American Bard Theatre Company debuts on the New York scene

The American Bard Theatre Company is the newest troupe to hit the New York theatre scene,
and charmed audiences with its debut show "Witches, Bitches!! A Cauldron of Selected Scenes."

Founded in June 2009, the 15 founding actors and artists carry on the unique
"First Folio technique" having studied under John Basil of the American Globe Theatre.

Founding Artistic Director Mary Riley quotes Basil in explaining what, "First Folio" is:
"Shakespeare wrote his plays to engage the 'ear' of his audience's imagination. He
intended his plays to be heard and not seen, rather than read silently while sitting
on the living room couch. To help his performers make the language of his plays spring
to life on stage, he embedded linguistic and rhetorical clues within the scripts he
provided for them. These were combined by two of his colleagues after his death after his
death to form the First Folio edition of 1623."

Theatre and Arts blogger Mark Ransom said they were "delightfully professional" in executing the technique.

Founding Artistic Director Mary Riley plans to keep the group firmly in the 21st century,
mixing contemporary work in with classing Shakespeare. Not only that, Riley plans on using
"media", YouTube, and Twitter to help promote their shows and company.

No stranger to the stage, Portsmouth, VA native Riley started singing and acting in preschool.
After getting her Bachelor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC,
she got her Masters of Arts in Music at Radford University in Radford, VA.

Riley advises those interested in starting their own theatre company to "learn the business side."
"They do not teach you that in school, but learn it before you have to crash course in it like I did," she said.

For more information:

http://www.americanbard.org/
http://www.maryriley.net/

http://mdransom.blogspot.com/2009/10/witches-bitches.html