Nick on Comrades and Combat

Heroes enters first week of rehearsals and I am thrilled. What a great cast and what a fun challenge of a play! I am sure all four gentlemen will have a great time and I am really pleased that I got to be a crucial part of that process that brought the play to us, arranging the public reading last year and listening to our subscribers and regular audience-goers. I am convinced that the play is still waiting for its best production to date and I know that we have the potential to deliver it.
As for my own crazy schedule--while our "veterans" contemplate the absurdism of post-world-war trauma and camaraderie, I find myself simply surrounded by violence. Having choreographed the contretemps in Timeline's "All My Sons" (a play that should have been ours!), I find myself not only teaching combat at the Theatre School at DePaul, but also directing fights for "Faust" at Lyric Opera; and for "1001" at the Theatre School; and for "The Castle of Otranto" at First Folio. So I am knee-deep in sabres, rapiers, and scimitars! Already looking forward to the relative single-mindedness of seduction and smallswords in "Liaisons."
Meantime, always remember--Fight Light, Act Violent!

Nick Sandys

James' Henry V Receives Nod from Wall Street Journal

James spent the summer directing Henry V for American Players Theatre. This show comes on the heels of last summer's Henry IV, which James co-adapted.
Henry V features Matt Schwader who has performed previously on the Remy Bumppo stage.



Yesterday Henry V received a terrific review from the Wall Street Journal critic Tery Teachout who sad, "APT's version [of Henry V is] staged with dashing directness by James Bohnen, the artistic director of Chicago's Remy Bumppo Theatre. The 39 speaking parts are played by 13 hard-working actors James Ridge delivers [the opening] speech with an incisive authority that sets the tone for the evening. What follows is a show that hurtles pell-mell from scene to scene, led by Matt Schwader, who plays King Henry with youthful fire."

Photo by: Zane Williams

To see the whole article click here.