The Division of the Arts and the Wisconsin Union Directorate are pleased to present the world premiere of Randall Duk Kim and Anne Occhiogrosso starring in, The Pleasure of His Company: Our Love Affair with William Shakespeare and the First Folio, an evening of personal recollections, dramatic scenes and stories of Shakespeare’s influence on Kim and Occhiogrosso’s lives and careers for more than four decades at 7:00 pm on October 21, 2016 at Shannon Hall in the Wisconsin Union Theater.
The two-character performance piece, conceived and written by Kim and Occhiogrosso for the celebration of Shakespeare’s 400-year legacy, combines performance of signature Shakespearean dramatic scenes with performance pieces which celebrate Shakespeare’s contribution to world literature. The evening is also a tribute to the First Folio, the 1623 collection of Shakespeare’s plays which scholars cite as the most authentic and reliable versions of a majority of the playwright’s texts. The performance is a prelude to the Folger Shakespeare Library’s national exhibition of an original edition of the First Folio in Madison November 3 – December 11 at the Chazen Museum of Art (the only location in Wisconsin).
The Friday, October 21 performance will include signature scenes from Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth and many other Shakespeare plays. The performance will be followed by a Q&A session with the artists. It is free to the public with reservations required. On Wednesday, October 19, Kim and Occhiogrosso will teach a Shakespeare Masterclass to UW–Madison Department of Theatre and Drama students using the First Folio starting at 10:00 am. The public is welcome; seating is limited.
The Pleasure of His Company: Our Love Affair with William Shakespeare and the First Folio
Date: Friday, October 21, 2016
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Shannon Hall, Wisconsin Union Theater
800 Langdon Street, Madison
This performance is sold out!
The Kim and Occhiogrosso visit is made possible by the Division of the Arts and the Wisconsin Union Directorate in association with the UW–Madison Department of Theatre and Drama, UW–Madison Libraries and additional funding from the Anonymous Fund, the Brittingham Fund and the Jay Ruth Halls Scholarship Fund. Additional support is provided by the Wisconsin Book Festival and Wisconsin Public Radio. This event is part of Shakespeare in Wisconsin 2016.
We invite you to use the buttons above to learn more about Kim and Occhiogrosso and the Masterclass they will teach, the Shakespeare in Wisconsin initiative, the First Folio exhibition and to reserve your tickets for this exclusive event with Shakespeare luminaries!
Click here to view photos from Randall Duk Kim and Anne Occhiogrosso’s visit to Madison in October 2016 on SmugMug! Watch the full performance online, courtesy of University Place.