The American Shakespeare Center will end its 2017 Actors’ Renaissance Season and kick off the 2017 Spring Season with the annual Band Candy Benefit Concert on Sunday, April 9 at 7:30pm. It will feature both the Renaissance Season actors and 2016/17 Hungry Hearts Tour actors. The concert is an opportunity to support the music at Blackfriars Playhouse performances by raising funds for in-house instruments, music lessons, instrument upkeep, and more.
“A few years ago I realized that our actors had donated at least 90% of the instruments played on the Blackfriars stage and on tour. One of our actors was still rocking out on the instrument he had in middle school!” says Miriam Donald-Burrows, a former actor and current board member at the ASC. “So in 2014, I instigated the Band Candy campaign to make the actor/musicians’ worlds a little sweeter. Over $15,000 later, our music program is thriving.”
Music is an integral part of every ASC performance, onstage at the Blackfriars and on the road with the touring troupe. “Shakespeare had a soundtrack,” says Co-Founder and Artistic Director Jim Warren. “Above the stage, musicians played an assortment of string, wind, and percussion instruments before, during, and after the play. The plays are sprinkled with songs which we tend to set in contemporary style. The result is emblematic of our approach – a commitment to Shakespeare’s text and to the mission of connecting that text to modern audiences.”
This year’s concert will feature a variety of music with songs by Cake, the Rolling Stones, Blind Pilot, the Jackson Five, and many others, including some original music created by the actors themselves.
The Band Candy Benefit Concert will take place April 9 at 7:30pm. Tickets start at $26 and can be purchased online at AmericanShakespeareCenter.
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Chris Graham
