In additional news, for the first time since its inception almost 15 years ago, AWI will offer classes that are not part of its comprehensive two-year Meisner program. Next semester, Craig MacDonald, the recently retired Syracuse University acting professor and current director and actor, will be joining the workshop's staff.
Read MorePaul Slade Smith, who wrote Unnecessary Farce, has supplied every character with a moment in the spotlight, and the actors here are all up to the challenge. The skillful direction by Craig MacDonald keeps the action moving at a brisk pace, not giving the audience time to think.
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“Unfortunately violence against women and physical and emotional abuse is incredibly prevalent,” said AWI Director Eliza VanCort. “I haven’t met a single woman who hasn’t been affected by it in some way. Everyone knows someone who has been impacted by domestic or sexual violence. One of the reasons we decided to work with the Advocacy Center is because unfortunately people don’t like to talk about this issue, and in order for any organization to raise money there needs to be conversation. I wanted to give back to them for all of the wonderful work they do in the community.”
Read MoreIn September 2009 Love, Loss, and What I Wore began an Off Broadway run at the Westside Theatre that is still going strong. Recently Ithaca College graduate and AWI alumna Amanda Setton landed a role in the New York production and VanCort went down to the city to see the play.
“I saw her [Setton] and met the cast,” said VanCort. “It was everything I had imagined and better.”
Read MoreContinuing its tradition of staging thought-provoking works, the Actor's Workshop of Ithaca Theater Company will present "Mitzi's Abortion: A Saint's Guide to Late-Term Politics and Medicine in America" this weekend at Risley Theatre on the Cornell University campus.
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“Mitzi’s Abortion,” put on by The Actor’s Workshop of Ithaca, offers a humorous and moving exploration of the ethics, religion and politics of late-term abortion.
Meet Mitzi (Dayna Joan), a 22-year-old with an army husband and a happy accident — a baby on the way. However, the news is quickly undermined by the discovery that the child will be born with a severe and fatal birth defect. Mitzi now faces the choice of whether to abort the baby or give birth to a child without a fully developed brain or skull.
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After a stellar debut, the Actor's Workshop of Ithaca Theatre Company is gearing up for a strong second season. The company, which grew out of the Actor's Workshop of Ithaca (which offers classes in the Meisner Technique), has just announced its 2011-12 season.
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For a company that has spent the better part of a year pushing boundaries, Shanley's satire about Hollywood in New York seems if not toothless, then certainly tame in comparison. Of course, what's more mellow for the workshop...is at the extreme of what any other upstate New York group might consider...
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Both the Actor's Workshop of Ithaca Theatre Company and the Kitchen Theatre Company tackle the subject of sex and sexuality in two regional premieres, and while they approach the subject matter in starkly different ways, what both have in common is what one expects from theater in Ithaca: frank, bold and compelling work produced in a thoughtful manner.
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Rachel Corrie proclaims early in the one-act dramatic monologue that will have a limited run by the Actor's Workshop of Ithaca this week. And regardless of what you know, whatever you may think about the student, activist and human shield who was killed by a bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in 2003, the character depicted onstage is a revelation.
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The Workshop’s Thursday night show will close with local playwright Kit Wainer’s comedy, Lemmings, and Saturday’s later performance will feature Workshop Director Eliza VanCort’s classes in the regional premiere of the farcical romp Muriel’s Birthday by Stephen Gardella, who has previously studied under VanCort.
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Klie takes a class off campus twice a week at the Actors Workshop of Ithaca. The workshop is not affiliated with the college, but Klie said it’s something she really loves taking part in. Through the workshop, Klie has been involved in student films and is part of a YouTube series called “Avenue Avery.”
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WITH ITS RAPID-FIRE DIALOGUE, explosive plot twists, and no-holds barred aggression, Orange Flower Water is the theatrical version of all-out warfare. By turns darkly comic and deeply tragic, the work and its stunning rendition will be the first show of the Actor’s Workshop’s six-show season and is kicking off Friday at Risley Hall. Orange Flower Water is the perfect reminder that no entertainment can be as entrancing and engrossing as a small black box stage.
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"Orange Flower Water" is the first show of the Actor's Workshop's six-show season, kicking off what VanCort hopes will become an annual theater tradition in Ithaca. Last year, the group's first full show was "Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead," which was well-received. . .
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The Actor's Workshop of Ithaca, which for several years has focused on teaching its students the famed Meisner Technique of "living truthfully under imaginary circumstance," is branching out. With the regional premiere of "Orange Flower Water" over the next two weekends at Risley Theatre, the Actor's Workshop is launching a full-fledged theater company that will present a full season of shows.
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