By Jamie Rowe, Copy Editor
With William Shakespeare’s birthday coming up Monday, April 23, the Long Beach Shakespeare Company (LBSC) is keeping his spirit alive through year-round productions of his works and other classics, educational outreach programs, and summer festivals.
The emsemble’s next production, Richard III, is “a mammoth project,” according to LBSC Artistic Director Helen Borgers. This play, the second longest in Shakespeare’s collection, will run from Friday, May 4, to Saturday, June 16. Shows are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m., with tickets at $15 for general admission, and $10 for LBSC members and students.
During the summer, the company does a summer festival at the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific. This will be the ninth anniversary of the festival. On this year’s playbill, starting June 23, are Romeo and Juliet, and A Comedy of Errors. Each play has a four-week run. The event is free.
LBSC began as The Bard in the Yard in 1990, with one show each summer, produced in various parks around Long Beach, according to Borgers. “In 1997, the board of directors disbanded and reorganized, that’s when I joined,” she said. Her goal was to plan for the long term and get a year-round troupe going. The company was founded on the idea of exposing the community to more Shakespeare. Today that idea has expanded to include the classics.
“The main focus is pro-literacy,” Borgers said, “to get people to read and connect to classic literature, from the ancient Greeks to Dashiell Hammett.”
LBSC opened the Richard Goad Theatre in October 2003. Although the theater was originally named The Black Box Theatre, the name changed after a generous donation from Goad for air conditioning and new seats in the theater. The first production was an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. The company continues to produce variations of this work each year in celebration of its anniversary.
During the summer festivals, the theater is used for the New Writer Series, where works from local playwrights are produced, such as Andrew Marshall’s Pan, which was the very first in the series.
“[Pan] was critically acclaimed,” Borgers said. “All the local newspapers loved it, from L.A. to Long Beach.” Also part of the first series was Melissa Miller’s The Posthumous Affairs of Felson, Jones and Lordygan, which was also well celebrated in the media. This summer will see the return of both playwrights.
“Ordinarily we have Shakespeare’s Birthday Party with skits inspired by Shakespeare, both British and American,” Borgers said. The hour-long event also includes skits and music from Shakespeare’s works. LBSC has plans to take the birthday party on tour to various Renaissance fairs.
Currently the theater only has 40 seats available, but as Borges pointed out, the company performs four shows a week during the seven-week run of each play so there are many opportunities to see each performance. She also said the company keeps ticket prices low so more people can attend the shows.
LBSC is always looking for volunteers. Borgers recommends looking at the Web site, LBshakespeare.org, to get more information, then e-mailing her at borgers1@ verizon.net, or calling the theater at (562) 997-1494 and leaving your name and phone number. The theater is located at 4250 1/2 Atlantic Avenue in Bixby Knolls.
