Fred Curchack
Richardson, TX
Fred Curchack has created 78 original theatre pieces, which have been featured at dozens of international theater festivals. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and has received funding from Creative Capital, the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts International and The Henson Foundation. After receiving a drama degree from the High School of Performing Arts in N.Y. and a MA in Theater from Queens College, Fred studied with masters of Indian Kathakali, Japanese Noh, Balinese Topeng and Commedia dell’Arte. He also studied choreography with Alwin Nikolais and trained with Grotowski’s Polish Theater Lab. He is Professor of Aesthetic Studies at The University of Texas at Dallas.
Lear’s Shadow
Fred Curchack
Artist BioLear’s Shadow is a play by Fred Curchack with texts from Shakespeare’s King Lear. An old actor, cared for by a young woman, watches a video of himself and his girlfriend, thirty years earlier, performing a theatrical adaptation of King Lear. As he approaches death, his personal memories weave into Shakespeare’s immortal tragedy, propelling him into an astonishing, new reality. Using masks, puppetry, and video, Lear’s Shadow goes beyond the limits of theatrical illusion to question the nature of identity and to contemplate what lies beneath the roles we play.