P H I L ANT HR OP Y HI G HLI G HTS
An Ode to Shakespeare—and a Former Dean
—Victoria Harnish
The Comedy of Errors, directed by theatre instructor Kevin Heelan and performed in Steinbach Theatre, was the Academy’s first Rosenkranz Shakespeare Fund play. Clockwise from top: David Benedict ’15 as Antipholus of Ephesus, Liana Brooks ’15 as a courtesan, Esther Cohen ’14 as the second merchant and Gabriel Braunstein ’16 as Luciana, Adella Pierre ’14 as Angelo, and Theodore Perez ’16 as Balthasar
22
Andover | Winter 2014
Photos by Neil Evans
He is equally comfortable behind the scenes, producing Broadway plays, and in front of the classroom teaching constitutional law. Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz ’88 credits Kelly Wise, longtime Andover faculty member and former dean of faculty, with his passion for theatre. “Wise’s legendary Novel & Drama class was the most difficult course that I took at Andover—and also the best,” says Rosenkranz. “We read a superb novel or play each week and did college-level analysis. This class was every bit as rigorous as any in the English department at Yale.” Rosenkranz, who majored in English at Yale, continued directing plays while a student there. Following graduation, he served as the literary manager of the Atlantic Theater Company and assisted Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright David Mamet on a few productions in New York City. Eventually, Rosenkranz returned to Yale to earn a degree in law and went on to clerk for Judge Frank Easterbrook on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and then Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court. He also worked in the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel, before joining the faculty of Georgetown Law. Through the years, though, his passion for theatre remained. He continues his involvement by serving as a board member of Elevator Repair Service, an acclaimed avant-garde theatre company in New York. And he recently produced Mamet’s Race and Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, both on Broadway. “I discovered my love of theatre while at Andover,” Rosenkranz says. “The first show I directed—Tina Howe’s Painting Churches—was in the Drama Lab in 1988.” On the occasion of his 25th Reunion, Rosenkranz created The Rosenkranz Shakespeare Fund, which will help the theatre department in perpetuity. A tribute to Wise, who will retire at the end of the year, the fund will support at least one major theatrical production per year, with a preference for William Shakespeare’s plays. In mid-December, Andover’s Department of Theatre and Dance produced Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors—the inaugural Rosenkranz Shakespeare Fund play at Andover. “We are excited about the possibilities this gift enables,” says Erin Strong, chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance. “This fund makes it possible for us to enhance production design elements such as costumes and set, think outside the box, bring vibrant guest artists in to contribute to our productions, and produce shows we may not otherwise have considered in the past.”