Returning to the Source:
The Merchant of Venice
A Master Class taught by veterans of the stage Randall Duk Kim and Anne Occhiogrosso
WHEN: July 10 through July 26, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2 PM-5 PM
WHERE: Centenary Stage Company on the campus of Centenary College in Hackettstown
TUITION: $350.00 if paid and registered before June 25 and $400.00 if paid and registered after June 25. Class size is limited to 15 people. To register please call the Centenary Stage Company Box Office at 908.979.0900.
This will be a unique opportunity for actors to study Shakespeare by returning to the source material on which The Merchant of Venice is based, exploring the play word by word and scene by scene in the context of the time and place in which it was created. The techniques learned in this class can be applied to all of Shakespeare’s works. Under the direction of these two acclaimed teachers, students in Returning to the Source: The Merchant of Venice master class will have the opportunity to put what they have learned into practice by performing one monologue and one 2-3 character scene.
Returning to the Source: The Merchant of Venice will be led by Randall Duk Kim and Anne Occhiogrosso who, together with Charles Bright, founded the American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin, in 1981. The pair worked together there for 35 years.
While at the American Players Theatre, Kim played title roles in Hamlet, King Lear, Titus Andronicus, King John, Marlowe’s Tamberlaine the Great, Chekhov’s Ivanov and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex as well as Shylock, Prospero, Puck, Petruchio, Romeo, Friar Laurence, Brutus, Malvolio, Falstaff, Chubukov and Svetlovidov in Chekhov’s The Proposal and Swan Song among others. Kim has been seen on Broadway in Flower Drum Song, Golden Child and The King and I, but perhaps is most recognized as The Keymaker in the film Matrix Reloaded, and the voice of Oogway in the DreamWorks’ animated film Kung Fu Panda. Kim will be returning to Centenary Stage Company during the 2012-2013 season for the Great Authors Reading Series, which he and Occhiogrosso will direct, that will feature four free presentations of the classics Tartuffe, An Enemy of the People and The Merchant of Venice, as well as an afternoon of Chekhov’s one act plays.
Anne Occhiogrosso has received national acclaim for her work with the American Players Theatre. Occhiogrosso is an accomplished director, dramaturge, acting coach and actor, whose primary focus has been classical theatre with a special emphasis on the works of William Shakespeare. While at American Players Theatre, she directed numerous Shakespearean productions, including Hamlet, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Merchant of Venice, as well as other classics, including Goldoni’s The Servant of Two Masters, Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, Chekhov’s The Bear, The Wedding and Swan Song. Occhiogrosso studied with Morris Carnovsky and Phoebe Brand, original members of the renowned Group Theater. She performed the role of Anna Petrovna in Chekhov’s Ivanov which Carnovsky and Brand directed. In addition to studying with Brand, Occhiogrosso taught several Shakespearean workshops with her until Ms. Brand’s death in 2004. She has also taught acting at the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting and the New York Shakespeare Festival and currently works with Classical Productions, Inc. where she coaches individuals in audition preparation, character development and script analysis for film, television and theater.
The 2012-13 season of performing arts events at Centenary Stage Company is made possible (and affordable) through the generous support of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the NJ State Council on the Arts and CSC members and sponsors, including Premier Sponsors Fulton Bank of New Jersey and Heath Village Retirement Community, as well as Silver Sponsors Hackettstown Regional Medical Center and Mama’s and Café Baci.
