Vanguard University Theatre Department Announces
Shakespeare’s Kings, Lovers and Fools —
An original compilation of works brought together through common theme
The Vanguard University Theatre Department continues its 2009-2010 season with Shakespeare’s Kings, Lovers and Fools, an original work by Department Chair, Susan K. Berkompas. The play is a compilation of excerpts from a wide range of Shakespeare’s works, including Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Richard III, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and others. Berkompas also weaves in contemporary content from such notables as, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., and even goes as far back as the biblical book of Job to create a compelling lattice upon which she describes the enduring human condition. The piece also includes original music composed specifically for this work to accent each scene and provide an undercurrent for the story to flow upon.
Shakespeare’s Kings, Lovers and Fools combines the classic and the contemporary through such themes of love, greed, jealousy and revenge. The story deconstructs Shakespeare’s most famous characters and speeches juxtaposing them against the canvas of a post-modern society. Each character’s plight becomes a familiar motif as it is compared and contrasted to current, global events of our time.
Berkompas, the Producing Artistic Director and Department Chair at Vanguard University, took a sabbatical leave in England where she studied Shakespeare with Sir John Barton at the British American Drama Academy. She spoke recently of her passion for the works of Shakespeare and her desire to create this work, “I wanted to create a piece like this for such a long time, as Shakespeare’s works are not only classic works of genius but also applicable to our current day situations. Human nature is what it is regardless of period, and there is nobody who captures the human condition better than William Shakespeare himself.”
Plans are already in place for Shakespeare’s Kings, Lovers and Fools to be published and distributed for use throughout the theatrical community, and a potential tour is also under consideration.
Shakespeare’s Kings, Lovers and Fools opens on Friday, February 26 at the Lyceum Theater and will continue through Sunday, March 7. Performance times are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm and Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 pm. Performances are held in the Lyceum Theater on the campus of Vanguard University at 55 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Ticket pricess are $14 for general admission and $12 for seniors, children and groups of ten or more. To order tickets go online to www.vanguardtickets.com OR call the Box Office at 714-668-6145. For more information go to www.vanguard.edu/theatrearts.
Susan K. Berkompas, B.F.A./M.F.A. in Acting and Directing serves as Producing Artistic Director for VUSC and Department Chair of Theatre Arts. She is the recipient of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre award for Excellence in Education and serves as the Irene Ryan Coordinator for KCACTF, Region 8. Susan is an alumnus of Directors Lab West and has studied Shakespeare with John Barton at the British American Drama Academy. She is the founder and Producing Artistic Director of American Coast Theater Company. Sue has directed such shows as Othello; The Boys Next Door; Macbeth; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Crucible and Bullshot Crummond. Her favorite roles are Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire; Eleanor from Lion in Winter; and Desdemona from Othello.
