“I pray you, do not fall in love with me, for I am falser than vows made in wine.” -Rosalind, III.v
The final event of our 2014-15 Subscription Series is the William Shakespeare play, “As You Like It,” performed by National Players touring group. Now touring for its 65th consecutive year, National Players is a unique theatre ensemble that brings innovative productions to communities across the United States.
7:30 p.m.
$10 for Youth
What is the play about?
All the world’s a stage in Shakespeare’s classic love story about concealed identities and leaving home to find oneself. Running away to the woods to begin anew, Rosalind is surprised to find true love instead. Can she make a new home of this strange new world? With a little creative costuming and luck, each character creates a new life.
“As You Like It” is considered by many to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies, and the heroine, Rosalind, is praised as one of his most inspiring characters and has more lines than any of Shakespeare’s female characters.
Rosalind, the daughter of a banished duke falls in love with Orlando the disinherited son of one of the duke’s friends. When she is banished from the court by her usurping uncle, Duke Frederick, Rosalind switches genders and as Ganymede travels with her loyal cousin Celia and the jester Touchstone to the Forest of Arden, where her father and his friends live in exile.
Observations on life and love follow (including love, aging, the natural world, and death) friends are made, and families are reunited. By the play’s end Ganymede, once again Rosalind, marries her Orlando. Two other sets of lovers are also wed, one of them Celia and Orlando’s mean older brother Oliver. As Oliver becomes a gentler, kinder young man so the Duke conveniently changes his ways and turns to religion and so that the exiled Duke, father of Rosalind, can rule once again.
Who are the National Players?
With its self-sufficient approach to theatre making, National Players delivers full-length performances at affordable rates. Its productions engage audiences and examine the intersection between great works of literature and contemporary life. Committed to excellence and accessibility, National Players makes the classics current.
National Players was founded in 1949 by Father Gilbert V. Hartke, OP, a prominent arts educator and then head of the drama department at Catholic University of America. His mission—to stimulate young people’s higher thinking skills and imaginations by presenting classical plays in surprisingly accessible ways—is as urgent and vital today as it was sixty-four years ago.
Olney Theatre Center is proud to be the artistic home of National Players and to continue Father Hartke’s vision and commitment to provide young theatre artists with their first professional opportunities. Players’ alumni include actors, directors, and designers working on film, television, and hundreds of stages across America.
National Players has performed in the East Wing of the White House, in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East for American military, and throughout forty states. Known for its talent and commitment to excellence, National Players has brought literature to life for more than 2.5 million audience members.
National Players offers an exemplary lesson in collaboration and teamwork-in-action: the actors not only play multiple roles onstage, but also serve as managers, teaching artists, and technicians. A self-contained company, National Players carries its own sets, lights, costumes, and sound. Being a Player is a rigorous and thrilling experience, granting young performers the touring opportunity of a lifetime, the chance at several lifelong friendships, and a wealth of audiences across America looking for theatre, Shakespeare, and good company.
National Players: Making the Classics Current since 1949 : Why they do what they do
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This presentation is supported by the Arts Midwest Touring Fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from the SD Arts Council and General Mills Foundation.
