Temple Repertory Theater

Consulting, Communications Strategy, & Social Media for Temple Repertory Theater, a newly-created professional company of artists closely associated with the Department of Theater at Temple University.
Photo by Michael Persico

Friends of Temple Theaters may know the sprawling Tomlinson Theater stage well, but this summer the space will be reimagined to facilitate a compelling, dramatic exchange between the actors and the audience. To achieve this, the audience will sit in a disarmingly intimate configuration—up close and personal with the stage and the actors—literally thrusting them into the action of the play.

This refreshing angle will be brought to life by a group of accomplished professional actors with Broadway, New York, national, and regional credits currently working towards their Master of Fine Arts degrees at Temple University, combined with Temple-affiliated directors, designers and theater artists collaborating as a repertory company. Led by Barrymore Award-winning director Dan Kern (Lantern’s Skylight), the Temple Repertory Theater troupe promises to infuse the summer arts scene in Philadelphia with a jolt of exciting, uncompromising theater.

THREE SISTERS by Anton Chekhov

translation by Paul Schmidt
directed by Dan Kern
Tomlinson Theater
July 7 – August 1, 2010
A daring staging of Chekhov’s masterwork will strip the play of its period trappings and focus squarely on its extraordinary characters, the Prozorovs, a privileged family in turn of the 20th Century Russia. Sisters Olga, Masha, and Irina yearn for the excitement of Moscow, but find themselves stuck—literally, existentially—in the listless, boring countryside, imagining the futures that escaped them once life got in the way. A meditation on lost dreams, audiences will undoubtedly recognize Three Sisters as an aching metaphor for the death of the America Dream.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE by William Shakespeare

directed by Douglas C. Wager
Tomlinson Theater
July 8 – July 30, 2010
TRT presents a provocative Measure for
our times: Isabel, a modest young postulant, yearning to take the veil, must plead for the life of Claudio, her wrongly condemned brother. Chosen by Duke Vincentio to rule in the wake of his mysterious abdication, the novice authority, Angelo, invokes a draconian moral order over the city-state of Vienna. In self-imposed exile, the Duke seeks to somehow redeem a world where both faith and justice seem dangerously blind to the dichotomy of desire that fuels both flesh and spirit, a dichotomy that threatens to rip apart the very soul of civilization. Shakespeare’s final apocalyptic comedy is at once as timely as today’s headlines and a timeless meditation on the fragile threshold between vengeance and mercy that dwells in the heart of humanity.

About the client:

Temple Repertory Theater, a newly-created professional company of artists closely associated with the Department of Theater at Temple University, announces the launch of its inaugural season this summer in Philadelphia.  Under the leadership of Executive Producer Roberta Sloan and Artistic Director Dan Kern (Barrymore Award-winning director of Skylight at Lantern Theater Company), Temple Repertory Theater will create actor-driven productions that focus on the professional excellence of the actor and mastery of the text to create a personal and dynamic audience experience.  To achieve this, the audience will sit in a disarmingly intimate configuration—up close and personal with the stage and the actors—to literally thrust them into the action of the play.  This refreshing focus will be brought to life by a group of accomplished professional actors with Broadway, New York, national, and regional credits currently working towards their Master of Fine Arts degrees at Temple University, combined with Temple-affiliated directors, designers and theater artists collaborating as a repertory company. 

Temple Repertory Theater is made possible through collaboration with the Department of Theater at Temple University, headed by department chair and Executive Producer of Temple Theaters, Roberta Sloan, and Artistic Director of Temple Theaters, Douglas C. Wager.

Downloads

Photo by Michael Persico"Three Sisters" (l to r): Kate Czajkowski, Genevieve Perrier, Yvette Ganier
Photo by Michael Persico		2.62 MB
Photo by Michael Persico"Measure for Measure" (l to r): Gregg Almquist, Rob Kahn, Dan Kern
Photo by Michael Persico		2.36 MB
Temple Repertory Theater Logo705.64 KB

Press Mentions

Classics launch Temple troupe

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Temple University Repertory Theater, a new professional summer company, launched last weekend with Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov and William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, which will run in alternating performances. The professional casts are composed of mid-career students in the theater department’s master of fine arts program, plus faculty. Following are reviews of the inaugural productions.

Temple Repertory Theater combines students with professionals

The Philadelphia Inquirer

In a move that other universities with well-rounded theater departments are making, Temple has started its own professional repertory company, which will produce work apart from the academic year’s roster of undergrad plays, readings, and workshops. Instead, master of fine arts students will take the major roles during the Temple Rep summertime season. Almost all these MFA students already are professional actors - members of Actors’ Equity, the union of stage pros - who are taking a break from their careers to study for advanced degrees in theater. They range in age from early 30s to 60.

The new Temple Repertory Theater begins its inaugural season this weekend, with those actors performing the leads in two classics. Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters began previews Saturday night and will open Friday, and Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure starts previews Tuesday and opens Saturday.

Feature Story: At Temple, pros act like – and for – students

WHYY

A group of actors is rehearsing Shakespeare’s Measure For Measure at Temple University’s Tomlinson Theater.

One declaims the line, “In this life lie hid moe thousand deaths; yet death we fear, that makes these odds all even,” with perfect diction.

Yes, this production promises to be a cut above typical college theater.

Client Contact Info:
Temple Theaters Website
Official Facebook Profile
Twitter.com/TempleTheaters