Antioch Shakespeare Festival

Abstract

HEN a visiting drama critic was breakfasting one morning this summer at Yellow Springs, Ohio, home of Antioch College, he inquired of a waitress in a local restaurant what marmalades she had for the morning toast. Orange and apple jelly, she replied. Which would'st? The Shakespearian influence was obvious, for at Yellow Springs during the past four summers the Antioch Area Theatre has presented all but seven of Shakespeare's plays. Next summer the theater will complete the list, and thus will have presented in five years what Shakespeare's own company performed over a period of 30 years. The festival has been eminently successful, both from the attendance standpoint and from the measure of its artistic achievement. It is professional and self supporting. All major speaking roles are handled by professional actors, most of whom have extensive off-Broadway, stock, radio, and TV credits. Advanced drama students from Antioch and other colleges are cast in minor roles, and also comprise the technical crew and assist in the costume room. During the past summer, this entire company, including the apprentices, was paid. It should be made clear that the Antioch Area Theatre is not an Antioch College project in the strict sense of the term. The college's interest is merely a sponsoring one, for it guarantees that the festival's bills will be paid. At the outset in I952, the college advanced some preliminary funds, all of which were paid back at the end of the season. Again in I954, Antioch invested about $i8,ooo in staging, equipment, and grandstand. This loan was to be retired out of theater income during the remaining three seasons. However, a 78 percent increase in attendance made it possible to repay the entire amount at the close of the I954 series. During the past summer, the festival broke even, in spite of the fact the program included three virtually unknown plays-The Two Noble Kinsmen, Cymbeline and Winter's Tale. This initial underwriting has been the extent of the college's official participation in the festival. However, many of its faculty take part, for the college is not in session during most of the ii weeks the theater is in operation. Arthur Lithgow, associate professor of English at Antioch, has been managing director of the festival since its start, providing the basic continuity of the undertaking. At some time or other almost every member of the college faculty has taken part in Shakespeare mob scenes. It is not unusual to see a full professor carrying a spear. The plays are given outdoors on the college campus on a multi-level stage which has been erected against the backdrop of ioo-year-old Antioch Hall.