Ellen Geer: About the Artist

 

Click here to listen to her interview.  Click here to listen to her performance.

ELLEN GEER has been Artistic Director for the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum since 1978.  When she and her dad worked together at a regional theater, they would traditionally build a gardens of plants mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays, hence our “Theatricum Botanicum – Theater of Plants”.  She guided the theatre from a Sunday afternoon workshop to a professional repertory theatre company with a negotiated Actors Equity Contract.  Ms. Geer has produced and directed over 40 productions including the works of Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, Chekhov, Thornton Wilder and the classics of Greek literature.  She created the Academy of the Classics in 1976, which now houses our Intensive Shakespeare Seminar, Scene Study and Teen classes and a Youth Drama Camp.  She helped develop School Days, a field trip for young people which serves over 8,000 Los Angeles school children each spring.  She co-developed Classroom Enrichment, which takes our actor/teachers into classrooms working along with the teachers to help the students perform the roles in selected Shakespearean plays.  In addition to her work in film and television (Harold and Maude, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, to name a few), she is a graduate Professor of classical acting at UCLA’s Department of Theatre, Film and Television.  She has received numerous awards for her work at Theatricum and in the community including a Los Angeles County “Woman of the Year” award.

  2 Responses to “Ellen Geer: About the Artist”

  1. […]  Feast your ears on this brief excerpt from Act II, Scene i, featuring founding company members Ellen Geer and Melora […]

  2. […] Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum is a labor of love for a family with Shakespeare in their veins.  Ellen Geer, Melora Marshall and Ian Flanders share the fascinating story of the Theatricum's past, present and […]

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