Tag Archives: Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival

Shakespeare Festival kicks off GVSU’s music, theater offerings

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The Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival is the oldest and largest festival celebrating the Bard’s life and works in Michigan. Now in its 26th season, the festival has attracted thousands of people of all ages to the campuses of Grand Valley State University and to West Michigan to enjoy the legacy of Shakespeare. For more information about the Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival, visit gvsu.edu/shakes

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” 

Sept. 27, 28 and Oct. 3, 4 and 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 5 and 6 at 2 p.m.

Louis Armstrong Theatre, Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

Tickets: $16 for general admission; $7 for students; $14 for seniors and faculty, staff and alumni. For tickets and more information, contact the Louis Armstrong Theatre box office at (616) 331-2300.

Last year, the GVSU Sharkespeare Festival presented “King Lear.” (Supplied)

Shakespeare’s most magical comedy transports us to a moonlit forest where four young lovers flee to escape the cruel law of Athens that would make a daughter choose between marrying the wrong man or being put to death. In the chaos of the night, the lovers find themselves at the mercy of fairies whose dreamlike power operates just below the level of conscious thought, weaving spells around the lovers and making sport with a troupe of bumbling, would-be actors who come to the woods to rehearse their wedding play about star-crossed lovers. The production will be directed by Roger Ellis, professor of theater at Grand Valley.

Other Performances from the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance

For more information about performances from the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance, visit gvsu.edu/mtd.

GVSU OPERA THEATRE

“Mother Goose” (a ballet) and “The Naughty Boy” (an opera)

Oct. 4 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 5 at 2 p.m.

Peter Martin Wege Theatre, Grand Rapids Ballet Company, 341 Ellsworth Ave. SW, Grand Rapids

Tickets: Grand Rapids Ballet ticket office at 454-4771, ext. 10

This family-friendly pairing of the stories from “Mother Goose” and “The Naughty Boy” (who wouldn’t do his homework) comes from French composer Maurice Ravel. GVSU students and the Junior Company of the Grand Rapids Ballet School will bring this piece to life.

Margarita Denenburg

MUSIC

Guest artist piano recital: Margarita Denenburg

Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m.

Sherman Van Solkema Hall, Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

Margarita Denenburg is widely recognized for her teaching effectiveness. She is associate professor of keyboard studies at Heidelberg University and has written a number of articles about teaching music; she also has presented at several conferences on the same topic.

GVSU Symphony Orchestra side-by-side concert

Oct. 24 at 8 p.m.

Grandville High School, 4700 Canal Ave. SW, Grandville

Admission: Free and open to the public

The GVSU Symphony Orchestra will combine with the Grandville High School Orchestra for a joint concert.

20th/21st Century Piano Festival

Oct. 26, all day

Sherman Van Solkema Hall, Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

Admission: Free and open to the public

This celebration of 20th/21st-century piano music will include student recitals throughout the day. The performances include the premier of a commissioned piece by composer Sun-Young Park, who will also be in residence.

THEATER

ReACT! presents: “My Costume is Not My Consent”

Oct. 30, 8-10 p.m.

Kirkhof Center, Room 0072, Allendale Campus

Grand Valley’s anti-violence theater troupe will use peer theater education methods to work with audience members on how to develop safety strategies for Halloween celebrations. The performance will include discussion and dialogue on how the GVSU community can help prevent sexual assault.

Snapshots: Kentwood, Wyoming weekend news you ought to know

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By WKTV Staff

joanne@wktv.org

Quote of the day

“Winter is not a season, it’s a celebration.”

– Anamika Mishra, author

Head to the Hills

Well, at least to Spectrum Theater – which is on hill – to catch the latest production from Actors’ Theatre Grand Rapids The family-friendly musical “The Burnt Part Boys,” runs through Feb. 9. The country- and bluegrass-themed songs will get you humming as you follow this coming-of-age story set in the Appalachians.

The Bard’s in the House

Celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival with Bard Beyond Borders’ presentation of “Sizwe Banzi is Dead” in the Linn Maxwell Keller Black Box Theatre, located in the Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts. There is a 7:30 p.m. performance on Friday and a 2 p.m. one on Saturday and all performances are free.

Lots and Lots of Cars

The recent weather may not have been optimal for driving, but the weekend should be great to head over to the Michigan International Auto Show which is at DeVos Place all weekend. From classics to the latest vehicles, it should be a show worth a drive-by peek.


Fun fact:

Queen in Space

Queen guitarist Brian May combined his passion for astronomy (he has a doctorate in astrophysics) and his music to write a song of NASA’s New Horizon’s historic flyby of Ultima Thule, the farthest object in the solar system visited by a spacecraft. (New Horizon flew past it on Jan. 1, 2019.) It is exactly the kind of epic you would expect from the man who wrote “We Will Rock You” with soaring guitars and dramatic lyrics. Check out the video below.

Bahamian actors to perform during 25th season of GVSU Shakespeare Festival

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Bard Beyond Borders will perform “Sizwe Banzi is Dead” Jan. 31 – Feb. 1.

By Matthew Makowski
GVSU

The 25th anniversary season of the Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival will continue when actors from Nassau in the Bahamas visit the Allendale Campus to perform one of the most critically acclaimed productions ever presented in the Bahamas.

The festival’s “Bard Beyond Borders” series will present performances of “Sizwe Banzi is Dead” January 31 and February 1 at 7:30 p.m. and February 2 at 2 p.m. in the Linn Maxwell Keller Black Box Theatre, located in the Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts. A condensed version of the production will be performed during Grand Valley’s Arts at Noon series on January 30 from 12-1 p.m. in the Cook-DeWitt Center.

All performances are free and open to the public. For more information, call the Louis Armstrong Box Office at (616) 331-2300.

Written by Athol Fugard, “Sizwe Banzi is Dead” is set in the landscape of South Africa’s apartheid era, a time of institutionalized racial segregation that spanned from 1948 until the early 1990s.

The story confronts the struggles faced by people of color during that time and addresses broader questions of human worth and identity. This is done through the lens of a man getting his picture taken in a photography studio.

“Sizwe Bansi is Dead” was originally featured during the 2014 Shakespeare in Paradise Theatre Festival, and these performances will reunite the director and the original two cast members.

“This is a special offering to celebrate something which acknowledges that theater is a global communicator and that we can all connect through it,” said Karen Libman, professor of theater. “We are excited to offer our students and the community the chance to see high-quality theater that they might not necessarily see otherwise.”

Grand Valley’s history with the Shakespeare in Paradise Theatre Festival dates back to 2011 when Bard to Go, the university’s traveling student Shakespeare troupe, was first invited to perform at the festival. Bard to Go also performed at the festival in 2017.

While at Grand Valley, the Shakespeare in Paradise Theatre Festival actors will also facilitate theater workshops and classroom visits for students.

The Bard Beyond Borders series will continue in April with performances by a Shakespeare company from Egypt.

GVSU Shakespeare Festival to celebrate 25th anniversary with multiple events

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Shakespeare’s “King Lear” featured at this year’s GVSU Shakespeare Festival.

By Matthew Makowski

GVSU

 

The Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival is the oldest and largest festival celebrating the Bard’s life and works in Michigan. For the past 25 years, festival events have attracted thousands of people of all ages to Grand Valley State University to enjoy the legacy of Shakespeare.

 

The Grand Valley community will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the festival with “A Silver Coronation: The Grand Valley Shakespeare Effect” — a series of events taking place through Nov. 3.

 

Shakespeare Festival Managing Director Jim Bell said the goal of the festival is to involve both the Grand Valley and West Michigan communities, as well as communities around the world. Over the years, this has been accomplished through various events, including a mainstage production, performances abroad, a biannual Shakespeare conference, involvement by guest artists and alumni, and outreach performances at local schools by Bard to Go, Grand Valley’s all-student touring Shakespeare company.

 

“Participating in the festival means the opportunity to enter the laboratory of live theater performance to experience the world’s greatest storyteller and humanity’s greatest spokesman in the arena where he is best understood,” said Bell. “Times change, but thoughts about life still often involve those areas of life that Shakespeare’s plays and characters contemplate, confront and challenge.”

 

More than 30,000 middle and high school students have visited Grand Valley to experience the mainstage production since the festival’s inception. This year, audiences of all ages will experience “King Lear” — a tale of a retiring king who determines through a series of tests of love how to divide his kingdom among his three daughters.

 

Special to the 25th anniversary of the festival will be the staged reading by festival alumni of a commissioned play by Grand Valley alumnus Scott Watson called “Defy the Stars.”

 

Based on true events, the play follows two actors who are held at the Westerbork Transit Camp in 1942. The actors perform “Romeo and Juliet” to save themselves and others from deportation to Auschwitz.

 

Below is the full schedule of Shakespeare Festival events. All events are free and open to the public, except performances of “King Lear.” Contact the Louis Armstrong Box Office at (616) 331-2300 for additional ticket information. For all event information, visit the Shakespeare Festival website.

“King Lear”
Thru Oct. 7
Louis Armstrong Theatre, Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

 

“Defy the Stars”
Oct. 3, 6, and 7
Linn Maxwell Keller Black Box Theatre, Haas Center, Allendale Campus

 

Bard to Go: Twelfth Night
Oct. 7 during ArtPrize as an official time-based entry outside Eberhard Center, at noon and 1 p.m.
Nov. 3, at 1 p.m., Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus