DAVIDSON, N.C., Sept. 22 (AScribe Newswire) -- When the Royal Shakespeare Company comes to Davidson College this academic year, it'll be students taking the stage. The centerpiece of the RSC at Davidson 2006 Residency, from January 23 through February 5, will be a student production under the direction of the RSC actors, educators, and directors who will visit campus. "For Every Passion Something: Scenes, Songs, and Sonnets of Shakespeare" will run for two nights, February 3 and 4, in the Duke Family Performance Hall.

"This year's residency, titled 'Infinite Variety: Love and Family in Shakespeare,' is the first time the RSC has worked exclusively on teaching at any institution," said Bethany Prestigiacomo, director of artist residency programs.

During the two previous RSC Davidson residencies, company members taught in classrooms, gave presentations, workshops, and participated on panels, while also mounting full Shakespearean productions in Duke Family Performance Hall. This year, Prestigiacomo noted, "The RSC will be dedicated exclusively to student learning. It's a wonderful opportunity for Davidson students to work one-on-one with actors and directors of one of world's great theater companies."

Davidson students will audition in early November for sixteen spots in a spring semester class that will produce an original work comprising scenes from five Shakespearean plays. During the residency, they will rehearse intensely under the direction of the RSC, working toward their performance of "For Every Passion Something: Scenes, Songs, and Sonnets of Shakespeare" on February 3 and 4. In addition, vocal music students will perform Elizabethan songs, and music composition students will work with RSC composer Keith Clouston on creating original music for the production. Some Davidson College faculty may even be persuaded to tread the boards with a cameo appearance.

Davidson students will offer workshops based on the production in area schools during the spring, and take the full production to the Edinburgh Theatre Festival in Scotland next August.

A wide range of other events is scheduled for "Infinite Variety." Prestigiacomo explained, "Everything in the residency will reflect the 'love and family' theme which permeates Shakespeare's work. Guest scholars from the U.S. and U.K. will speak on family and love in Shakespeare's day and in our contemporary world, with topics that range from the concept of family over the centuries, to the love of God then and now."

A residency highlight will be the appearance of "Ensemble Chaconne," a professional Elizabethan music group. The ensemble will present an afternoon master class about Elizabethan instruments on January 28, and a concert, "Measure for Measure: Music from Shakespeare's Plays," that evening. The 2:00 p.m. master class is free and open to the public. Ensemble Chaconne performance tickets are available through the Davidson College ticket office and are $18.00 for general public, and $15.00 for staff and faculty, and free to Davidson College students. Tickets can be purchased beginning January 9, 2006.

The residency will reach a wider public through a January 28 workshop for thirty high school teachers. Ten of those teachers will return to their classrooms with a scene Shakespearean for their students to rehearse during the following week. On February 4 those students will come to Davidson for the first annual RSC at Davidson High School Shakespeare Festival: "Shakespeare in a Day." The students will participate in workshops with RSC personnel, and present their work in a public performance in the Duke Family Performance Hall. The students and their teachers will then assemble for a dinner event sponsored by the college admission office, after which they will attend the evening performance of Shakespeare scenes and songs.

The college also plans to provide its own students close access to the RSC cohort through "coffee chats" every afternoon during the second week of the residency. Prestigiacomo said, "Feedback we've had from students about previous residencies indicates that some were shy about meeting these professionals, and that company members were eager for more contact with students. We want to do everything we can to ease this kind of informal interaction and mentorship."

Looking ahead, RSC at Davidson in 2007 will include a full RSC production as well as educational and community outreach, with details to be announced this spring.

Information on performances and public events will be available and updated regularly at www.davidson.edu/Shakespeare.

Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,700 students. Since its founding by Presbyterians in 1837, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine. Davidson has recently completed "Let Learning Be Cherished," a $250 million campaign in support of student financial assistance, academic resources, and community life.