For Immediate Release
April 17, 2018
Jeanne Harrison
703-987-1712
jeharrison@travelingplayers.org
Traveling Players Alum Returns Home, Starring in Othello
Silver Spring, MD – Traveling Players Ensemble alum Kai Tshikosi will be performing Othello and Oberon in Shakespeare & Company’s touring productions of Othello and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Montgomery College’s Cultural Arts Center in Silver Spring, MD from April 25 to 28.
Shakespeare & Company is an internationally renowned professional theatre in Massachusetts, which has mounted tours throughout the Northeast since 1982.
This will not be Tshikosi’s first brush with the role of Othello. For six years, starting as a middle schooler, Tshikosi trained with Traveling Players Ensemble, an educational theatre company focusing on classical works.
In 2011 as a high school senior, Tshikosi’s departing role was Othello.
“He brought clarity and nuance to his performance that rivaled professionals, even when he was in high school,” says Jeanne Harrison, Tshikosi’s long-time director, the company’s artistic director, and former judge with the Helen Hayes Awards.
“I knew it was only going to be his first stab at Othello. He was going to play him again.”
Tshikosi received significant financial support to participate in Traveling Players’ summer camps and classes.
That support paid off: he received an artistic scholarship to attend Emerson College, and is now close to earning his Actor’s Equity card, just a couple years out of college.
Tshikosi’s time at Traveling Players directly prepared him for professional touring work.
As a member of Traveling Players’ advanced Traveling Troupe, he went on a two-week tour each summer to venues like Colonial Williamsburg’s Kimball Theatre, Douthat State Park, Shenandoah National Park, and the Lime Kiln Amphitheater.
While on tour, his ensemble of 13 high schoolers managed load-in and strike, maintained their costumes, camped out and cooked their own food, and learned how to adapt to the rapidly changing conditions of a touring production.
“Now, I’m living the TPE dream,” says Tshikosi. “I’m on tour all the time.”
The program that trained Tshikosi, the Traveling Troupe, has a few open spaces for the coming summer. Admittance is by audition only.
Traveling Players Ensemble offers many other summer acting camps as well, for kids
Traveling Players Ensemble’s summer camp will host an Open House on Saturday, April 21st from 1 to 4 pm at The Madeira School in McLean, VA.
Traveling Players Ensemble is best known for its award-winning summer theatre camps, in residence since 2007 at The Madeira School, which train teens and pre-teens in classical theatre and then take them on tour to perform their shows. Registration is still open for summer camp, for current 3rd through 12th graders.
In 2007, Traveling Players was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as one of 25 model summer arts programs in the nation.
For more information, visit www.travelingplayers.org or call 703-987-1712.
Tickets for the plays can be purchased at http://mcblogs.montgomerycollege.edu/cac/
