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AUSTIN SHAKESPEAR PRESENTS

THE REAL THING

BY TOM STOPPARD

February 17 - March 5 | Rollins Theater at the Long Center

Set in the early 1980s, two couples interlace in this dance of fidelity and infidelity in the theater world. “Tom Stoppard has been one of our audience’s favorite playwrights for his combination of depth, passion, intellectual wit and clever plot,” director Ann Ciccolella said. 

Austin Shakespeare focuses on plays that feature love of ideas and love of language. The professional theater non-profit combines actors new to the company with others who have performed in numerous productions.  The Real Thing features guest artist, Grant Goodman*, who says his character of the playwright “Henry” has long been on his bucket list. Goodman is known for his career in regional theater from The Shakespeare Theatre, DC to Chicago and Off-Broadway in New York. 

After playing “Titania,” queen of the fairies, for Austin Shakespeare in Zilker Park’s Midsummer, Kate Glasheen* returns as “Annie,” the actress in love with the playwright. Kate is an associate professor and head of the acting department at Texas State University. Gwendolyn Kelso*, who played “Hedda” in Hedda Gabler for the company after numerous roles in other productions, is the clever, acerbic actress “Charlotte,” married to the playwright at the opening of the surreal play-within-a-play. The Real Thing will also feature Austin Shakespeare alumna Corinna Browning, who has done shows from the recent Sense and Sensibility to The Seagull and Isaac Howell who charmed audiences recently in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility at the Long Center. 

New to the company are Jon Cook as a bold young actor who woos “Annie,” and Shane Cullum, who recently moved to Austin after working as an actor in Las Vegas, as “Annie’s” first husband. 

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Event Details

• Date: Friday, February 17, 2023 - Sunday, March 5, 2023
• Time: Thursday - Saturday: 7:30 P.M. | Sunday: 3:00 P.M.
• Venue: The Long Center
• Website: https://www.austinshakespeare.org/2023-the-real-thing

Ticket Information

• Cost: $18.00-$47.00

Presenter Details

• Name: Austin Shakespeare

Austin Shakespeare presents professional theater of the highest quality with an emphasis on the plays of William Shakespeare, bringing to the public performances that are fresh, bold, imaginative, thought-provoking and eminently accessible, connecting the truths of the past with the challenges and possibilities of today

From the teen actors in the Young Shakespeare Company’s summer program to professional actors, including members of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA / the union for professional stage actors and stage managers), Austin Shakespeare wants audiences to experience classical works that are grand in emotional scale, imaginative in vision and intimately truthful.

Equity and non-Equity actors train together to embody the depth and breadth of Shakespeare’s characters -- and to speak the text with beauty, clarity and spontaneity. We seek to develop an approach to acting that spans two poles: from the intimacy of film experience to the grandeur of theatricality. As we perform regularly on a stage that is a replica of the outdoor Elizabethan, Curtain Theater, we discover more and more how to connect with the audience in ways that are accessible, energetic, imaginative and thoughtful.

Venue Details