YWAA, Cyrano at Boscobel

Murray Biggs, Yale drama expert, returned to deliver a pre-performance lecture to Yale alumni and guests before the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival's presentation of Cyrano (YWAA photos).

With summer rushing toward its end, YWAA once again hosted alumni, family and friends at its annual Boscobel outing in Garrison, Sunday evening, Aug. 25. A Shakespeare tragedy or comedy wasn't on tap this year, as it has been in previous years.  The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival performed Cyrano, a loose, modern interpretation of the life of French novelist Cyrano de Bergerac, written by Jason O'Donnell and Brenda Withers. Meredith McDonough directed the production. 

Shakespeare was absent, but long-time Yale lecturer and Shakespeare expert Murray Biggs returned to deliver a pre-performance lecture to rally the Yale guests and give them hints about the evening's story. For the past several years, Biggs has spoken to the Yale group in Boscobel and at similar alumni gatherings across the country.  Rich Fabbro '76, YWAA board member, helped organize the YWAA  evening this year. 

In past years, YWAA has hosted Yale guests for performances of such HVSF productions of Hamlet, Othello, A Comedy of Errors, Love's Labour Lost, All's Well That Ends Well, The Winter's Tale and MacBeth. 

Cyrano at Boscobel, Aug. 25

YWAA will host its annual Boscobel event, Aug. 25, featuring Cyrano, directed by Jason O'Connell. 

As part of its annual outing at Boscobel and featuring productions of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, YWAA will host alumni, family and friends for performance at Cyrano, Sunday, Aug. 25 (7:30 pm) in Garrison.

Yale lecturer Murray Biggs once again will open the events of the day with a pre-performance lecture at 3:30 pm. YWAA guests will then have a chance to have a picnic on the grounds of Boscobel before joining the public to watch actors of the HVSF group present Cyrano.

To purchase tickets for the event and join the affairs of the day, click Boscobel Tickets.  YWAA board member Rich Fabbro '76 is organizing the day's events.

In most years, the YWAA Sunday event often showcases a Shakespearean play.  Last year the Festival performed Richard II.  In 2016, the performers presented a female actress Maria Christina-Oliveras '91, a Yale alumna, in the male role Macbeth. Other "Yale Day at Boscobel" performances in the past included The Winter's Tale, Hamlet, and Othello.

A Yale expert on Shakespeare, Biggs, in his Boscobel lectures, offers insights, special tips, clues, and color before the Yale group watches the evening performance.

This year the August Yale gathering won't see a Shakespeare production. The actor, Jason O'Connell, who will play the part of Cyrano in this year's Cyrano, co-wrote the drama with Brenda Withers.  Meredith McDonough is its director.

Cyrano is O'Connell's loose interpretation of the life and fancies of Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, the 17th century French novelist and playwright. The play chronicles Cyrano's crush, love letters and love interests in Roxanne even as France prepares for war with Spain.

Boscobel, 2018: Richard II

The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival will perform Richard II at this year's YWAA Boscobel outing, Aug., 19 (HVSF photos)

YWAA returns to Boscobel in Garrison, N.Y., Sunday, Aug.  19, hosting an afternoon of lecture and picnic outing before the evening culminates with a Shakespeare performance of Richard II by the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival.  

The afternoon lineup features the pre-show lecture from Yale lecturer Murray Biggs, who for years has prepped Yale alumni and guests with colorful insights and special watch tips before they ventured over to the big white tent at Boscobel for the evening production. 

Yale alumni and guests will also have a chance to lounge on the grounds of Boscobel and observe summertime scenes on the Hudson River shores before the actors take the stage. 

The Murray lecture at the Hastings Center starts at 4:30 pm.  The Richard II performance follows at 7:30 pm (after the picnic).

To purchase tickets for the lecture and performance, click YALE-WESTCHESTER and follow instructions. Or contact YWAA board member Rich Fabbro '76 at 914-391-3707. 

Davis McCallum directs the HSVF's Richard II, and Richard II himself will be portrayed by actress Julia Coffey, not unusual when the HSVF presents its interpretations of Shakespeare's works. 

In early July, Wall Street Journal critic Terry Teachout called Coffey's performance of the king as "distinctive" while "pivoting from arrogance to desperation so smoothly."   He also praises director McCallum's staging:  "(McCallum) works his usual visual wonders--no director in America is more adept at moving around a big cast."

In years past, YWAA-Boscobel has hosted outings of such performances as The General from America, Macbeth, Othello, The Winter's Tale, All's Well That Ends Well, and Hamlet.  

West Point and Arnold at Boscobel

After the traditional Murray Biggs lecture, YWAA alumni and guests watched The General from America under the tent at Boscobel. (HSVF, YWAA photos)

YWAA returned to Boscobel in Garrison, Aug. 20, in its annual outing with the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival.  The line-up was familiar.  YWAA invited Westchester alumni, families and friends for a Sunday affair that included a glowing performance under the tent along the Hudson River shoreline, a pre-performance lecture from Yale drama professor Murray Biggs, and a picnic on Boscobel's lush, scenic grounds.

Shakespeare, however, wasn't on the docket this year.  HVSF's 2017 summer schedule squeezed in a performance of The General from America, Richard Nelson's account of Benedict Arnold's defection to the British Army during the Revolutionary War. Penny Metropulos, affiliated with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, directed the play.

For more than 15 summers, Biggs has launched the day with an exuberant lecture about the evening's performance.  The Shakespeare expert this year detoured beyond Shakespeare and provided insights on how the audience should observe a performance about a notorious traitor.  The play, written in the 21st century, features a central character, a general in the U.S. Army, who spends much of the show agonizing over criminal charges from the U.S. side and rationalizing a decision to defect--until he finally crosses over.

Benedict Arnold (played by Chris Thorn, who has otherwise performed in many Shakespeare productions Off-Broadway) limps across the Boscobel stage, fusses with his sister, and barks at his wife.

He debates George Washington (played by long-time HSVF actor Kurt Rhoads) and arranges a meeting at West Point with British Major John Andre--with the hills and greenery of the real West Point looming in the background.

The hushed, dark background of the real Hudson River becomes the setting for the 18th-century fateful meeting between Andre and Arnold--despite the occasional commuter train roaring faintly every 20 minutes or so.

Earlier that day, Biggs lectured to over 40 YWAA guests, refreshing them on the old history lesson and hinting at Davis' humanized portrayal of Arnold. 

Rich Fabbro '76 and Dan Leonard '77 helped organize the day's events, carrying on a YWAA tradition led for many years by Merrell Clark '57 and Bruce Jennings '71.

YWAA's Sunday at Boscobel always includes a picnic on the grounds and moments to absorb the Hudson River scenery. (YWAA photos)

YWAA at Boscobel, Aug. 20

Yale drama expert Murray Biggs returns to lecture to the YWAA group before the Boscobel performance The General From America, Aug. 20.

YWAA, including Yale alumni, family and friends, will return to Boscobel in Garrison for its annual outing of drama on the shores of the Hudson in Garrison, Sunday Aug. 20.

This year, there is a another kind of twist.  Shakespeare, whose plays at Boscobel are offered with twists, turns, innovation, edge, and creativity, won't be the headliner performance.  At the Yale gathering, which includes the pre-performance lecture and picnic, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival will perform The General From America, Richard Nelson's portrayal of Benedict Arnold. 

Murray Biggs, the Yale expert in Shakespeare, will still join the day and provide insights at his annual lecture before the evening stage lights turn on.  He will speak to the YWAA group and highlight for guests' benefit what they should look for and remind them why they will be entertained and perhaps inspired.

Biggs' lecture starts at 3:45 pm at the Hastings Center in Garrison. The Yale group will have an on-your-own picnic on the sensational Hudson shoreline at 6 pm. The play will begin at 7:30 pm. 

The production will be special, if only because the Boscobel setting and Hudson River background are the actual historical settings of the show's plot.  Benedict Arnold, as most know, fought for the American Army during the Revolutionary War and became a commander at West Point. In 1780, he fled to the British side and became an officer of the British Army--just a short distance from the big white tent at Boscobel that will feature a 2017 performance about him.

The play is directed by Penny Metropulous, who told the HVSF, "I'm always interested in anything that makes me study harder, and it seems like a good time to brush up on American history."

Metropulous, who has worked with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for over 20 seasons, has directed Shakespeare plays including Henry IV, The Comedy of Errors and As You Like It. She has also directed productions in Chicago, Denver, Portland and Berkeley, Calif. 

Biggs has been a YWAA fixture at Boscobel for years and attracts a popular following, who enjoy his pointing out plot directions and character flaws in the way they don't recall from their days in a Yale English course years ago.

In recent years, YWAA on the Hudson during summer has watched All's Well That Ends Well, MacBeth, Othello, The Winter's Tale, Hamlet, and Love's Labour Lost.

YWAA treasurer Rich Fabbro '76 is organizing the day's activities. Ticket details will follow.

Bruce Jennings '71, former YWAA president, joins Murray Biggs after a pre-performance lecture at the Hastings Center (above).

Before the performance, YWAA guests and friends will have a chance to lounge on the grounds for a picnic and absorb the summer surroundings along the Hudson River.

Cool, Comfortable Macbeth

YWAA's annual outing at Boscobel, Aug. 14, featured a performance of Macbeth by the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival after a late-afternoon rain cooled off a hot summer day in Garrison (YWAA photos)

Maria Christina-Oliveras '01 played the role of Macbeth in an audience of rows of Yale alumni and guests. (YWAA photos)

The weather cooperated in the end. After a day of scorching heat and a before-dark thunderstorm, the evening setting at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival was cool, comfortable. Hot temperatures had scared away a few ticket-buyers for the production of Macbeth under the big tent. The few hundred who gathered received special Hudson River treatment—a welcome after-rain breeze as they watched Shakespeare characters wrestle mightily with 17th-century power struggles.

The annual YWAA outing at Boscobel in Garrison, Aug. 14, featured Yale alum Maria Christina-Oliveras ’01 playing the male role of Macbeth. Christina-Oliveras was tasked with bringing female sensibilities to a character who spends much of the play plotting, by any means necessary, to become king of Scotland.

And she performed the role in front of several rows of Yale alumni and one of her Yale Shakespeare professors, Martin Biggs. True to YWAA custom, before the performance at the nearby Hastings Center, Biggs lectured to YWAA guests and invited his former student to discuss Macbeth and the uniqueness of her playing this male role. His ex-pupil talked about “the curse of Macbeth,” the reluctance of performers to mention the play by name, and some personal evidence of why that might be true.

During the performance, Christina-Oliveras had a chance to exhibit many talents—from pantomiming violent scenes and exuding Macbethian rage to singing a handful of her lines (as called for in this performance).

She was joined on the tent’s dirt-floor stage by two other female actresses in director Lee
Sunday Evans’ effort to present this modern variation of Macbeth: Female characters who normally observe violent activities of male counterparts become those male characters to better understand malevolent intent and violent behavior. HVSF just doesn’t do Shakespeare. It shakes up the performance, reinterprets themes, and modernizes the setting. It asks characters like Christina-Oliveras to wear costumes that seem more like 2016 than 1616 and make gestures that are more akin to 21st-century dance steps than gyrations from the 1500's.

During a busy Boscobel summer, Christina-Oliveras, who went to high school in New Rochelle before enrolling at Yale, has also appeared in the Shakespeare play As You Like It.

YWAA board members Dan Leonard '76 and Rich Fabbro ’76 arranged the day's Yale events, substituting for long-time Boscobel organizer, Bruce Jennings '71, now a Nashville resident.

Oliveras as Macbeth at Boscobel

Maria-Christina Oliveras '01 plays the part of Macbeth (above, L) at Boscobel this summer. She attended high school in New Rochelle. (Oliveras photos)

One of Yale's own will be among the performers who take the stage Aug. 14 at Boscobel in Garrison this summer, when Yale alumni and friends gather for YWAA's evening under the tent at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival.  Maria-Christina Oliveras '01 plays the featured role Macbeth in Macbeth. Yes, she plays the historical male role in an innovative production and all-female cast. 

New York Times reviewer David DeWitt wrote recently audience members won't have an issue with three actresses playing roles written for men when Shakespeare penned the play during his time.  DeWitt assessed, "(the women), their individual qualities evident, simply act the play, their characters seemingly stripped down beyond gender to their essence."  He describes Oliveras as "terrific" and praises the trio's performance, which "commands engagement as it plumbs the internal life of these characters, revealing their fragile emotions." 

The YWAA evening includes the traditional pre-performance lecture by Yale's Professor Murray Biggs, a picnic lunch, and Oliveras on stage at 7 pm.  Tickets for the lecture and Macbeth are on sale.  Click YWAA-Boscobel.

Oliveras also appears in the HVSF's summer production of As You Like It, where she has singing roles.  "She seems to be having a great time in the role," The Times' DeWitt wrote.

Oliveras, a Bronx native, is an adjunct instructor in Theater Studies at Yale, where she majored in the same when she was an undergraduate in New Haven.  Before Yale, she was a student at the Ursuline School in New Rochelle.

She has appeared in productions on Broadway, off-Broadway and in television and film. On Broadway, she had roles in Machinal and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.  Off-Broadway at the Public Theater, she sang a featured role in Here Lies Love and appeared in Romeo and Juliet. At Yale, she has taught acting, has returned other times to speak to students and has conducted seminars.

After the show Aug. 14, Oliveras and her fellow actresses will greet and speak to the Yale group.

Boscobel, 2016: MacBeth

YWAA hosts its annual Shakespeare evening, Aug. 14, at Boscobel in Garrison, NY. MacBeth is this year's featured performance.

This summer, on the shores of the Hudson, where YWAA and Yale alumni in the region partake in a Westchester tradition, Shakespeare's tragedy MacBeth comes to Boscobel for the annual Yale Sunday under the big white tent in Garrison, NY.

YWAA will host alumni, family and friends Aug. 14 for the Hudson outing. The day includes the annual lecture from Yale Shakespeare expert Murray Biggs, a picnic with expansive views of the curving river, and the 7:30 pm curtain call for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival's presentation of the Bard of Avon, often with modern twists, turns, costumes, and swagger.

Save the date. Prepare for an afternoon and evening with Yale friends. Don't forget to bring a picnic basket and perhaps a notebook to summarize Biggs' insights. Take time to stroll the grounds of Boscobel before the performers swarm a stage best known for its leafy background and entrances where characters emerge from the horizon. The show goes on, whether or not it rains.

In recent years, the Yale gathering listened to Biggs' lectures and watched Shakespeare's Othello, The Winter's Tale, All's Well That Ends Well, Hamlet, Love's Labour Lost, and A Comedy of Errors.

To purchase tickets to the Biggs lecture (4:30 pm at the Hastings Center) and to the performance that evening, click YWAA-Boscobel.

Jennings' Migration Southward

Bruce Jennings '71, YWAA board member and former president (above L, with Yale professor Murray Biggs), is relocating to Nashville, but will coordinate YWAA's Boscobel event (above R) one more time this August (Yale and YWAA photos).

Yale Westchester's annual Boscobel outing heralds the beginning of the end of summer. Always a yearly highlight, always a memorable event, and often an evening that evokes memories of sitting around a thick table in Lindsley-Chit debating Shakespeare themes, Boscobel this year will feature The Winter's Tale (Aug. 23 in Garrison).  Bruce Jennings '71, a YWAA director and former president, once again organized the Yale gathering, arranged for Yale's Shakespeare professor Murray Biggs to return to provide background and inspiration beforehand, and is coddling Westchester alums to join him and the usual attendees for up-front seats.

Unfortunately for Yale Westchester, after the actors spout their last lines on the grounds of the semi-circle stage and after the engaged audience applauds under the spacious tent, Jennings relocates to Nashville.  He is not yet officially retiring, but he and his wife Maggie decided now is the time to join his son and daughter-in-law and become grandparents in what is popularly considered one of the most luring, attractive cities in the South.  A more pleasant, tolerable winter doesn't hurt, too.

Many Yale alumni know him for Boscobel, but Jennings has had other notable responsibilities in a long career and won't retire from those roles, as he heads southward.  He is Director of Bioethics at the Center for Humans and Nature, based in Dobbs Ferry and has held a faculty appointment in ethics at the Yale School of Public Health for 20 years.

The Center is a private research institute that studies ethical and policy questions about the environment and public health. Jennings is editor for and frequent contributor to its e-journal, Minding Nature.  He will remain at the Center and will become an adjunct professor in biomedical ethics and society at Vanderbilt as a new Nashville resident.

Jennings recently co-edited a book on issues and topics related to hospice care: Hospice Ethics: Policy and Practice in Palliative Care. He has written or edited 20 books in bioethics and public policy and published over 150 articles. He is also editor in chief of Bioethics, a publication in its fourth edition that serves as an encyclopedia on related topics.

Along the way, Jennings has also served two terms as a village trustee in Hastings-on-Hudson, his local residence before his planned move to Tennessee. He was YWAA's president from 2007-11 and received a YWAA award for community service in 2005.

As he departs, he and YWAA will ensure the Yale-Boscobel excursions, including the lectures, lunches and picnics with the stunning Hudson River views, will continue in 2016 and beyond.  In recent years, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, the troupe that performs each summer season at Boscobel, staged productions of All's Well That End's Well, King Lear, Hamlet, and Comedy of Errors.  Some have been comedies that sparked shouts and laughter around the tent. Others were tragedies that left theater-goers hushed in silence amid splattering blood and mournful wails.

As coordinator, Jennings each year convinces dozens of alumni and their guests to give Shakespeare one more chance or urges those who are Shakespeare experts to support the HVSF theater group.  And guests, after Biggs' inspiration and guidance, are usually thrilled by the productions. They unravel the winding Shakespeare plots, they laugh loudly at the surprise references to 2015 culture, and they soak in the familiar cadence of Shakespeare language.

A Hastings resident for 33 years (including his six years as a trustee), Jennings wrote to friends and colleagues recently, "We have fond memories and dear friends in Hastings, whom we will never forget."  The chance to continue teaching, writing and editing, while spending more time with his new grandson, was too enticing.

As Jennings ventures to the South, YWAA will keep the popular Boscobel tradition alive, although some, including Jennings himself, speculate he may sneak back to the area for future productions under the big open tent.

To purchase tickets for this year's YWAA-Boscobel event (including the Biggs lecture at the Hastings Center), click THE-WINTER'S-TALE.

The Winter's Tale at Boscobel

The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival will perform The Winter's Tale at this year's YWAA outing  Aug. 25 in Garrison (HVSF photos)

YWAA resumes its midsummer Shakespeare tradition in 2015, sponsoring an outing to see The Winter's Tale at Boscobel in Garrison Sunday, Aug. 25.  Murray Biggs, Yale professor in English and Shakespeare, will appear again to present a lecture to Yale alumni and guests before they spend the evening under the big tent along the Hudson River.  YWAA board member and longtime event organiser Bruce Jennings '71 describes this year's performance below and encourages Shakespeare and theatre enthusiasts to watch an unconventional version of the drama unfold:

Yale Shakespeare scholar and theatrical director Murray Biggs returns to YWAA again this August.  The event on Sunday Aug. 23 will feature food, drink and conversation on the light side beginnning at 3:30 pm at The Hastings Center, which boasts a spectacular view of the Hudson and the West Point campus beyond.  

The conversation will then focus on the Bard's treatment of the human condition when we adjourn to a seminar and group discussion led by Professor Biggs on the play du jour, The Winter's Tale.  With that stimulating warm-up, it's off to the Great Lawn at Boscobel a short drive away for a picnic dinner overlooking the river again.  

The afternoon culminates with the 7:30 pm performance by the company of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival.  Tickets for both the seminar, reception and the performance are on sale now at www.yalewestchester.org. Place your order now as tickets at the special YWAA rate of $38 per person are limited.  Admission to the reception andseminar is $36 per person.  All orders must be placed  no later than Aug.1.  If you have attended before, you know how much fun this day is.  If you haven't yet joined us at The Hastings Center and Boscobel or hear Murray Biggs discuss Shakespeare, you're in for a real treat!  

Bruce Jennings '71, YWAA Board Member

Click -Boscobel to see recounts of Yale Westchester Shakespeare events in 2013 and 2014.  

Murray Biggs AYA Theater

Yale professor Murray Biggs, well known to Yale Westchester audiences for his Boscobel Shakespeare lectures, announces his 2015 schedule of AYA Theater around the country. (YWAA photos)

To Yale Westchester alumni, Yale professor Murray Biggs is best known for his lecture series before YWAA's annual Shakespeare outing at Boscobel. His pre-performance presentations are a Yale-Westchester tradition. This past summer, he lectured on Othello before alumni and other arts patrons saw the performance by the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. 

Biggs, now a special lecturer for the AYA in English and Theater Studies, recently announced his featured events and lectures in the upcoming year. 

Biggs will speak at a first-time theater weekend in San Diego Feb., 2015. On Feb. 13, Biggs will introduce the Alice Childress African-American class, Trouble in Mind, at the Moxie Theater in San Diego. The next day, Feb. 14, he will lecture before an evening production of Sons of the Prophet (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2012) at the Cygnet Theatre in Old Town, San Diego. On Feb. 15, he will introduce You Can't Take It With You at Lamb's Players on Coronado Island.

(The charge for this program is $725/person, $875/single occupancy ($450/person for those not requiring hotel arrangements). To secure a place, alumni interested will need to make a $175 deposit by Nov. 24. Those interested in the programs, the lectures, and the package should contact Biggs at murray.biggs@yale.edu. (Checks should be payable to Education Theater Weekends, 36 Morse Street, Hamden, CT 065517)).

In May, Biggs heads to Montgomery, Ala., for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. He will introduce the production of The Importance of Being Earnest on May 8. On May 9, he will review the performance of the prior night and give a pre-performance talk on As You Like It. On May 10, he will introduce the matinee of King Lear. (The charge for double occupancy at the Renaissance Marriott in the historic district is $725/person, and $875 for single occupancy; for those not requiring hotel accommodation, $450/person.)

In July, Biggs' journey will take him to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival July 23-26 in the beautiful small town of Ashland. This is the country’s premier Shakespeare theatre, celebrating its 80th season. On July 23, Biggs will speak to alumni audiences before performance of two of Shakespeare’s master works, Antony and Cleopatra and Much Ado About Nothing, and a more recently reclaimed late piece, Pericles (prophetically lauded by T. S. Eliot).

Each morning at the historic downtown Ashland Springs Hotel (three minutes’ walk from all three theatres, one of them an outdoor Elizabethan reconstruction), Biggs will introduce the play of the day and lead a group discussion of the previous day’s performance. The town itself, at 2,000 feet, is bracketed by the Cascade and Siskiyou mountains just north of the California border off I-5. It boasts an ideal dry summer climate.

(The charge for the weekend is $1,215/person double occupancy and $1,485 single. For those not requiring hotel accommodation, it is $885 a head. A non-refundable deposit of $250 per person is due by Feb. 15 to secure a place on the program, with balance due by May 1. Checks should be made out to Educational Theater Weekends and mailed to 36 Morse St, Hamden, CT 06517. All payments will be acknowledged by e-mail. E-mail Biggs at murray.biggs@yale.edu; 203-432-0391).

Biggs heads to Southern Ontario in Canada Aug. 6-14. This program runs Thursday through the following Thursday at the twin Festivals in Stratford and Niagara-on-the-Lake, home of the most accomplished stage productions in North America. For this 25th consecutive year of the flagship theater program, on schedule will be the usual stimulating mix of Shakespeare at Stratford and modern works at the Shaw Festival in Niagara. The Festivals operate seven theaters.

In Stratford, the following will be performed:  Hamlet with Jonathan Goad; The Taming of the Shrew with Canada’s favorite stage (and real-life) couple, Deborah Hay and Ben Carlson; Ben Jonson’s Jacobean cash comedy The Alchemist; and the recent Canadian piece, Possible Worlds. Also available will be Carousel and The Sound of Music (Stratford being famous for its musicals).

In Niagara the likely slate consists of two surefire Bernard Shaw comedies, Pygmalion and You Never Can Tell; Henrik Ibsen’s vivid rarity, The Lady from the Sea; contemporary British Caryl Churchill’s most effective play, Top Girls; and the little-known one-act by J.M. Barrie, The Twelve-Pound Look.

There’s still room on this program, the first half of which will be set at the sparklingly renovated Parlour Inn in pleasantly walkable downtown Stratford, the second at the elegant Queen’s Landing in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The Stratford Festival is home to the premier Shakespeare theater productions on the continent, the Shaw to their equivalent in modern work. Niagara-on-the-Lake, the former colonial capital of Upper Canada and beautifully maintained, is a half-hour drive from Niagara Falls. With its unique climate, the Niagara Peninsula also boasts several world-class vineyards.

To sign up, click Yale Ed Travel. and click on “theater” under “programs” by type.

For any questions about details and schedules for any of the 2015 packages, e-mail Biggs at the above address.

Othello, Circa 2014, on the Hudson

YWAA director Bruce Jennings '71 (top, L) organized the YWAA day at Boscobel, which featured a pre-performance lecture by Yale professor Murray Biggs (top, R) (YWAA, Kaminsky, Williams photos).

The new artistic director of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Davis McCallum, is a Princeton man. Leopold Lowe, the actor who played the lead role in its summer production of " Othello," studied acting at Harvard. A Yale professor, Murray Biggs, meanwhile, provided insight, guidance and inspiration at his "Othello" lecture to an audience of Yale alumni and friends before the Aug. 24 performance at the YWAA's annual outing at Boscobel in Garrison.

Biggs' pre-performance presentation, as usual, brought clarity to the conventional chaos and hurling of emotions and bodies in a Shakespearean tragedy.  A Yale faculty member for 28 years, Biggs has delivered his Shakespeare lecture to Yale Westchester for many years, including before last year's HVSF performance of "All's Well That Ends Well."  YWAA-at-Boscobel productions in recent years include "Hamlet" and "Comedy of Errors."

Christopher Edwards directed this " Othello" production, presenting a setting reflecting modern times. Characters wondered about the stage staring at iPhones. They preferred sending text messages, instead of dispatching them via ragged copies of parchment.

Othello's squadron of soldiers might well have been a cadet troop on weekend leave from nearby West Point. Actors strutted to and fro, as if they were appearing in a rap video. One scene ("Hard Work") evoked sounds and rhythms from a recent beverage television commercial.

But Shakespeare's dialogue and storyline ruled. Iago and Othello debated, sparred and clashed on stage, and as always, the audience was forced to figure out where all the deceit and maneuvering would lead. Whose demise was next?

YWAA director and former president Bruce Jennings '71 organized the YWAA day at Boscobel, as he has done for many years, and assured the Yale community that Prof. Biggs would be present to provide Shakespeare coaching and remind all that the bard's tragedies might have harsh endings.

The tragic climax notwithstanding, YWAA attendees embraced Boscobel's sunset-on-the-Hudson setting. Rain, heat, and humidity, which might have marred past productions, were barred this Sunday evening. The picturesque Hudson River, with West Point hovering, was a perfect background for Othello's soldiers preparing for battle.

When Othello and wife Desdemona bounced around the stage in love, there were even hints of fall chill.  YWAA at Boscobel is also a reminder that summer is winding down.

Yale professor Biggs discusses the characters of Othello (top, R) with YWAA guests, who also enjoyed a pre-performance picnic. (YWAA, Kaminsky photos)

The rain, heat and humidity of past productions stayed away. Boscobel patrons soaked in the setting before convening under the tent for the evening performance of "Othello." (YWAA photos)

"Othello" at Boscobel Aug. 24

The YWAA Boscobel outing, 2014, will feature "Othello" and familiar panoramic views of the Hudson River (HVSF photos)

YWAA invites Yale alumni, family, friends and Shakespeare enthusiasts to its 2014 annual summer outing at Boscobel. This year, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival will present "Othello," Sunday, August 24 at Boscobel in Garrison, NY.  Yale professor Murray Biggs returns to lead a discussion of the play before the actors take the stage under the tent near the Hudson River. YWAA former president and current director Bruce Jennings '71 is again organizing the YWAA event.

Biggs will present his talk at the YWAA-sponsored reception at the Hastings Center in Garrison at 3 pm. A plan-your-own picnic follows on the grounds of the Boscobel estate at 5:30 pm. The performance will start at 7 pm.

Biggs, an expert on Elizabethan drama and a Yale faculty member since 1986, has led the YWAA discussions at the Shakespeare outing for many years. At Yale, he teaches film and acting with special attention to Shakespeare. In recent years in New Haven, he has taught Tragedy, Shakespeare Acted and British Cinema.  Last year, he guided the Yale Boscobel audience on what to observe, interpret and listen for before the HVSF's performance of "All's Well That Ends Well." Russell Treyz '65 MFA directed that performance.

Yale alumni and guests will again enjoy stunning, panoramic views of the Hudson River at the picnic on the Boscobel lawn. The HVSF will later take the stage under the big white tent, regardless of rain. Christopher Edward will direct the performance.

The Hudson Valley group approaches Shakespeare differently, sometimes with wrinkles and anachronistic plot twists, often with modern themes and updated costumes, but always loyal to Shakespearean rhythms and language.

"Othello" is one of Shakespeare's best known tragedies, written around 1603-04. For this year's "Othello" production at Boscobel, the setting is a modern military operation. Othello, a Moorish Venetian general, is newly married to Desdemona. He elects not to promote Iago as his lieutenant, and a bitter rivalry ensues that leads to tragic consequences.

Actors Leopold Lowe (as Othello) and Kurt Rhoads (as Iago) will have leading roles in the performance. Rhoads is appearing in his 16th season at Boscobel.

"Every year, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival re-creates itself," Peter Kramer wrote in the Journal News June 5.  "The tent goes up at Boscobel and theater lovers from across the Lower Hudson Valley flock to a majestic spot overlooking the Hudson Highlands and West Point--to see what's new." Davis McCallum is HVSF's new artistic director, succeeding Terry O'Brien, who led the group for 28 summers.

To buy tickets online for the reception or performance, click YWAA-tickets to purchase them on the YWAA website. Tickets for the performance will be held for guests at the Boscobel site. To be assured of good seats under the tent, place your order before Aug. 5.

Guests who intend to have a picnic on the lawn can pack their own or place orders for a picnic dinner by calling 845-265-9575 two days before the event.

Click YWAA-Boscobel for directions to the reception at the Hastings Center and to Boscobel for the performance.

Yale Westchester Shakespeare "Ends Well"

YWAA hosted alumni and friends at the Boscobel production, Aug. 18

Perhaps the climax at Sunday's (Aug. 18) Boscobel production of Shakespeare's "All's Well That End's Well" was an impromptu encounter near the end of the play.  The character Diana pouted about the possibility of becoming the wife of an old man. Diana paused and looked for an elderly gentleman in the audience to taunt and pointed at Yale professor Murray Biggs, seated in the audience on the first row.  Biggs laughed, played along, and pointed behind him, as if to say, "Not me. You must be referring to someone else!" 

Boscobel before the curtain call

Moments later, Diana (played by male actor Jeff Gonzalez) approached Biggs again. And on cue and being expertly familiar with the play, Biggs lifted, hoisted and danced with Diana, as the production approached its conclusion.

And thus came to an uproarious end a Sunday of Yale and Shakespeare at Boscobel (in Garrison, NY), featuring a pre-production lecture to Yale Westchester alumni from Biggs, an associate professor of English and Theater Studies. The production from the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival was directed by Russell Treyz '65 MFA, himself a graduate of Yale Drama School.

Prof. Biggs talks to Yale alumni

On campus at Yale, Bigg teaches courses in film and acting with special attention to Shakespeare. He is also well known to alumni groups around the country, reminding them in lively lectures and cozy gatherings why they should have read Shakespeare more closely and with more passion back in English 129. Last year, he taught courses in Shakespeare acting and tragedy to Yale undergraduates.

Biggs' lectures at Boscobel are a Yale Westchester tradition. He has launched many Shakespeare afternoons with an alumni talk and reception, a pep session to get the audience eager and prepared for Shakespearean nuances and comedy.  Once again, the Yale Westchester outing--including lecture, reception, play, picnic on the scenic grounds of Boscobel and stunning, southern views of the Hudson River--was organized by YWAA director and former president Bruce Jennings '71. Yale Westchester hosted alumni and friends earlier this summer for the Hudson Valley group's production of "King Lear."

As for "All's Well," director Treyz said in program notes, "The best way to understand the events of the play is to view it not as realistic, but as a fable of a young woman facing the challenges of the world," describing the character Helena in the play (actress Jessica Frey) and her desperate ploys to woo and win over Bertram (played by Dan Tracy).

An interlude during the evening

Matt Andrews called the production "an original, hilarious, and touching interpretation with countless comedic styles," when he reviewed the play in the Poughkeepsie Journal after its June opening.

Dozens of Yale alumni and friends under the sold-out tent applauded the production, too, but couldn't have conjured a better ending than seeing Biggs leap from his seat to celebrate a jaunty happy ending with Diana.

TWilliams

(Photos courtesy of Kaminsky, Williams)

Boscobel guests enjoy a picnic before the evening's production

Yale alumni and friends meet Prof. Biggs after the lecture

Jennifer Colville '86 (L) and Susan Kaminsky '86 with Prof. Biggs after the lecture

The afternoon affords sensational views of the Hudson River

Yale professor Murray Biggs lectures on "All's Well Ends Well"

Boscobel patrons during intermission, Aug. 18

On the grounds at Boscobel in Garrison, NY

Yale alumni and guests (above) enjoy a picnic after the lecture and before the performance

YWAA former president Bruce Jennings '71 (above) with Prof. Murray Biggs

Shakespeare, Biggs and Boscobel

Shakespeare on the Hudson, Aug. 18

The Yale Westchester Alumni Association's Shakespeare at Boscobel series continues Sunday, Aug. 18 with a production of "All's Well That Ends Well" by the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in Garrison, NY.

A YWAA tradition, the event this year includes, as usual, a pre-performance reception and lecture by Yale Associate Professor Murray Biggs.  The lecture starts at 3 pm at the Hastings Center in Garrison.  Afterward, guests are permitted to stroll and tour the historic, scenic grounds of Boscobel, have a picnic along Hudson River, and enjoy the summer sights of the river and the Hudson Highlands.

The performance, directed by Russell Treyz, starts at 7 pm. The Hudson Valley group is known for creative, novel interpretations of Shakespeare Works. The group performed "King Lear" earlier this summer at a YWAA-hosted event at Boscobel. 

Prof. Biggs, who joined the Yale faculty in 1986, teaches English and theatre studies.  During the last school year, he taught undergraduate courses in "Shakespeare Acting" and "Tragedy."  He has directed over 40 productions.

YWAA-sponsored performances at Boscobel the past two years have included "Hamlet," "Love's Labour Lost," and "Comedy of Errors."

Reviewing the Hudson Valley production in the Poughkeepsie Journal, Matt Andrews, the director of Marist College's theater program, called this rendition of "All's Well" "an original, hilarious and touching interpretation with countless comedic styles executed by a superb ensemble."  He added, "(This interpretation) is a surprising joy" and awarded the production an "A-" grade.

Yale Prof. Murray Biggs

Richard Ercole, Jessica Frey in "All's Well That Ends Well" (William Marsh photo)

Yale alumni and guests interested in purchasing tickets to the Aug. 18 performance and the pre-performance lecture/reception should click Tickets or go to the YWAA website: www.yalewestchester.org. Bruce Jennings '71, past president of YWAA, is the event organizer. 

TW