American Shakespeare Center Returns to Manhattan College

On Friday, October 12 at 8 p.m. in Smith Auditorium, Manhattan College will host the American Shakespeare Center’s performance of William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, directed by Kevin Rich.

Admission to the production of The Winter’s Tale is free and open to all, students, parents, alumni, neighbors and guests during Family Weekend. Doors to Smith Auditorium open at 7:30 p.m. Seating is general admission.

The Winter’s Tale is a roller-coaster ride from romance to tragedy to comedy and finally to a place of transcendent beauty that few other works of art have ever gone. “A sad tale’s best for winter,” but after unleashing a wintry tempest onto his characters, Shakespeare ultimately conjures spring’s miraculous rebirth.

Since 1988, the American Shakespeare Center has toured the country with shows incorporating Shakespeare’s staging conditions. Based out of Staunton, Virginia, the company’s mission is to recover the joys and accessibility of Shakespeare’s theater, language, and humanity by exploring early modern theater and its practices through performance and education.

The ASC’s Blackfriars Playhouse, the world’s only re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theater, is open year-round for productions of classic plays, which have been hailed by The Washington Post as "shamelessly entertaining" and by The Boston Globe as "phenomenal … bursting with energy."

The event is co-sponsored by the English department, the Office of Student Engagement and the Honors Enrichment Program.