Othello at The Black Rep
ST. LOUIS, MO – The Black Rep will perform Shakespeare’s Othello on Saturday, January 5 at 8:00 p.m. to benefit Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School. A pre-play discussion will take place at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $40 and proceeds from ticket sales will support the Shawn Anthony Scholarship Fund at Cardinal Ritter Prep. To order tickets contact Jackie McWell at (314) 446-5501.
Chris Anthony, niece of Cardinal Ritter Prep Principal Carmele Hall, is directing Othello.
“Othello is the Shakespeare play I’ve seen the most and I’ve also directed it before,” Anthony said. “The issue with doing it at a black theater is that there are usually only two black actors—Othello and his understudy. Othello is an outsider amongst white people. In this case almost the entire cast is Black.”
All Cardinal Ritter Prep students will see the play at a student matinee. Anthony is working with the Cardinal Ritter Prep faculty and the Education Coordinator of the Black Rep to prepare discussion topics and questions for the students.
Anthony will pose some questions for her audience to consider, such as, “What does it mean to be black? What does it mean if you talk ‘white’, but look black?”
“There is a lot of negotiation around those issues said Anthony. “It comes down to trust—who are you; can I trust you? Are you better than me because you have light skin? Are you going to protect me? These are questions Othello should be asking Iago, but doesn’t.”
Anthony decided to set the play during the late 1890s in Creole New Orleans among the Buffalo Soldiers.
“We can talk about skin color prejudice and how as black people, we internalize these messages, said Anthony. “People talk about Othello as a play about jealousy. For me, it’s also a play about trust.”
In Shakespeare’s original Othello, the story begins in Venice and moves to Cyprus where the Venetians are at war the Turks. In this production, Haiti is replacing Cyprus and New Orleans is replacing Venice. The architecture of New Orleans, Venice and Haiti are all very similar. Haiti is still seen as exotic, Anthony said.
“We don’t know that much about it—but we have an association with voodoo, music and dance.”
Anthony, a St. Louis native, attended Rosati Kain High School and Saint Louis University.
“Cardinal Ritter Prep was very new when I went to high school and it did not have a theater department.”
Anthony worked as the assistant technical director of the SLU Theater Department to pay her way through college. She graduated with a degree in Theater in 1989. After college, Anthony interned for the The Black Rep and performed in touring shows. “I did grunt work, as house manager, with costumes, and props. I learned all kinds of things about being in the theater.”
Anthony moved to California to attend graduate school. She currently lives in Los Angeles where she is the Associate Artistic Director and Director of Youth and Education at Shakespeare Festival/LA. For the past 12 years, Anthony also has been involved in the Will Power to Youth program, a youth employment program that hires young people to make adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays.
The Black Rep and Cardinal Ritter Prep are neighbors in the city’s Grand Center District. The performance begins at 8 at the Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square. Cardinal Ritter Prep is located at 701 North Spring Avenue.
Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School has educated students from the entire St. Louis region for more than 25 years and opened a new, state-of-the-art school in Grand Center in 2003. This year, as in years past, all Cardinal Ritter Prep seniors graduated and were accepted to college. Cardinal Ritter Prep is a coeducational high school accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. For more information, call (314) 446-5500 or visit www.cardinalritterprep.org.
Chris Anthony, niece of Cardinal Ritter Prep Principal Carmele Hall, is directing Othello.
“Othello is the Shakespeare play I’ve seen the most and I’ve also directed it before,” Anthony said. “The issue with doing it at a black theater is that there are usually only two black actors—Othello and his understudy. Othello is an outsider amongst white people. In this case almost the entire cast is Black.”
All Cardinal Ritter Prep students will see the play at a student matinee. Anthony is working with the Cardinal Ritter Prep faculty and the Education Coordinator of the Black Rep to prepare discussion topics and questions for the students.
Anthony will pose some questions for her audience to consider, such as, “What does it mean to be black? What does it mean if you talk ‘white’, but look black?”
“There is a lot of negotiation around those issues said Anthony. “It comes down to trust—who are you; can I trust you? Are you better than me because you have light skin? Are you going to protect me? These are questions Othello should be asking Iago, but doesn’t.”
Anthony decided to set the play during the late 1890s in Creole New Orleans among the Buffalo Soldiers.
“We can talk about skin color prejudice and how as black people, we internalize these messages, said Anthony. “People talk about Othello as a play about jealousy. For me, it’s also a play about trust.”
In Shakespeare’s original Othello, the story begins in Venice and moves to Cyprus where the Venetians are at war the Turks. In this production, Haiti is replacing Cyprus and New Orleans is replacing Venice. The architecture of New Orleans, Venice and Haiti are all very similar. Haiti is still seen as exotic, Anthony said.
“We don’t know that much about it—but we have an association with voodoo, music and dance.”
Anthony, a St. Louis native, attended Rosati Kain High School and Saint Louis University.
“Cardinal Ritter Prep was very new when I went to high school and it did not have a theater department.”
Anthony worked as the assistant technical director of the SLU Theater Department to pay her way through college. She graduated with a degree in Theater in 1989. After college, Anthony interned for the The Black Rep and performed in touring shows. “I did grunt work, as house manager, with costumes, and props. I learned all kinds of things about being in the theater.”
Anthony moved to California to attend graduate school. She currently lives in Los Angeles where she is the Associate Artistic Director and Director of Youth and Education at Shakespeare Festival/LA. For the past 12 years, Anthony also has been involved in the Will Power to Youth program, a youth employment program that hires young people to make adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays.
The Black Rep and Cardinal Ritter Prep are neighbors in the city’s Grand Center District. The performance begins at 8 at the Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square. Cardinal Ritter Prep is located at 701 North Spring Avenue.
Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School has educated students from the entire St. Louis region for more than 25 years and opened a new, state-of-the-art school in Grand Center in 2003. This year, as in years past, all Cardinal Ritter Prep seniors graduated and were accepted to college. Cardinal Ritter Prep is a coeducational high school accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. For more information, call (314) 446-5500 or visit www.cardinalritterprep.org.
