King's Crown Shakespeare Troupe

KCST

The King's Crown Shakespeare Troupe (or KCST for short) is a performing arts group dedicated primarily to performing free Shakespeare plays on Columbia's campus. The group produces four shows a year (two in the fall, two in the spring). Its primary claim to fame is its outdoor show in the spring of every school year. Other notable shows include the fall one-acts organized every other year and the Egg And Peacock festival of plays written, cast, directed and performed in a 24-hour time span.

History

KCST was founded in 1995 by a group of friends irritated at the Varsity Show's insularity and elitism at the time. They laid down the central tenets of the troupe as follows:

• All shows shall be free of charge (with donations accepted).
• Anyone who wants participate in the spring show shall be allowed to do so (this has often led to the creation of a "chorus" similar to the Varsity Show's, albeit one with no limits on membership).

Although at the time the group set itself up in direct opposition to the Varsity Show, with a smaller budget and larger heart, relationships between the two groups have become increasingly cordial as KCST expands its range beyond Shakespeare. Fall 2006 marked the first semester that the troupe elected not to perform a Shakespeare show when several were proposed, further broadening its appeal to those daunted or put off by the bard while maintaining its commitment to Shakespeare with the spring show.

CU Players was established following frustration with the lack of non-specialized straight drama groups on campus, and often cites KCST as a prime example, since its budget always is primarily devoted to the large Spring show and it often balks at straight drama, preferring experimental works such as bobrauchenbergamerica or black comedy such as WASP to pair off with the major shows.

Style

King's Crown's shows are famous for their wild and often innovative directorial choices, such as setting "Hamlet" in a nightmarish post-apocalyptic world (including a climactic chain-and-pipe fight in the pouring rain), casting a woman as the title character in "Richard III," or decking out the actors in "Troilus and Cressida" as football players.

As a group dedicated to non-elitist work, their casts often include first-years in starring roles alongside seniors and several grad students. "Pulling rank" is frowned upon, and attempts are made to avoid performers falling into "stock roles" (i.e., actors like Peter Mende-Siedlecki, known best for their comedy work, get cast as things like Horatio in "Hamlet," to great effect).

No group is without regulars. The KCST crowd can often be seen at 1020 or La Negrita on Wednesday nights for their famous "office hours," often commiserating with the various burnt-out Varsity Show participants.

Traditional Rules & Spin-Offs

King's Crown's "official" and "unofficial" rules are nebulous, often resulting in "traditions" that are enforced to varying degrees. KCST almost always categorically rejects plays performed on-campus within the last five years (an exception was made for the outside funding of a MA candidate's production of "Macbeth" in 2006 despite an independent Fall 2004 production). Despite criticism of "amateurism," KCST's board traditionally requests its directors and producers aim to be open to the entire community, voting down proposals it sees as "closed" in nature. Rancorous arguments have erupted at proposal meetings over issues of projects with ostensibly "clearer visions" being tagged as "designed for only a small circle of theater kids to have a shot at participating." The trade-off, resulting in well-known student actors, technicians, producers and directors frequently making their "starts" in KCST and often remaining "loyal" despite later offers from the Varsity Show or other teams, while groups such as CU Players permit their project leaders to exert nearly-autonomous control over their productions, causes no end of hand-wringing amongst the board during proposals season.

As KCST grew more established, attempts at building continuity gradually became traditions: the Fall One-Act Extravaganza, held every other year, is entering its seventh season, while the Egg and Peacock Festival, brainchild of Abigail Broberg and Rosalind Grush, occurred nearly every spring the pair were present at Columbia, with followers and admirers pushing for a lift on SDA's moratorium on new performing arts groups to permit Egg and Peacock's independent continuation in 2008 without surrendering KCST's invaluable slot in the Lerner Black Box for the Spring semester.

List of productions

The most popular play in KCST's repertoire is the notoriously unlucky "Macbeth," having been performed twice officially with an additional "unsanctioned" production in 2006. "Hamlet," "Much Ado About Nothing," "King Lear," "Romeo & Juliet," "As You Like It" and, curiously, Steve Martin's play "WASP" have been performed twice.

In all fourteen years of its existence, KCST has only performed one full history: "Richard III," in 2006. (An abridgment of "King John" was part of the One-Act Extravaganza in the Fall of that year.) Its drought on romances, or "late-era" Shakespeare where distinctions between comedy and tragedy become blurred, will end in Fall of 2008 when "The Winter's Tale" joins "The Tempest." (The famously vexing "Pericles" has never been proposed according to extant records; "Cymbaline" was considered and rejected several times.)

Academic year	Spring production(s)	Fall production(s)
2008-2009	Julius Caesar; Egg and Peacock 24-Hour Play Festival IV	The Winter's Tale; Fall One-Act Play Extravaganza, Vol. VII
2007-2008	As You Like It; Egg and Peacock 24-Hour Play Festival III	King Lear; The Real Inspector Hound (w/ Aporia)
2006-2007	Much Ado About Nothing; Egg and Peacock 24-Hour Play Festival II	Fall One-Act Play Extravaganza, Vol. VI; bobrauschenbergamerica
2005-2006	Richard III; Egg And Peacock 24-Hour Play Festival I	The Merchant of Venice; WASP
2004-2005	Hamlet; Kaspar	Fall One-Act Play Extravaganza, Vol. V
2003-2004	The Tempest	Romeo and Juliet
2002-2003	Taming of the Shrew	Fall One-act Play Extravaganza, Vol. IV
2001-2002	King Lear	The Comedy of Errors
2000-2001	Twelfth Night	Fall One-act Play Extravaganza, Vol. III
1999-2000	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Troilus and Cressida
1998-1999	Hamlet	Fall One-act Play Extravaganza, Vol. II
1997-1998	Much Ado About Nothing	Fall One-act Play Extravaganza, Vol. I
1996-1997	As You Like It	Macbeth
1995-1996	Macbeth	The Marriage of Bette and Boo
Spring 1995	Romeo and Juliet

External links

• KCST website on CU Players website - inactive
• KCST website