American Players Theatre
Encyclopedia
American Players Theatre (APT) is a classical theater located just south of Spring Green, Wisconsin
. It includes a 1,148-seat outdoor amphitheater.
APT sits on 110 acre (0.4451546 km²) of woods and meadow just off the Wisconsin River across Wisconsin Highway 23 from Frank Lloyd Wright
's studio Taliesin
. Founded in 1979, APT has grown rapidly in recent years, with more than 100,000 patrons attending performances each year. It currently boasts the largest audience in the United States for outdoor classical theater.
APT typically produces 116 performances of five plays running in repertory from June to October. In 2009, APT opened the new, indoor Touchstone Theatre. With 200 seats, the Touchstone provides an intimate, complementary space to the outdoor amphitheater, and allows for new genres to grace an APT stage. While APT's repertoire consists primarily of plays by Shakespeare
and other noted (usually Western) playwrights, such as George Bernard Shaw
, Anton Chekhov
, and Molière
. Three of the plays up the hill are typically Shakespeares, with some 20th century productions performed in the Touchstone.
A significant part of APT's mission is its education program. APT works with schools and educators to teach students both about Shakespeare and other classic dramatic works, and about the theater in general. Each season, APT offers student matinees during school hours in the fall. The actors of APT also conduct in-school workshops.
APT offers picnic dinners and a picnic area for those who bring their own food to enjoy before the show. Thursday night shows are billed as "Skippeth-Out-Of-Work-Early Thursday Nights".
APT was co-founded by Randall Duk Kim
, Anne Occhiogrosso and Charles Bright. Kim was the artistic director and mainstay lead actor for 15 years before reviving a movie career after a dispute with the board of directors.
Up-the-hill:
Touchstone:
Spring Green, Wisconsin
Spring Green is a village in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,444 at the 2000 census. The village is located within the Town of Spring Green.-Geography:Spring Green is located at ....
. It includes a 1,148-seat outdoor amphitheater.
APT sits on 110 acre (0.4451546 km²) of woods and meadow just off the Wisconsin River across Wisconsin Highway 23 from Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
's studio Taliesin
Taliesin (studio)
Taliesin , near Spring Green, Wisconsin, was the summer home of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright began the building in 1911 after leaving his first wife, Catherine Tobin, and his Oak Park, Illinois, home and studio in 1909. The impetus behind Wright's departure was his affair with...
. Founded in 1979, APT has grown rapidly in recent years, with more than 100,000 patrons attending performances each year. It currently boasts the largest audience in the United States for outdoor classical theater.
APT typically produces 116 performances of five plays running in repertory from June to October. In 2009, APT opened the new, indoor Touchstone Theatre. With 200 seats, the Touchstone provides an intimate, complementary space to the outdoor amphitheater, and allows for new genres to grace an APT stage. While APT's repertoire consists primarily of plays by Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
and other noted (usually Western) playwrights, such as George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
, Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
, and Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
. Three of the plays up the hill are typically Shakespeares, with some 20th century productions performed in the Touchstone.
A significant part of APT's mission is its education program. APT works with schools and educators to teach students both about Shakespeare and other classic dramatic works, and about the theater in general. Each season, APT offers student matinees during school hours in the fall. The actors of APT also conduct in-school workshops.
APT offers picnic dinners and a picnic area for those who bring their own food to enjoy before the show. Thursday night shows are billed as "Skippeth-Out-Of-Work-Early Thursday Nights".
APT was co-founded by Randall Duk Kim
Randall Duk Kim
Randall Duk Kim is a Korean-American stage, television and film actor. Kim was also the artistic director and mainstay lead actor at the American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin, which he founded with Anne Occhiogrosso and Charles Bright...
, Anne Occhiogrosso and Charles Bright. Kim was the artistic director and mainstay lead actor for 15 years before reviving a movie career after a dispute with the board of directors.
2010 season
In the summer of 2010, APT presented 8 plays.Up-the-hill:
- All's Well That Ends WellAll's Well That Ends WellAll's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1604 and 1605, and was originally published in the First Folio in 1623....
by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"... - As You Like ItAs You Like ItAs You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
by Shakespeare - The Circle by W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset MaughamWilliam Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...
- Major Barbara by George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
- Another Part of the ForestAnother Part of the ForestAnother Part of the Forest is a 1946 play by Lillian Hellman, a prequel to her 1939 drama The Little Foxes.-Plot synopsis:Set in the fictional town of Bowden, Alabama in June 1880, the plot focuses on the wealthy, ruthless, and innately evil Hubbard family and their rise to prominence...
by Lillian HellmanLillian HellmanLillian Florence "Lily" Hellman was an American playwright, linked throughout her life with many left-wing causes...
Touchstone:
- Wating for Godot by Samuel BeckettSamuel BeckettSamuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
- Exits and Entrances by Athol FugardAthol FugardAthol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...
- The Syringa TreeThe Syringa TreeThe Syringa Tree is a deeply personal memory play of a childhood under apartheid. Written and often performed by Pamela Gien it has received excellent reviews in New York and across the USA as well as in London...
by Pamela Gien