As You Like It
On NJN’s State of the Arts
Friday, March 24, at 8:30 pm; and Wednesday, March 29 at 11:30 pm

STATEWIDE – This edition of State of the Arts explores Shakespeare’s work as it lives today.
As You Like It showcases several of the great bard’s plays, including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “ Romeo & Juliet,” presented in a new McCarter Theatre/Paper Mill Playhouse co-production, in a performance at the New Jersey Opera Theater, onstage with the New Jersey Ballet, and with the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. As You Like It airs on Friday, March 24 at 8:30 pm, with a rebroadcast on Wednesday, March 29 at 11:30 pm.

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream
This innovative production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is the result of several creative talents. GrooveLily, a New York City-based pop-folk-rock trio, created all new music for this production and will also take on the roles of three of the “mechanicals,” characters who help stage the famous “play within the play.” The trio is made up of Valerie Vigoda, electric violin/singer; Brendan Milburn, keyboards/singer; and Gene Lewis, drums/singer. State of the Arts producer Susan Wallner meets the group and finds out how their eclectic musical sensibility is integrated into the world of Shakespeare’s magical comedy. Also featured is director Tina Landau, who admits she has a passion for fairies. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a co-production of Princeton’s McCarter Theatre, where it runs March 21-April 9, 2006; and Millburn’s Paper Mill Playhouse, where it runs April 19-May 21, 2006. This is the first time two New Jersey theaters have collaborated on a production of this size.

• Falstaff
State of the Arts producer Eric Schultz takes a look at the New Jersey Opera Theater’s recent semi-staged performance of Guiseppi Verdi’s last opera, “Falstaff.” Verdi came out of retirement at the age of 80 to write the work after being inspired by his friend Arigo Boito’s libretto, largely based on Shakespeare’s “Merry Wives of Windsor.” “Falstaff” is widely regarded as one of the greatest comic operas ever written and one in which Verdi integrated the orchestra into the drama in new and more integral ways. As a professional opera singer himself, NJOT’s artistic director Scott Altman took particular care in selecting singers best suited to the intensive ensemble demands of “Falstaff” and says that this ensemble approach is one of the important ways the Princeton company — only three years old — is distinguishing itself.

• Romeo & Juliet
A former international figure skater, Johan Renvall has a distinguished career in ballet that has spanned more than 25 years. In 1984, he choreographed his first ballet, an abridged version of “Romeo & Juliet.” More than 20 years later, the New Jersey Ballet, based in Livingston, is staging Renvall's version of "Romeo & Juliet" along with the second act of the classic ballet, “Giselle,” in a program called “An Evening of Star-Crossed Lovers.” State of the Arts producer Victor Limjoco talks to Renvall about his process of transforming one of Shakespeare's most beloved plays into dance, and visits a rehearsal where the choreographer works directly with the principal dancers, Mari Sugawa and Albert Davydov. Renvall discusses the challenges of shortening the drama to an hour, and of re-imagining his own choreography after two decades. Renvall was the lead in the 1987 film “Dance,” a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, and a teacher at the respected Ballet Arts. Carolyn Clark, founder and director of the New Jersey Ballet, will also talk about the ballet’s storied history since she started the company almost 50 years ago.

• Shakespeare in American Communities
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), in cooperation with Arts Midwest, is bringing the largest tour of Shakespeare in American history to small and mid-sized communities in all 50 states. The program, called Shakespeare in American Communities, includes professional Shakespeare productions and related educational activities, and even reaches American military personnel and their families through a partnership of the NEA and Department of Defense. State of the Arts producer Christopher Benincasa interviews Bonnie J. Monte, Artistic Director of The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (based in Madison), whose production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was selected for inclusion in the NEA program. Benincasa also travels to Washington, D.C to meet up with NEA Chairman Dana Gioia and talk about introducing a new generation of Americans to the greatest playwright in the English language, and the impact of the program on the nation.

State of the Arts, the award-winning, half-hour arts magazine, airs every Friday at 8:30 pm, followed by an encore presentation each Wednesday at 11:30 pm.

The current episode of State of the Arts can be viewed online at www.njn.net. Individual stories will be available to view following their broadcast by visiting the program online at State of the Arts.

Funding for State of the Arts is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The series producer is Susan Wallner and the executive producer is Nila Aronow