Shakespeare in LA

Long Beach Shakespeare Company kicks off its Season of Spectacle with two of Shakespeare’s most famous lovers in Antony and Cleopatra beginning February 27. Mark Antony struggles with his passion for the world’s most desirable woman, his political power, and his honor as Cleopatra battles to keep her lover and Egypt. Featuring beautiful costumes, live music, exotic dancing, and pirates. February 27 – March 21, 2015 (Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm) at the Richard Goad Theatre. Tickets: (562) 997-1494 or www.lbshakespeare.org.

LBSC will also present a number of additional events to celebrate Shakespeare’s Birthday month including the return of their Speaker Series. Whether you are new to Shakespeare or a long-time fan, the goal of this series is to bring you closer to Shakespeare and his work. 

April 4, 2015 at 8pm (Free event)
Martine van Elk – Speaker 1
Martine van Elk, Professor of English literature at California State University, Long Beach will take a look at the prevailing medical, philosophical, and political ideas about women and examine a few of Shakespeare’s best known comic and tragic roles for women. How did Shakespeare’s contemporaries think about women? How did their expectations and ideas affect Shakespeare? Van Elk is the author of numerous articles on Shakespeare, early modern women, and other subjects. She is currently working on a study of early modern women writers.

April 10 – 18, 2015
Mark Twain’s – Is Shakespeare Dead. It’s Mark Twain versus William Shakespeare in the return of Carl Wawrina’s one-man show in which Mark Twain discusses his ideas about who wrote Shakespeare’s plays. The performance is adapted from Twain’s “Is Shakespeare Dead,” and includes a passage from Huckleberry Finn. No matter which side of the authorship question you’re on, this is a humorous and thought-provoking presentation, starring LBSC’s Man of a Thousand Characters, Carl Wawrina.

April 19, 2015 at 2pm (Free event)
What’s Past is Prologue: The Tempest and the Rest
Skip Nicholson, a master teacher for the National Endowment for the Humanities in the Folger’s Teaching Shakespeare Institute, and an instructor in the University of California, Riverside’s “Shakespeare: Text & Theatre” summer program in Stratford-upon-Avon, will speak about this compelling subject.

April 23, 2015
Birthday Night with Sonnets and Scenes. William Shakespeare’s Birthday Celebration featuring sonnets and scenes by LBSC company members.

April 24 – 26, 2015
Sharkspeare: Titus (SHARK)dronicus. This alternative take on the Bard is a wild and irreverent parody of William Shakespeare’s bloodiest revenge story, featuring live drama, live music, and live sharks (in the form of puppets)! If you like Sharknado, you’ll love (SHARK)speare. This program may be inappropriate for young audiences, or really, anyone.

For more information about these and all of LBSC’s events, visit www.lbshakespeare.org.