Washington College’s spring semester ends with a Shakespearian bang next week, and an epic one at that. With retiring drama professor Tim Maloney (ending 47 years in the department) playing the lead and colleague Jason Rubin (with 20 years at WC) directing, the Decker Theatre will present what many consider to be the Mount Everest in the pantheon of English drama and literature, the legendary King Lear.
The two beloved WC veterans, joined by English Department chair and Shakespeare scholar Kathryn Moncrief, and a cast of twenty students from nine different majors, have not only selected one of the most complex and vexing plays in western canon, they have made an extraordinary effort to share this experience with the entire campus using a novel combination of team teaching and multidisciplinary collaboration.
In three separate interviews, “The King,” “The Director,” and “The Scholar,” the Spy talks to each principal about the importance of Lear as well as the monumental task of pulling together a production that has sent many a number of actors, directors and Shakespeare experts to the brink from the sheer weight of the playwright’s pinnacle work.
The Actor (Timothy Maloney)
The Director (Jason Rubin)
The Scholar (Kathryn Moncrief)
The Tragedy of King Lear will be staged Thursday April 4, Friday April 5 and Saturday April 6 at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, April 7, at 1:00 p.m. All performance will be in Decker Theatre, Gibson Center for the Arts, on the College campus, 300 Washington Avenue. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students.
For more information, please visit https://www.washcoll.edu/departments/drama.
Fletcher R. Hall says
Wow. WC is presenting King Lear.
Great idea. I am sure, great collaboration and what an experience for the students involved.
King Lear in Chestertown. Super!
Fletcher R. Hall
Chestertown
WC Class ’63