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Asylum founded in 2001 by a group of Long Island theatre artists who are also teaching faculty at various Suffolk County institutions.
Their acclaimed production of Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest‘ is the company’s first project in several years. Lantz-Gefroh is on the faculty at Stony Brook University and a resident of Rocky Point, NY. Suffolk County Community College professor Steven Lantz-Gefroh, her husband, playing Prospero. Both are founding members of Asylum Theatre Company.
Asylum Theatre Company honoured by RSC's International Festival, The Open Stages Project is part of a year-long celebration of the Royal Shakespeare Company's 50th anniversary and includes partnerships with regional theatres and amateur companies from around the world. Each organisation will present their RSC branded, Shakespeare themed productions. Adaptor and director Valeri Lantz Gefroh's concept is one of the few productions—possibly the only—to be accepted into the Open Stages Project from the United States.
In this surreal adaptation of Shakespeare's last play, the hero, Prospero, is stranded on his hospital deathbed. In the moments before he dies he struggles to make peace with family betrayals and find hope for the future of his young daughter. A frantic attempt to revive him brings on the fury of a tempest and the dream visions of confrontation, punishment and the ultimate realisation that forgiveness is the only path home.
'When conceiving this project I took great liberties,'
says Lantz-Gefroh.
'Having watched my mother die six years ago, I was struck by a parallel between Shakespeare’s final musings and the internal storm that my mother waded through in her last days of life. I conceived this production based on the impact of that deeply personal experience.'
http://www.asylumtheatrecompany.org/Home.html
Here are few videos reflect some of their work.