‘Hamlet’ marks debut of Conservatory Theatre

Kimberley McGee

Friday, Dec. 1, 2000 | 11 a.m.

What: University Theatre's presents William Shakespeare's "Hamlet"

When: 8 p.m. today, Saturday, Thursday and Dec. 9, 7-9; 2 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 10.

Where: UNLV's Judy Bayley Theatre.

Cost: $12.

Information: Call 895-2787.

There's something old, something new, something borrowed and the title character is somewhat blue.

It's a marriage of local and national talent for the debut of Nevada's first national theater endeavor.

The classic Shakespeare play "Hamlet" opens tonight at UNLV's Judy Bayley Theatre, launching the Nevada Conservatory Theatre.

Broadway-and-television actress Sandra Shipley plays Gertrude. Shipley, who has appeared on NBC's "Law & Order" and "Third Watch," is the first professional actress to be contracted by the conservatory from the national Actors' Equity Conservatory.

A conservatory is composed of a union of actors from throughout the nation who work with theater groups on contract. A conservatory needs time to build a reputation and attract renowned artists, dancers, directors and composers.

Robert Brewer, UNLV theater professor, expects these first steps in the local conservatory's growth will be slow in their progress.

"We are still getting it together, developing, because it takes a while for theaters to develop," Brewer said. "We have to prove ourselves and what we are all about and that takes time."

The announcement of the conservatory launch came, Brewer said, because UNLV's theater department had an experienced Hamlet in local actor Stephen Reyes, and Shipley joined the cast this fall.

"She brings credential weight, but we also have in Stephen an actor that can do Hamlet that is ready and really good," Brewer said. "This is what we, the conservatory, will bring more of to the university."

Reyes has honed his craft at UNLV for the last six years and graduates in May with a masters in fine arts.

The conservatory's goal is to become a member of the League of Regional Theaters, a professional actors guild.

"That would be great for the entire city," Brewer said. "It would widen the cultural base, and isn't that what we need?"

It would also enable the university to compete for top graduate students from around the world.

UNLV professor Michael Lugering said the opportunity the conservatory offers mirrors the real world of acting more accurately than anything students could learn in a class or on a college stage.

"Becoming professional requires you have somewhere to link up with the professional theater," Lugering said. "There's no place for our students to experience the profession and know what it's like professionally."

Lugering directs "Hamlet" for the first time. While setting up production for the 400-year-old play, his perspective of the play and its meaning changed.

"I've learned things about this play I didn't know, and that's what is so great about Shakespeare," he said.

Lugering's version of "Hamlet" includes partial nudity and cross-gender casting, as did the original Elizabethan-era plays of the Bard.

"There is this idea of imagining Hamlet in black tights, a gold medallion in a castle far away and that's valid. But the classic play is open to interpretation. Sure, Hamlet dies in the end but there are a lot of ways to look at it and glean meaning for yourself."

What makes the play brilliant are not only the famed soliloquies, such as "To be or not to be," but rather its personal drama, Lugering said.

"(Soliloquies) allow the audience to get into the mind of Hamlet, to take the journey of the play with him rather than sitting as an outside observer," he said.

As the conservatory will do for the students.

"It brings a perspective to the actors they would never have known otherwise," Lugering said.