The HB Ensemble

THE HB ENSEMBLE PRESENTS...

THE WARS OF THE ROSES
Adapted from Shakespeare's Henry VI and Richard III

directed by Alexander Harrington

With: J.B. Alexander Greg Anash Janine Hegarty Janice Bishop Antonietta Corvinelli Joseph Di Salle* Guenevere Donohue Trey Ervine Domenica Galati* Terry Gibson* John Hinds* Robert Ierardi* Oliver Lipton Don Marlette* Francis Mateo* Orlando Rivera R. David Robinson* Judy Rosenblatt* Mitch Tebo* Kenneth Thompson Jonathan Wiener

December 5 - 20 @ 8PM
Sundays, December 9, 16, at 3PM only.
No performances Mondays 10 and 17.

HB Playwrights Theatre, 124 Bank Street

Reservations available by calling:
212-989-7856, Mon-Fri, 1-5pm.
No admission charge. Limit (2) per request.
Reservations must be picked up 15 minutes before curtain.

*Member Actors Equity Association; an Equity Approved Showcase.

The HB Ensemble is a joint project of the HB Studio and the HB Playwrights Foundation designed to bridge the gap between the classroom and the stage by giving serious actors who are well-versed in their technique and ready to make a responsible and ethical commitment to the future of their art, the opportunity to perform and participate in all aspects of theatre production. The Ensemble is an extension of the Studio’s training program, and as members of the group, actors are encouraged to continue their development in all aspects of theatrical craft. The Ensemble meets twice monthly to share and reflect on work-in-progress. Members may initiate workshop projects for development within the HB Studio classroom spaces, and the group presents two full productions annually in the HB Playwrights Foundation Theatre.

Selection is by audition before the Ensemble’s Faculty Advisory Committee and the Studio’s Executive Director. Auditions are held annually in January, during the Winter term. Students must be enrolled at the Studio in order to be eligible to apply, and in order to remain active with the group.

Auditions for the 2012 HB Ensemble will be held in January.

Alec Harrington will be Artistic Director for the season and will lead the Ensemble in a program dedicated to classical work.

We will be auditioning students with the season in mind, to select a company that will perform together for the year. A panel of faculty advisors will make selections based on the work presented.

HB students practicing at an advanced level who are enrolled in the Winter 2012 term are eligible to apply.

FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

2012 HB Ensemble members will be honing their classical acting skills, working on Shakespeare.  In particular we will be focusing on Shakespeare’s women.  Some of the greatest female roles in the Shakespeare canon are in the history plays.  This June, we will be presenting Behind the Throne, a program of scenes from Shakespeare’s two history cycles, focused on the female characters.  Using linking narration, Behind the Throne will present women’s perspective on Shakespeare’s version of English history from the overthrow of Richard II in 1399 to the defeat of Richard III in 1485.  In December we will either be performing a one-play condensation of the three parts of Henry VI or a two play condensation of the three Henry VI plays plus Richard III.

Alexander Harrington is the founder and artistic director The Eleventh Hour Theatre Co., for which he has directed his own translation of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon; The Burial at Thebes; Richard II; Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2; and Henry V; and his own two-part adaptation of Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov (which has been published in the New York Theatre Experience’s anthology Playing with Canons). Mr. Harrington and The Eleventh Hour are frequent guest artists at La MaMa E.T.C., and their work has also been presented at The Culture Project and HERE. Other directing credits include Billy Budd, Twelfth Night, Much Ado about Nothing, and the premieres of Edward Einhorn’s Linguish at the New York International Fringe Festival; Kathryn Sanders’ So Alone, Last Night in Paris, and Surprises from a Cloud; John A. Adams’ In the Shadow of a Dream; and Lella Heins’ Lion Taming in Miami and Other Views of Life and The Theory of Color. Regionally, Mr. Harrington has directed in Upstate New York, North Carolina, and New Jersey. He has directed students at Louisiana State, Clemson, and Bentley Universities. In addition to The Brothers Karamazov, Mr. Harrington has adapted and directed Chekhov’s short story “The Kiss” and Sherwood Anderson’s “The Philosopher” for the stage (both produced for Lincoln-Center-Theatre-Directors-Lab/The-Culture-Project festivals). As a scholar and critic, Mr. Harrington’s work has been published in Dissent magazine; First of the Month; Upstart Crow; Shakespeare Criticism, Vol. 89; and Literary Themes for Students: War and Peace. He contributed an essay on political theatre to the anthology New Threats to Freedom published by Templeton Press, for which David Mamet and Christopher Hitchens also contributed essays.