March 22 – April 6, 2017
Everybody loves the fair maid, Phillis – or maybe it’s just the three smitten Golding brothers. Anthony, Ferdinand, and Frank must battle it out to win her love, and they’re not above underhanded tricks and disguises to get her attention. This wickedly witty city comedy pits brother against brother, and shows even in sibling rivalries, somebody has to come out on top.
ASC veteran actor René Thornton, Jr. steps into the director/manager chair like Peter Quince in Midsummer to lead the troupe in reviving this show for (we think) the first time in over 400 years.
Cast
THIS SEASON: Actor in THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (abridged) [revised] (again)
David Anthony Lewis is an accomplished Actor with over 70 professional theatre credits A Christmas Carol 2024 is his 36th production with ASC.
More than 186 roles in 101 productions, including Volumnia in Coriolanus, Olivia in Twelfth Night; Regan in King Lear; Margaret in both Henry VI, Part 1 and Part 2; Isabella in Measure for Measure;…
Chris Johnston has over 20 years of theatre experience and more than 120 productions at the American Shakespeare Center.
More than 186 roles in 101 productions, including Volumnia in Coriolanus, Olivia in Twelfth Night; Regan in King Lear; Margaret in both Henry VI, Part 1 and Part 2; Isabella in Measure for Measure;…
Benjamin has been a resident company member with the American Shakespeare Center since 2014.
Polonius, Fortinbras in Hamlet; Northumberland in Richard II; Polonius, Fortinbras in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; Mirabell in The Way of the World; Alberto, Page in Antonio’s Revenge.
THIS SEASON: Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet and Balthazar, Courtesan, Jailer, Messenger in The Comedy of Errors; Dance Captain.
Frank Golding
PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: Octavius Caesar, Cinna in Julius Caesar; Harcourt in The Country Wife; Gardiner, Griffith in Henry VIII; Arnoldo in The Custom of the Country; Arcite in The Two …
PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: 27 seasons and over 200 roles including Falstaff in Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2; Brutus in Julius Caesar; Iago in Othello; Guildenstern in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern …
Lauren has been an actor at the American Shakespeare Center in 32 productions and is currently the Properties Master and Choreographer for the Summer/Fall Season. She has a BA from …
Hamlet in Hamlet; Mowbray, Percy, Groom in Richard II; Hamlet in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; Petulant in The Way of the World; Castillo, Senator in Antonio’s Revenge.
David Anthony Lewis is an accomplished Actor with over 70 professional theatre credits A Christmas Carol 2024 is his 36th production with ASC.
PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: More than 137 roles in 113 productions, including the title roles in Coriolanus; King Lear; Edward II; Timon of Athens; The Merchant of Venice; Pericles; Doctor Faustus; …
PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: 27 seasons and over 200 roles including Falstaff in Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2; Brutus in Julius Caesar; Iago in Othello; Guildenstern in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern …
David Anthony Lewis is an accomplished Actor with over 70 professional theatre credits A Christmas Carol 2024 is his 36th production with ASC.
David Anthony Lewis is an accomplished Actor with over 70 professional theatre credits A Christmas Carol 2024 is his 36th production with ASC.
Polonius, Fortinbras in Hamlet; Northumberland in Richard II; Polonius, Fortinbras in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; Mirabell in The Way of the World; Alberto, Page in Antonio’s Revenge.
Chris Johnston has over 20 years of theatre experience and more than 120 productions at the American Shakespeare Center.
Artistic Team
PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: More than 137 roles in 113 productions, including the title roles in Coriolanus; King Lear; Edward II; Timon of Athens; The Merchant of Venice; Pericles; Doctor Faustus; …
Asst. Stage Manager/Understudy
Ian Charles received his MLitt and MFA in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin University. As the troupe understudy for the ASC’s 2016 Summer/ Fall Season, he performed roles in …
Jenny McNee joined the ASC in 2002 after studying in Richmond, Charlottesville, and Edinburgh, Scotland. She has designed and built nearly 100 shows (60 resident and touring shows, 35 holiday …
Wardrobe Manager
Beginning in 2012 as a Costume Shop Intern, Liz Schneider now performs dual duty as Assistant Costume Designer and Costume Liaison for the Actors’ Renaissance Season. Over the past four …
Properties Master
Chris has been designing and building props for the ASC since 2012. In that time, he’s provided props for over 60 productions, including (from Shakespeare): The Merchant of Venice; The Two Gentlemen of Verona; Cymbeline; King John; Love’s Labour’s Lost; Twelfth Night; Julius Caesar; Henry VIII; The Two Noble Kinsmen; Romeo and Juliet; All’s Well That Ends Well; Troilus and Cressida; Othello; The Merry Wives of Windsor; Henry IV, Part 1; As You Like It; Timon of Athens; Macbeth; The Comedy of Errors; Pericles; Hamlet; Much Ado about Nothing; The Taming of the Shrew; Antony and Cleopatra; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; The Winter’s Tale; Henry VI, Parts 1, 2, and 3; Henry V; The Tempest; Measure for Measure; and King Lear.
Stuff that Happens before the play
- Anthony and Ferdinand, the eldest two of the three Golding brothers, see Phyllis Flower, a fair maid, at The Exchange, and fall in love with her.
Stuff that happens during the play
- Phyllis and her woman, Ursula, are accosted and robbed by two outlaws. Cripple, a patternmaker, attempts to aid them, but is himself attacked. Frank Golding, the youngest of the Golding brothers, intervenes and protects the women.
- Frank, who didn’t understand Anthony’s and Ferdinand’s love for Phyllis, kisses her hand and immediately falls in love with her.
- Frank devises a plan to trick Ferdinand and Anthony into thinking Phyllis has rejected them. With the help of Cripple, who had pledged him a favor, Frank cleverly intercepts their love letters to Phyllis.
- Upon speaking to Phyllis, Ferdinand and Anthony realize they’d been deceived. They go separately to Phyllis’s parents, one to her father and one to her mother, asking for her hand. Phyllis’s parents unknowingly pledge her to both brothers.
- Meanwhile, Phyllis has fallen for the Cripple, who has realized her feelings. Frank, disguised as the Cripple, goes to woo Phyllis.
- More letters, tricks, and confused family members ensue.
A year and a half ago our Artistic Director, Jim Warren, came to me with two scripts and asked me to pick one, cast myself in it, and “direct” it for the Actors’ Renaissance Season.
After wrestling with the shock and surprise, I dove in, read both plays, and weighed the pros and cons — that’s how we ended up with The Fair Maid of the Exchange, a play that we don’t believe has been performed for nearly 400 years, in the world’s only re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre, the Blackfriars Playhouse.
I’ve been involved with the experiment of the Renaissance Season since its inception in 2005 and have performed in all of them except two. Over the years, it’s been interesting to see how our season of experimentation changes and develops with each new group of people and plays. Having one of the company members straddle the director/actor line seemed like the next logical step, and I’m honored to be the guinea pig for it.
This production marks my professional directing debut, but having performed in over 100 productions on the Blackfriars stage, I feel ready to give it a go. Often during the Renaissance Season, the actor playing the largest role in any given production guides the rehearsal process. We believe, based on what we’ve catchily titled the “Peter Quince Principle” after the actor-in-charge of A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s Rude Mechanicals, that Shakespeare’s company may have had an actor-as-director to help shape their performances.
There are actors in the company who are not unfamiliar with me putting my fingers in their process while I was playing Faustus, Brutus, Prospero and a few others (including Coriolanus in this year’s season). This season, I hope they are armed and ready for me to steer this Fair Maid ship.
It’s an interesting play with delights and dilemmas for a modern audience, and I hope that together we have created a dynamic and entertaining piece of theater for you to enjoy.
RENÉ THORNTON, JR.
Director