ENCORES: 'Arcadia' performed by Folger Theatre (2009)

Folger Public Programs is pleased to present ENCORES, a weekly online series highlighting past performances and recalling the rich history of programming on the historic Folger stage. These ENCORES provide a way to connect and revisit the breadth of Folger offerings with a wider audience.

ENCORES presents

Arcadia
presented by Folger Theatre
by Tom Stoppard
Directed by Aaron Posner***, Folger Theatre, 2009

Performed by

• Cooper D’Ambrose, Ezra Chater
• Stephen D’Ambrose*, Richard Noakes
• Jared Michael Delaney*, Captain Brice
• Michael Glenn*, Jellaby
• Eric Hissom*, Bernard Nightingale
• Cody Nickell*, Septimus Hodge
• Suzanne O’Donnell*, Lady Croom
• Benjamin Schiffbauer, Gus, Augustus Coverly
• Margo Seibert*, Chloe Coverly
• Peter Stray*, Valentine Coverly
• Holly Twyford*, Hannah Jarvis
• Erin Weaver*, Thomasina Coverly

With

• Scenic Design by Daniel Conway**
• Costume Design by Kate Turner-Walker**
• Lighting Design by Thom Weaver**
• Composition/Sound Design by Veronika Vorel
• Production Stage Manager, Kate Olden*
• Resident Dramaturg, Michele Osherow

*Actors’ Equity Association
**United Scenic Artists
***Stage Directors and Choreographers Society

Read the introduction by cast member Cody Nickell:

Hello and welcome to the return of Folger Encores. I’m Cody Nickell, and I’m thrilled that you have chosen to join us today.

Now, the Folger has been sharing with you some of their selections of plays and music and readings and talks in this Encores series. And this week, we are celebrating the return to school by taking a look at the Folger Theatre production of Arcadia by Tom Stoppard. Now, in this production, I played Septimus Hodge, the tutor to Thomasina, the young woman of the house. Thomasina is a precocious child with many complex ideas about mathematics, nature, and physics. A young woman well ahead of her time. The play is simultaneously set in 1809 and in the present. And as the drawing room comedy of 1809 unfolds in the present, two writers converge on the house, one of whom is researching a hermit that once lived on the grounds, and the other is investigating a mysterious chapter from the life of Lord Byron, a classmate of yours truly–well of Septimus Hodge’s.

What you’re about to see is the opening of the play set in April of 1809 in the front garden room of an English estate, where I am trying to distract Thomasina from her curiosity about carnal embrace by challenging her to prove Fermat’s Last Theorem. Arcadia is one of my favorite shows that I have ever been a part of at the Folger, a truly special production, which hopefully you’re about to see in the small selection that we are happy to share with you.

Please enjoy this taste of Arcadia. And do remember to join us again for these biweekly episodes of Encores highlighting everything that the Folger Shakespeare Library has to offer.

Check back every other Friday for a new “from the archives” performance, introduced by some of our favorite artists, showcasing the best of Folger Theatre, Folger Consort, O.B. Hardison Poetry, and lectures.