The Hidden Room Theatre Group to Visit Villanova Graduate English

Please mark your calendars for March 23-24, when we'll be holding a series of fascinating workshops and performances of an 18th-century puppet-show adaptation of Hamlet by the critically acclaimed Austin, TX-based theater group Hidden Room. No tickets will be necessary. The workshops will be geared toward Villanova and Penn grad students in English, Theatre, and Creative Writing. 

The Hidden Room Theatre’s der Bestrafte Brudermord
On March 23-24, Villanova will host award-winning Texas-based theater group The Hidden Room to stage their original-practices puppet-show production of der Bestrafte Brudermord, the mysterious slapstick Hamlet found in a German manuscript in the 18th century. The Hidden Room's visit to Villanova will include two evening shows, each followed by an artist talk-back, and two workshops on theatre scholarship, dramatic practice, and arts entrepreneurship. This event is co-sponsored by Villanova and the University of Pennsylvania. All members of the Villanova community are invited. Events will take place in the Villanova Cinema. Seating will be first-come.

Monday, March 23
5:00 p.m. Workshop
"Page to Stage: Turning Theatre Scholarship into Practice"
The Hidden Room's collaborations with scholars from Shakespeare's Globe, the American Shakespeare Center, and, most recently, Oxford University's Tiffany Stern have yielded theatrical events that have won multiple awards, critical acclaim, and international attention. Using Hidden Room's der Bestrafte Brudermord as a model, this discussion hopes to illuminate ways that theatre practitioners might build successful working relationships with scholars and use their research to infuse old plays with new life.

6:30 p.m. Scholarly Talk by Prof. Zachary Lesser, University of Pennsylvania Department of English: “Uncanny Hamlets: The Mystery of der Bestrafte Brudermord”

7:30 Performance of der Bestrafte Brudermord followed by artist talk-back

Tuesday, March 24
5:00 p.m. Workshop
"The Business of Playing Professionally: Making a Living in the Theatre"
The Hidden Room's artistic director/theatrical deviser, Beth Burns, has worked as an actor, writer, director, stage manager, teacher, lighting board operator, publicist, grant consultant, tour manager, box officer, usher, house manager, dresser, personal assistant, talent wrangler, and janitor. Burns invites you to learn from her mistakes as she details her successes, stumbling blocks, and ways into the future with a focus on a creating a sustainable economic model for a theatrical company, if one indeed exists (she hopes so).

7:30 Performance of der Bestrafte Brudermord followed by artist talk-back