For Immediate Release: April 10, 1998
Please call
Sarah Grolnic-McClurg
413-538-2030
VANESSA REDGRAVE GIVES MASTER CLASS
AT MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE On APRIL 29:
Redgrave, Whose Portrayals in Theater and Film Helped Carve Out New Roles for Women, to Visit One of the Birthplaces of Higher Education for Women
South Hadley, MA--While in Western Massachusetts from April 29 through May 3, Vanessa Redgrave and her mother, Lady Rachel Kempson Redgrave, will step on stage in two different venues to pursue their interests in Chekhov and women.
Their first stop in the region will be at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley where the pair will hold a master class. While at the women's college, the Redgraves will work with undergraduate students using Chekhov excerpts; in their second stop, the mother-daughter duo will perform in the world premiere of Chekhov's Sarah Bernhardt Comes to Town which Vanessa Redgrave has described as a "recital based on two Chekhov short stories and favorite Chekhov women." The premiere will be held at StageWest in Springfield and is presented by the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts.
Of her trip to Mount Holyoke College--which was founded in 1837 by women's education pioneer Mary Lyon and is the oldest continuing institution of higher education for women in the United States--Vanessa Redgrave commented that she is "excited by the opportunity to work with students from such a venerated school for women." In preparing for their trip to campus, the Redgraves have read with interest about the private liberal arts college.
Redgrave, who won an Oscar for her role in Julia in 1977, has appeared in seventy films; she broke new ground in acting for women through such seminal characters as Leonie Delt in Morgan! and Jane in Blowup (1966). Rachel Redgrave has appeared in twenty films and made her stage debut at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-on-Avon.
The Master Class at Mount Holyoke College: For the Wednesday, April 29 master class at the Alice Withington Rooke Theatre at 8 pm at Mount Holyoke, the Redgraves have asked students to
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come with a prepared excerpt from Chekhov's work. Conducted on stage before an audience and lasting about ninety minutes, the class will offer individual attention to approximately eight actresses and actors. A well-known pedagogical tool in the theater, master classes are held at such distinguished institutions as England's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.
For the liberal arts college students at Mount Holyoke, the opportunity for this kind of acting experience is rare. Organized by the school's theatre arts department, the advanced students selected from Mount Holyoke College will be joined by peers from the surrounding Five Colleges, a consortium comprising Mount Holyoke College, Smith, Amherst, and Hampshire Colleges and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The students will meet before and after the master class with the Redgraves. Overflow audience members will be able to view the master class through a simultaneous video cast aired in the theatre's lobby and, weather permitting, its patio.
Coincidentally, in April the Mount Holyoke department is presenting three one-act Chekhov comedies. In addition, the Russian department recently held a related practicum on "Chekhov and the Vaudeville."
Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts: As noted recently in The New York Times, the Redgraves' appearance in the world premiere of Chekhov's Sarah Bernhardt Comes to Town is presented by the Northampton, Mass.-based annual Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts. Appearing at StageWest in Springfield on Saturday, May 2 at 8 pm and Sunday, May 3 at 2 and 8 pm, the Redgraves recently added the last performance after the first two sold out.
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Press Advisory -- Please Call 413-538-2030.
TO ARRANGE INTERVIEWS PRIOR TO APRIL 29, PLEASE CALL SARAH GROLNIC-McCLURG.
THE REDGRAVES WILL GRANT INTERVIEWS PRECEDING THE MASTER CLASS FROM 7:00 TO 7:15 PM IN THE THEATER'S UPPER-LEVEL LOBBY.
TO COVER THE EVENT, PLEASE CALL TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT AND BE ADDED TO THE PRESS ATTENDANCE/INTERVIEW LIST.
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