A little something about us

Here is a short interview with Showcase Director Elizabeth Nearing

Name: Elizabeth Nearing
Role in Company: Co-Founder, Artistic Director, Resident Director
School, year, major: Carnegie Mellon University, sophomore, drama (directing)
How you got involved:
I founded the company with Julia Sears in 2007.
Favorite Shakespeare play:
Measure for Measure or Macbeth
Favorite thing about ECTC:
That it has become a family. 
Future project you’re most excited about:
That is a toss up between the showcase we’re doing this summer as part of our benefit series and A Midsummer Night’s Dream next summer. They should both be really fun!
Most interesting other hobby/pursuit:
Listening to Frank Zappa. 
Favorite place to eat:
At the moment, probably Sette Bello.
Interview by Joan Cummins, September 2009 edition of the Empty Chair  Newsletter

Introducing Miscalled Simplicty

Announcement from the Website:
Miscalled Simplicity
A Showcase of Shakespearean Scenes and Sonnets
Directed By Elizabeth Nearing
For Empty Chair's First Annual Benefit Series the Miscalled Simplicty showcase is a study of Shakespearean women and their relevance in today's culture. Four actors will delve into moments of strength, resilience and independence found in Shakespeare's work. The performance includes selections from King John, Measure for Measure, Comedy of Errors and many of the sonnets.

Giving to the Future:
The Miscalled Simplicity Showcase Inaugurates an Annual Benefit Series

by Joan Cummins

This season Empty Chair is exploring new frontiers with its first foray into producing a benefit series, an annual event that will allow the company to give to causes in its community while also spreading a passion for the arts. In May 2010 Empty Chair will present the first event in this series, the Miscalled Simplicity Showcase directed by Elizabeth Nearing. A selection of scenes, monologues, and sonnets, the showcase homes to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the nation's leading breast cancer research organization. Depending on availability, the showcase may also be a part of the Festival 2010 Minds Wide Open: Virginia Celebrates Women in the Arts.

In exploring the theme of the festival, Nearing and her partner in this effort, marketing director and benefit coordinator Caroline Brent, came upon the idea of celebrating the strength found within oneself. They seized on this as a theme not only prevalent in Shakespeare but also important to the growth of women in arts and society. In choosing materials for the showcase Nearing and Brent look to explore the relationship between men and women as a key element of any society, and wish to play with gender itself in casting and portrayals. The production will be an effort of a small group of actors led by Nearing, and will include selections from both plays and sonnets. Both male and female actors will be involved, and will play roles of any and all genders. Both Brent and Nearing say they are glad the project is a joint effort and is able to involve so many varying elements of the company.

Nearing and Brent are excited for the benefit series to become an annual feature of the Empty Chair season. Nearing says "I don't believe you can truly succeed in theatre if you're only doing it for yourself - theatre is giving." The pair hope with this presentation to give not only a performance but also donations to breast cancer research. Brent emphasized her hopes that the benefit series would be an important method of communication and of raising social awareness of causes that are important to the company. "Hopefully we can say something new about causes everyone knows about, bring a smile, but at same time bring up all the questions that need to be asked and the ideas of social change," she says.

Miscalled Simplicity and the benefit series as a whole represent an exciting opportunity for Empty Chair to expand its level of involvement in the community. As a young and growing organization, Empty Chair hopes to reach out through the benefit series to those interested in the arts while also contributing in a real way to valuable causes. The series will serve as a venue to share not only company members' passion for the arts but also their passion for charitable causes with a larger community and hopefully use Shakespeare to effect change in today's world.

This article first appeared in Empty Chair Theatre's November 2009 Newsletter.