students’ prior knowledge by showing them a timeless tale rewritten in the language they use every day. It’s the best of both worlds in one … |
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Becoming Shakespeare: The Unlikely Afterlife That Turned a Provincial Playwright into the Bard $4.89 Becoming Shakespeare begins where most Shakespeare stories end–with his death in 1616–and relates the fascinating story of his unlikely transformation from provincial playwright to universal Bard. Unlike later literary giants, Shakespeare created no stir when he died. Though he’d once had a string of hit plays, he had been retired in the country for six years, and only his family, friends, and b… |
