Blog

WHEELING, W.Va. (April 25, 2016)- -Towngate Theatre’s most recent production captures the love and backstage lore of life on stage. Ronald Harwood’s “The Dresser” celebrates the art and heart of the theater and illuminates the power that theater has to lift the human spirit in times of great strife.

Directed by Maribeth Thompson and featuring a very talented cast of community theater veterans, the show opens May 6 at Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Theatre and continues for two weekends.

“The Dresser” tells the story of one fateful night in a small regional theatre during World War II. As Britain is under attack from German aircraft, a group of traveling, ragtag Shakespearean players tours the English countryside performing the Bard’s tragic masterpiece – “King Lear.” Sir Donald Wolfit, the last of a great breed of English actor/managers, is in a bad way. As he prepares to play his 227th performance as Lear, he suddenly realizes he cannot recall his first line. It is only his dedicated and loyal dresser, Norman, who would do anything to help the aging performer, that can bring the once-great actor to the stage for a final curtain call.

“The Dresser” was first produced in 1981 and was nominated for a 1982 Tony Award. It was adapted into a 1983 film, based on a screenplay by Harwood and starring Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Screenplay.  In 2015, Richard Eyre adapted and directed a BBC film version of the play that stars Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins.

Ronald Harwood based much of his play, and its subsequent screenplay, on his experiences as an actor and dresser for renowned Shakespearian actor Donald Wolfit and his Shakespeare Company. Harwood was Wolfit’s dresser between 1953 and 1958.

Towngate’s production features Vincent Marshall and Tim Thompson starring as Norman and Sir, respectively. Other cast members include:  Dee Gregg, Melody Meadows, Makayla Carney, Walt Warren, Wayne McCord, Jon J. Coffield and Isa Campbell.

“The Dresser” coincides with the exhibit First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare, on tour from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC.  Oglebay Institute was chosen as the only location in West Virginia for the First Folio tour through the United States. An original 1623 First Folio and accompanying exhibit are on display May 9- June 12 at Oglebay Institute’s Mansion Museum.

Housed in the former Zion Lutheran Church, Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Theatre is an intimate and informal venue in the heart of Wheeling’s Centre Market District, offering year-round entertainment ranging from community theater and children’s theater to comedy and improvisation to live music and cinema. Towngate is dedicated to serving diverse audiences through engaging programming and showcasing the work of local actors, directors, playwrights, poets, musicians and filmmakers.

“The Dresser” will be staged May 6, 7, 8, 13 and 14. Curtain is 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets can be purchased by calling 304-242-7700, at www.oionline.com or at the door.

# # #

The story of Hamlet is told by the Gravedigger using Shakespeare’s moving words with help from the audience.

PRODUCED IN CONJUNCTION WITH FIRST FOLIO!  THE BOOK THAT GAVE US SHAKESPEARE

WHEELING, W.Va. (April 11, 2016)- – In conjunction with the First Folio’s visit to Wheeling, Oglebay Institute is pleased to announce two performances of the touring production of Gravedigger’s Tale, an interactive play based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, produced by the Folger Theater and the Folger Shakespeare Library.

In Hamlet, the Gravedigger appears briefly in Act V to perform a comic exchange with a fellow gravedigger before speaking to Hamlet and presenting him with the jester Yorick’s skull.  Our Gravedigger arrives with his trunk and a book and engages the audience in a re-telling of Hamlet from his unique perspective. Conceived and developed by director Robert Richmond (Richard III and Henry V at Folger Theatre), this special touring production features Helen Hayes Award-winner Louis Butelli as the storied Gravedigger.

Two shows are planned for Saturday, June 11. A 2 p.m. matinee performance will be held at Oglebay Institute’s Mansion Museum, and a 7:30 performance takes place at Wheeling’s historic Greenwood Cemetery. Seating is limited at both shows. Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling 304-242-7272 or at www.OIonline.com.  Walk-ins will be accepted only if space is available.

Kepner Funeral Homes and the West Virginia Humanities Council provided funding to bring Gravedigger’s Tale to Wheeling.

Oglebay Institute’s Mansion Museum was selected to exhibit an original 1623 First Folio from the Folger Shakespeare Library as part of First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare. This first-ever national tour of one of the world’s most influential books celebrates 400 years of Shakespeare and his legacy. Oglebay Institute is the only location in West Virginia for the First Folio! national tour. The exhibition will be on display in the Sauder Gallery of the Mansion Museum from May 9 to June 12, 2016.

###

About Folger Theatre and Folger Shakespeare Library:

Folger Theatre is the centerpiece of Folger Shakespeare Library’s programs for the public and is recognized for dynamic performances in the 250-seat Elizabethan-styled theatre, specializing in innovative stagings of works by Shakespeare, other classical work, and new plays inspired by these traditions. Since 1991, Folger Theatre has been honored by the Helen Hayes Awards with 23 awards and 135 nominations for excellence in acting, direction, design, and production—including the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Resident Play in 2011 for Hamlet (a year in which all three of Folger’s theatrical productions were nominated in that category) and in 2013 for The Taming of the Shrew. In 2012, Folger Theatre brought from London Shakespeare’s Globe’s Hamlet for the company’s first Washington appearance and continued their collaboration last season with the World-to-World two-year global tour of Hamlet, as well as their on tour production of King Lear featuring Joseph Marcell. Janet Alexander Griffin is the Artistic Producer of Folger Theatre and Director of Public Programs which includes the Folger’s music and literary series.

Folger Shakespeare Library is a renowned center for scholarship, learning, culture, and the arts. Home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection and a primary repository for research material from the early modern period (1500-1750), Folger Shakespeare Library is an internationally recognized research library offering advanced scholarly programs in the humanities; a national leader in how Shakespeare is taught in grades K-12; and an award-winning producer of cultural and arts programs —theatre, music, poetry, exhibits, lectures, and family programs. A gift to the American people from industrialist Henry Clay Folger, Folger Shakespeare Library—located one block east of the U.S. Capitol—opened in 1932 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Learn more at www.folger.edu.