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OUR HISTORY
Since 1993, LAWSC has produced nine extremely
successful, award-winning theatrical productions -- Romeo and Juliet,
Othello, Hamlet, Richard III, Measure for Measure,
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth
Night (which was held free of charge at the John Anson Ford Amphitheater
in Hollywood, CA) and The Winter's Tale. Critical acclaim for
our productions has been overwhelmingly positive, as evidenced by this
reviewer's comment:
"By now it comes as no surprise
that when this dauntless company sets itself a task, accepts a challenge,
it will be equal to the effort... With blithe disregard of barriers
- of sex, color, whatever - the LA Women's Shakespeare Company just
gets on with it. Required only are talent, training, energy and conviction...a
triumphant re-affirmation of the critical success won by this company
in the five years since its founding, and a gratifying, heart-warming
experience of theater."
Critic's Choice (DramaLogue)
LAWSC has received national and international
television coverage, reaching over two million people in 1998. Artistic
Director Lisa Wolpe and the work of the LAWSC were profiled on the PBS
program In the Life, as well as on London's Channel 4 Arts Station.
Ms. Wolpe was recently heralded as NBC Channel 4 Local Hero on
their celebratory segment featuring community leaders doing valuable
work in Los Angeles, and our productions have also been featured on
CNN and TNN national news programs.
LAWSC has produced a series of Gala evenings
featuring some of the most inspiring actresses in Hollywood. Special
guests have included such entertainment luminaries as Lynn Redgrave,
Rue McClanahan, Sharon Gless, Susan Ruttan, Gates McFadden, Linda
Hopkins, Denise Crosby and Kathy Bates, appearing in scenes from Shakespeare
with LAWSC's core company members.
LAWSC is the an all-female Shakespeare
company in the world creating collaborative, multi-racial theater
productions that provide opportunities for women and girls to work
together. We hold it as an important part of our goals to nurture
in the next generation an excitement and appreciation for Shakespeare.
The complexity and depth of mining Shakespeare's work provides a
worthy educational and artistic challenge for women and girls to
explore together, offering them personal empowerment and expression
while serving the artistic cultural and educational needs of the
community.
In 1993 and 1994 (concurrently with
our rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet and Othello)
we taught month-long workshops on the plays, and coached and presented
public performances, with 20 young teenage boys and girls from
the half-way house Penny Lane. In 1995 we worked with a
group of 20 inner-city girls over a six-week period to earn their
Girl Scout badges by working on their own interpretation of Hamlet,
which culminated with an on-stage performance with Lynn Redgrave
and the LAWSC ensemble. We included three 12 and 13 year old girls
in the cast of Richard III in 1995, 1998's A Midsummer
Night's Dream included a multi-cultural ensemble of 27 girls
(ages 3-15) along with 23 of our accomplished adult actresses,
in the year 2000 our cast of Twelfth Night included 5 girls
(ages 8-14) and last years production of The Winter's Tale
continued this tradition with the inclusion of 9 girls and young
women in the cast. Each year we make it possible to bring hundreds
of students to see our major productions, free of charge.
Each Fall, our Outreach Program launches
a multi-racial, all-female ensemble performing "Bare-Bard" productions
of scenes from Shakespeare that tours to many geographically
diverse venues, including the World Shakespeare Congress, Santa
Monica Place, Santa Monica College, the Gascon Centre Theater,
U. C. Irvine, U. C. Riverside, the Huntington Library, Plummer
Park (in the City of West Hollywood), Huntington High School,
Santa Monica High School, and many others. Admission is free
to these performances, which are funded by grants or by small
honorariums from the host organizations.They bring awareness
of our work to more and more people throughout the Southland.
Interested in obtaining more information
about LAWSC? Click here
and let us know!
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