Some of you have, but many have not yet noticed that we have added a page here that takes you quickly to a collection of Clarence Brown Theatre show photographs from the past three seasons.  We don’t have every show, but many of them are here.

Disclaimer: some of these photos were a learn-as-you go process, and most of them were taken not with an SLR with proper creative controls, but with a memory card on a video camera.  The resolution is also a lot lower than today’s digital SLRs provide, so the picture size (and blow-up-ability) is less.  We have a new Nikon now, and we’re making progress, though!  Nevertheless, there are some interesting shots here you might find interesting.  We’re storing our photos on flickr, which allows for easy maintenance and several display options.

To go to my CBT summary page, just hit the “Photos” link on the menu bar, or click here or head to http://www.uttheatre.org/flickr.php.

Enjoy!

For those of you who occasionally miss an issue of the UT Daily Beacon, here’s an interesting column that recently appeared regarding recent experiences at some of our shows:

Here’s the scene: a Voluntary Theatergoer (i.e. not attending for a class) is seated next to two young women later revealed to be the infamous Cellphone Sisters. Every five minutes or so, these girls rummage through their purses, jangle every item inside loudly, pull out their phones and let the green glow cut through the darkness like one of the stage swords.

As bad as the celljunkies were at “Lear,” they were saints compared to the vociferous bunch that attended CBT’s production of August Wilson’s “Fences” earlier this semester. I made the mistake of attending the show on preview night, forgetting that the free admission would include putting up with all who were required to see the play for various classes. Running Commentary Lady sat directly behind me and played narrator for the oh-so complicated plot of the show—that is, when she was not discussing the rest of her day with her companion. During one intense fight scene between the central father and son characters, over half the audience erupted into cheers and laughter, drowning out any dialogue that followed. Nearly half the lines in the play were punctuated by boisterous “ooohs.”

Columnist Crystal Humphrey liked the shows, but wasn’t too keen on the behaviour of some of the others in attendance.  In addition to putting a product on stage,  we may have more work to do in preparing the audience, as well…

Kevin Crowe has written a nice review in Metro Pulse  of our Studio Series production of King Lear, noting the challenges involved in actually staging this play.  Director Jed Diamond’s approach, and our MFA Performance Students’ portrayals made sense to him:

Maybe it is a fairy tale, in a sense, but it’s also vile and disgusting, not the stuff dreams are made of, with fat wads of spit flying from the actor’s mouths as they shout their iambic pentameter. When Zach Fine comes onstage as Lear during the first scene, sporting an odd mask (think Phantom of the Opera meets Midsummer Night’s Dream ), he’s about as far away from all the bloat and turgidity and Orsonian melodrama that has surrounded the role since, perhaps, 1956, back when Orson Welles showed us that slow pacing and grandiose pauses don’t always work. In short, this ain’t foppish Shakespeare, nor is it a lesson in literature.

It’s raw humanity, stripped of the weight of history and literary importance. These characters breathe–and sweat. The odor fills the theater when Poor Tom contorts his body, often curling his toes as his body gyrates to a bizarre rhythm. It’s madness, the syncopated beats of a mind misaligned. They’re freeing Lear from its academic bondage.

Onstage, there isn’t much to note. A few benches and a jointed stool, that’s about it. But it isn’t necessary to have anything more. Acting makes this play. The students in UT’s MFA Acting and Design program have been working on their Shakespeare chops since December. After hundreds of hours in rehearsal–and countless more hours spent learning the lines, the right inflections, how to be a madman and whatnot–they’ve pulled it off.

Perhaps those who have shyed away from the show because of the play’s reputation should take heed and invest a few hours in some remarkable theatre.  We wish more had been able to see comments like this sooner!

Please read the entire review! 

While we “major media” in town haven’t devoted much attention to our Studio Series production of King Lear, UT’s student newspaper, The Daily Beacon, has published a review of the play.

Staff writer Samantha Senn discusses many of the aspects of the production and concludes:

While many students will do almost anything to avoid Shakespeare, this is a production nobody should miss. The actors bring life to the characters, making even the longest monologue exciting. Christopher Tramantana, who plays Edmond, Gloucester’s illegitimate son, takes care to emphasize the jokes that the audience may otherwise miss during his soliloquy about his parentage. Throughout the show, he turns the lines students labor over in literature classes into witty jokes and comments.

Junior Harrison Young, a theatre major, said that though a full-text Shakespeare play is risky, this production is worth seeing.

“For a Shakespeare play, it’s done well,” he said. “It layeth the smacketh down.”

The full review is available online.

Yes, we have pictures from the Studio Series production of King Lear !

Those who haven’t seen it yet need to hurry — it’s a rare opportunity to see this play done — and it’s done well by our MFA performance students!

Here’s a link to the photos.

KNOXVILLE –- The University of Tennessee’s Clarence Brown Theater presents William Shakespeare’s tragedy, King Lear, March 1-11.  

The production will be performed in the Lab Theater as part of the Clarence Brown Theater’s (CBT) Studio Series.

King Lear is Shakespeare’s harrowing look at the inevitability of death amid the conflicting values of love and duty, friendship and betrayal, leadership and loyalty, and good and evil. Lear, king of England, surrenders all of his power to his daughters as a reward for their demonstrations of love toward him. His plan to test the love of his daughters goes tragically awry and throws the kingdom into chaos, and Lear into madness.

Written around 1605, King Lear is usually compared with Hamlet as one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays.

Jed Diamond, head of UT’s Master of Fine Arts (MFA) acting program, will direct the play. Previously based in New York, Diamond has acted at the Roundabout Theatre in New York City, the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., the Syracuse Stage, the New York Shakespeare Festival and numerous other theatres.

All involved with the play are students of UT Theatre’s professional training program, and include actors Jessica Culaciati, Zack Fine, Adam Heffernan, Lena Hurt, Shinnerrie Jackson, Jon Liddiard, Lindsay Torrey, and Christopher Tramantana; and designers Brian Barker, scenic design; Emily Strickland, costume design; and Leigh Brown, lighting design.

Tickets for the show are $10 for the general public and $5 for UT students. The Lab Theatre is located on the north side of the CBT building and accessible from the Joe Johnson-John Ward Pedestrian Mall.

For tickets, call the CBT box office at 865-974-5161 or Tickets Unlimited at 865-656-4444.

Contact:
Robin Conklin, Marketing and PR Director, (865) 974-2497