Othello Symposium In Stratford, September 12th

[Francesca Marini]

Second Annual Stratford Festival Symposium

Honest Villains and Noble Killers: The Iago/Othello Character Dynamic
Studio Theatre, Thursday, September 12, 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon.
Admission: Free, but tickets must be reserved. http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/forum/symposia.aspx?id=20474

Speakers: Ellen Geer, Artistic Director, Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, Los Angeles; Dr. Caroline Bicks, Boston College, U.S.A.; Bethany Jillard, Graham Abbey and Dion Johnstone, Stratford Festival company

Support for the Symposium is generously provided by Dr. Jules and Josephine Harris.

In Shakespeare’s Othello, the character of Iago is key to why and how the story unfolds; Iago has even more lines than Othello. Many great actors have played both parts on stage, and every new production raises complex questions. The 2013 Festival production (the seventh in Stratford’s history), directed by Chris Abraham, will once more invite us to reflect on Othello’s implications. In this, the second annual Stratford Festival Symposium, leading artists and scholars express their views on the play.

Since 1978, Ellen Geer has been Artistic Director of the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Los Angeles, one of the most innovative professional repertory theatres in North America. The name of this outdoor “Theatre of Plants,” founded in 1973, pays homage to the plants mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays. Ms Geer has produced and directed over forty productions and is a renowned theatre, film and television actor, director and educator. Her 2005 production of Othello received outstanding reviews. Her film credits include Harold and Maude, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, to name a few. A graduate professor of classical acting in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television at the University of California, Los Angeles, she has received numerous awards for her work at Theatricum and in the community, including a Los Angeles County “Woman of the Year” award.

Dr. Caroline Bicks is Associate Professor of English at Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts) and is also on the faculty of the Bread Loaf School of English. She is the author of Midwiving Subjects in Shakespeare’s England (Ashgate, 2003), co-editor with Jennifer Summit of The History of British Women’s Writing, volume 2 (Palgrave 2011) and author of numerous articles on anatomy, maternity and girl-actors in the early modern period. She is currently writing a book on English girlhood that considers the figure of the adolescent female performer. Her non-academic writing has appeared in the “Modern Love” column of the New York Times, on “McSweeney’s Internet Tendency,” on NPR’s All Things Considered, and in the book and show Afterbirth: Stories You Won’t Read in a Parenting Magazine.” With Michelle Ephraim, she writes a blog called “Everyday Shakespeare: Where Bard Meets Life.”

Bethany Jillard is currently in her fourth season at the Stratford Festival; she plays Desdemona in this year’s Othello, as well as Constance in The Three Musketeers. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto and of the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre. Her Stratford roles include Katherine in Henry V (2012), Hero in Much Ado About Nothing (2012), Lady Anne in Richard III (2011) and Cécile in Dangerous Liaisons (2010). Other roles include Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind (world première – Manitoba Theatre Centre), The Little Years (Tarragon), After Miss Julie (MTC Warehouse) and My Name Is Rachel Corrie (Theatre Panik). Film and television roles include If I Were You (Paragraph), Murdoch Mysteries (Shaftesbury) and Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures (TMN). She is the recipient of the Peter Donaldson Guthrie Award (2012) and the Stage West­–Equity Emerging Theatre Artist Award (2010).

Dion Johnstone is in his eighth season at the Festival. He is a graduate of the University of Alberta’s BFA in Acting Program and the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre. He plays Othello in this year’s production. Other roles at Stratford include Aaron in Titus Andronicus (2011), Caliban in TheTempest (2010), Valentine in The Two Gentlemen of Verona (2010), Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2009), Macduff in Macbeth (2009), Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird (2007) and Edmund in King Lear (2007). Roles elsewhere include Marc Antony in Julius Caesar (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), George in A Raisin in the Sun (Soulpepper), Boromir in The Lord of the Rings (Mirvish Productions) and Davey Battle in Take Me Out (Canadian Stage). Guest-star and principal film and television credits include roles in Flashpoint, Cracked, Defiance, The Listener, Underground Railroad (documentary) and Stargate SG-1.

Graham Abbey is in his fourteenth season at the Festival. He plays Iago in this year’s Othello, as well as Athos in The Three Musketeers. Other roles at Stratford include Posthumus in Cymbeline (2012), Henry V (2001), Macbeth (2004), Romeo (2002), Henry VIII (2004), Jaques in As You Like It (2005), Prince Hal in Henry IV (2001), D’Artagnan in The Three Musketeers (2000), Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew (2003), Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest (2000) and Hap Loman in Death of a Salesman (1997). Roles elsewhere include Hamlet (Resurgence), Jeff Skilling in Enron (Theatre Calgary), Sam Byck in Assassins (Talk Is Free/Birdland), Charles in The School for Scandal and Valère in The Molière Comedies (Chicago Shakespeare). Television roles include series lead in The Border (CBC) and recurring roles in Degrassi, Murdoch Mysteries, Covert Affairs and Republic of Doyle. Film credits include Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz opposite Sarah Silverman, Casino Jack, 388 Arletta Avenue, Othello, Defendor, Stealing Paradise and Secrets of Eden. He was also a series regular in Afghanada (CBC Radio). The recipient of a Dora Award and a Monte Carlo Television Festival nomination, he is the Artistic Director of Groundling Theatre (Groundlingtheatre.com).

Dr. Francesca Marini
Archives Director
Stratford Festival
55 Queen Street | PO Box 520 | Stratford ON | N5A 6V2
519.271.4040 x 4301
fmarini at stratfordfestival.ca

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2013 Season | April 23 to October 20
Romeo and Juliet | Fiddler on the Roof | The Three Musketeers | The Merchant of Venice
Tommy | Blithe Spirit | Othello | Measure for Measure | Mary Stuart | Waiting for Godot
Taking Shakespeare | The Thrill