Shakespeare company afoot in the Holy City

In the early days of the republic and well into the 19th century, it was not merely the urban sophisticate, literateur or committed theatergoer who was conversant in Shakespeare, but the common man as well.

From the backwoods of Colorado to burgs along the Mississippi, the Bard was known.

In 1774, Charleston presented what is thought to be the first American performance of "Julius Caesar." In the 1820s, fabled stage actors Edmund Kean and Junius Booth brought their dueling portrayals of tragic heroes here.

Though an estimated 135 U.S. communities hold annual Shakespeare festivals and as many as 50 have active Shakespeare companies, he is no longer the jointly held property of everyone.

Yet those great dissections of the human condition, tragic or uproariously funny, are our heritage. And there is no more penetrating and perceptive a guide to life, love and their assorted follies than the man from Stratford-upon-Avon.

"Just think about the many expressions so commonly used today that derive from Shakespeare. And the plays still have immense appeal," says Laura Rose, artistic director and co-founder (with husband Mark Poremba) of the new Holy City Shakespeare theater company.

A 20th-century image of Shakespeare being chiefly the province of elites served to deflect the larger audience from the pleasures of his work.

"But today we have the advantage of acting traditions that respect his words yet offer naturalistic performances. In my experience, when Shakespeare is done well, audiences always respond enthusiastically. Our company does not want to limit Shakespeare to theater spaces alone, but to places where people work and go to school."

Rose is well-aware that she is inaugurating a new (nonprofit) company here in an already crowded live theater market. But none center on Shakespeare.

"He does make a brief but welcome appearance at the end of each August in the College of Charleston's Summer Shakespeare Project, but he has had no permanent home in the Lowcountry -- until now."

The first two plays Holy City Shakespeare will produce are the comedy "Much Ado About Nothing," scheduled for spring 2012, and the tragedy "Hamlet," tentatively slated for fall 2012. Next month, the new company will announce a first round of auditions for the ensemble company and for roles in individual productions.

Bitten by the Bard

Born in Charlotte and with family ties to Charleston since the mid-1980s, Rose moved here in 2007.

An experienced actor, director and educator, Rose began her formal Shakespeare training in 1989. In 1993, she earned her M.A. in Shakespeare studies at the Shakespeare Institute at Stratford-upon-Avon and continued her studies as a doctoral student in rhetoric at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

Rose has performed Shakespearean and Jacobean roles at the Shakespeare Institute and the Folger Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., as well as in theaters in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. Locally, she has acted in the Summer Shakespeare Project and Theatre/verv and performed non-Shakespearean material with Pure Theatre, the Footlight Players and the South of Broadway Theatre Company.

Her work also extends to feature films, documentaries, television and teaching.

"Education will be a focus of the company as well as performance," she says. "Beyond actor training, we plan to have workshops and guest lectures by people with classical acting training who have led schools in such cities as New York and Chicago."

Lay on, Macduff

The company will begin with a repertoire that is exclusively Shakespearean, Rose says, but in time may expand to do other classical plays.

"We want a core group of actors who are around, mostly, season to season, but we also want to have open auditions for individual productions. As far as performance spaces, we intend to be flexible and mobile."

The company's genesis was simple: Rose loved Shakespeare and didn't have enough opportunities to perform it here. "That's what made me turn the corner and take on the responsibility of a new company. Plus, I sensed a real desire for Shakespeare here. When the Flowertown Players presented 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in Summerville this past spring, everyone was buzzing about the design of the show. And it was spectacular. But what impressed me most was how many community members wanted to be part of the project and how many came to see it.

"It was packed from the beginning to the end of the run. That was the starting point for me. Now I want to add the training that carries local performances of Shakespeare to another level. That's the key to expanding the audience: give them a taste of what it can be."

Visit http://holycityshakespeare.org, e-mail contact@holycityshakespeare.org or call 754-7267.