TheBurg

42 | THEBURGNEWS.COM | 01.22 H ark! Who goes there? espians. Hundreds of them from around the globe, who will travel to Harrisburg in early January for the annual Shakespeare eatre Association (STA) conference, courtesy of the city's own Gamut eatre. STA provides a forum to support theater companies producing Shakespeare's works and to advocate for Shakespearean productions and training. Some 120 theater companies around the world comprise STA's membership, so hosting the January 2022 conference is a colossal—as well as a classical—honor. One need only look as far back as 1997 to see STA's influence on Harrisburg, when Gamut's partnership with the group began. Gamut eatre's board sent founders Clark and Melissa Nicholson to an STA conference just to see what they would learn. What sounded initially like an experiment, or maybe even a lark, turned out to be "an amazing, educational experience," said Melissa Nicholson, Gamut's executive director. "Without our partnership with STA, I doubt we would have continued doing Shakespeare," she said. Although most of STA's conference sessions are members-only, you can eavesdrop on "Classics Fest" events open to the public the way Rosencrantz and THE BARD IN THE BURG All Harrisburg's a stage, as Gamut eatre brings home the annual Shakespeare conference. BY GINA NAPOLI Guildenstern spied on Hamlet. Unlike those two, you need not be sneaky about it. Accessible pricing makes the events affordable. Choice local artists, namely David Ramón Zayas and Paul Hood, will take the opportunity to showcase their own plays during Gamut's Classics Fest while all the big players are in town. And internationally renowned artists Lisa Wolpe and Debra Ann Byrd add their star power to the marquee. As with all things Gamut, the conference highlights are not purely Shakespearean and come with a number of twists, highlighting "diversity and classic works, homegrown artists writing new plays and musical collaborations," Nicholson said. Gamut's intent to re-invent classic stories makes theater more accessible for the community, not just something to occupy the glitterati. "We're rethinking BLM, other inequities, and how we stay viable economically," Nicholson said. ese concerns segue neatly into this year's conference theme, "e Power of Reinvention: 'We know what we are, but not what we may be.'" e theme conveys a deliberate action of glancing back to help us reach forward, of preparing to do better in the future. Closed conference sessions will connect Shakespeare to many of the scorching headlines of today, such as diversity, the language of identity Debra Ann Byrd performs "Becoming Othello: A Black Girl 's Journey"

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