Long Beach Shakespeare Company director Helen Borgers (left) will be partnering with Denis McCourt (right).
Helen Borgers, artistic director of the Long Beach Shakespeare Company (LBSC ) for more than ten years, last week announced that Denis McCourt was joining her at LBSC as co-artistic director.
McCourt came to Long Beach in May 2008 from Gainesville, Florida, where he received his masters degree of fine arts in acting from the University of Florida. He has had extensive training in classical and contemporary acting in master classes taught by 2003 Olivier Award nominee Tim Carroll, Sir Donald Sinden, Sian Phillips and Sheridan Morley, among others. He has studied classical Greek theatre in Greece, contemporary British theatre in London, England, Stanislavsky and Strasberg methods, and Meisner techniques in the United States.
After years of working successfully in business as a financial planner, sales manager, and executive vice president, McCourt now combines his skills, working both the production and performance sides of stage and screen. He is also a writer, dramaturge and director. Denis is an adjunct professor at Long Beach City College.
“LBSC is at a very important stage in its growth,” said Borgers, “and I see in Denis the perfect complement to my classical experience. I’ll continue to direct, as will Denis, especially after his huge success with our most recent production, The Far Gone-doliers, which he adapted from Gilbert & Sullivan and directed to packed houses.”
In addition to producing classical and contemporary theatre in Long Beach, both Borgers and McCourt intend to step up the company’s involvement with education, for professionals as well as school children. On the business side, they plan to produce more plays with corporate sponsors, supporting the promise of the current emphasis on business and the arts in “Create Long Beach.”
