Shakespeare Troupe betrays the Bard, for now, to seek 'The American Dream'

What’s in a name? The Kings’s Crown Shakespeare Troupe’s name does not reveal the fact that the group performs more just Shakepeare’s plays.

Their upcoming production of two Edward Albee one-act plays “The Zoo Story” and “The American Dream” might just show another side of the troupe. Producer Allie Lalonde, CC ’10, explained that KCST originally formed to perform the notorious Shakespearean spring production, but for many years they have performed non-Shakespearean theater to broaden horizons. “It’s wonderful because it gives our actors the chance to really explore their talent and challenge themselves with different styles of acting,” she said.

Shows are chosen each semester according to proposals by directors and producers. The troupe’s executive and advisory boards vote on these proposals for the upcoming season. Lalonde said “the initial drive for choosing these two shows came from “The Zoo Story” director, Leor Hackel, GS. He had loved that play for a long time and was looking for an avenue to direct it. Emily Wilson,
CC ’10, and director of “The American Dream” was also looking for a project to get excited about, so we had the idea to combine this one-act play with another to expand it into a double bill.”

Lalonde called the plays “an ideal match” due to their complementary themes. “Each scrutinizes society, particularly social bonds, and the way in which our expectations—that a relationship connotes intimacy and human connection—are undermined,” she said.

“The Zoo Story” follows two very different men, a middle-class father and a disturbed boarding house resident, who meet on a bench in Central Park. Lalonde explained that the men “find themselves with the opportunity to develop a new kind of social interaction and a new kind of relationship—one founded on human connection. “

“The American Dream” presents a satire about American family life. Lalonde described it as “all dream, no reality.”

“It follows the petty, yet deeply damaging bickering of a family seeking to appear perfect,” said Lalonde, “We quickly understand, though the characters do not, that the appearance of a relationship where no human connection is present, is not a relationship at all.”

KCST hopes that these shows will present another side of their abilities to Columbia. The troupe aims to offer something different to both actors and audiences, while maintaining their usual theme of examining the complexity of human relationships common in Shakespeare’s work.

“It is our hope that this production will challenge both our actors and our audience,” Lalonde said. “The intensity and minimalism of the show will settle the responsibility of communication on the shoulders of our cast, and the post-modernist themes of “The American Dream” and “The Zoo Story” will permit our audience to experience a very different sort of theatrical experience from that which we usually provide.”