Shakespeare on Campus

Oregon Shakespeare Festival actors David Salsa and David Thompson from Ashland, Oregon, will present three public performances at Peninsula College on Friday, November 20. The performances are scheduled for 9:10 a.m., 12:35 and 7:00 pm in the college’s Little Theater on the Port Angeles campus. All are free and open to community residents who might wish to attend.

Salsa’s and Thompson’s 9:10 a.m. performance will be a combination program entitled “Hamlet: Themes and Variations.” The two will select readings from several Ashland plays, including I Hate Hamlet by Paul Rudnick, The Actor’s Nightmare by Christopher Durang Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard and Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

The 12:35 pm program, “These Foolish Things,” will be centered on plays by Shakespeare. It is cosponsored by the Studium Generale and Foothills Writers Series programs.

The 7:00 p.m. performance, a “Shakespeare Smackdown,” will include selections from the two previous presentations as well as some new material.

The two performers also will present workshops specifically designed for Peninsula College students.

During his two seasons as part of the ensemble of actors in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, David Salsa has appeared in several plays as well as serving as an assistant director. This is his second tour with the School Visit Program. He has also performed and toured with several other theater groups, including Equalogy Educational Theater National Tour, King Theater, Theater Studio Institute, Westbeth Theater, Old Circle In The Square Theater in New York City, the New School of Drama/Actors Studio and Ultimate Improv, Los Angeles. He received his MFA from the New School of Drama/Actors Studio; and his B.A. from the University of Portland.

David Eric Thompson has spent six seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and has had numerous roles as well as serving as Resident Teaching Artist and a contributing writer for Illuminations. Other theater appearances include Bellevue Repertory in Bellevue, WA); Summer Repertory Theater in Santa Rosa; the Grove Shakespeare Festival in Garden Grove; and Long Beach Center Theater, where he was directed by Tony Richardson. He studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and California State University, Fullerton. He is a member of the Actors’ Equity Association.

David Salsa

David Eric Thompson

            The appearance by the Ashland actors is sponsored by Studium Generale and the Foothills Writers Series.