Rodney Hakim - Shakespeare Readings

RODNEY HAKIM

ACTOR/DIRECTOR

SHAKESPEARE READINGS

Instant Shakespeare Company readings:

I'm appearing in the following staged readings with the Instant Shakespeare company this summer:

Macbeth
Monday, August 20 @ 6pm
New York Public Library, Mid-Manhattan Branch, 6th Floor
455 Fifth Ave (at 40th St)
Featuring Rodney Hakim as Ross & Lenox
Playmaster: Kenneth Wayne
FREE!!!

Measure for Measure
Monday, July 23 @ 6pm
New York Public Library, Mid-Manhattan Branch, 6th Floor
455 Fifth Ave (at 40th St)
Featuring Rodney Hakim as Duke Vincentio
Playmaster: Virginia Hammer
FREE!!!

The Tempest
Monday, July 9 @ 6pm
New York Public Library, Mid-Manhattan Branch, 6th Floor
455 Fifth Ave (at 40th St)
Featuring Rodney Hakim as Stephano & Alonzo
Playmaster: Paul Sugarman
FREE!!!

Henry VI, part 2
Saturday, June 2 @ 1pm
New York Public Library, Muhlenberg Branch, 3rd Floor
23rd Street (at 7th Avenue)
Featuring Rodney Hakim as King Henry
Playmaster: Rob Gaines
FREE!!!

Shakespeare Readings at Barnes & Noble:

Past entries in the monthly audience-participation Shakespeare reading series:

November 2006: Antony & Cleopatra
October 2006: Troilus & Cressida
September 2006: Pericles, Prince of Tyre
August 2006: A Midsummer Night's Dream
July 2006: Coriolanus
June 2006: As You Like It
April 2006: Richard III
March 2006: The Taming of the Shrew
February 2006: The Winter's Tale
January 2006: Macbeth
December 2005: A Midsummer Night's Dream
July 2005: Othello
June 2005: "The Play's the Thing" game
May 2005: The Sonnets
April 2005: Henry VI part 3
March 2005: Henry VI part 2
January 2005: Henry VI part 1
December 2004: Hamlet
November 2004: Timon of Athens
October 2004: King John
September 2004: All's Well That Ends Well
August 2004: Love's Labors Lost
July 2004: Two Noble Kinsmen
June 2004: The Merry Wives of Windsor
May 2004: The Merchant of Venice
April 2004: Henry VIII
March 2004: Measure for Measure
February 2004: King Lear
January 2004: Pericles, Prince of Tyre
December 2003: Two Gentlemen of Verona
November 2003: Romeo & Juliet
October 2003: Antony & Cleopatra
September 2003: The Comedy of Errors
August 2003: Julius Caesar
July 2003: Troilus & Cressida
June 2003: Henry V
May 2003: Much Ado About Nothing
April 2003: Titus Andronicus
March 2003: Henry IV part 2
February 2003: Henry IV part 1
January 2003: Cymbeline
December 2002: Twelfth Night
November 2002: Coriolanus
October 2002: The Taming of the Shrew
August 2002: Richard III
July 2002: The Winter's Tale
June 2002: As You Like It
May 2002: Macbeth

"Neglected Classics" staged reading series at the Mid-Manhattan Library

[This series is currently on indefinite hiatus]

I recently presented a staged reading series in association with the Mid-Manhattan Library that examined some of the more obscure plays, poems, and short stories of our greatest playwrights. In presenting some of the less performed works by such theatrical giants as William Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov, and the Greek masters, we tackled such questions as whether these works are more obscure because they are inferior to the playwrights' more popular works, if these pieces are still relevant and important, and if they are still entertaining and compelling to a modern audience. The staged readings focused on such works as Shakespeare's long poem, "Venus and Adonis," Chekhov's one-act farces, "The Anniversary" and "The Bear," and a revised look at a Greek classic in Seneca's version of "Oedipus."

- Wednesday, September 27th, 6:30 - 8:00pm: Shakespeare's "Venus and Adonis"

A staged reading of one of William Shakespeare's narrative poems, "Venus and Adonis," which tried to discover why this poem about the goddess Venus' infatuation with the mortal young hunter, Adonis, is seldom performed and often trivialized, despite the subtle erotic charge of the Bard's poetry.

- Wednesday, October 25th, 6:30 - 8:00pm: Seneca's "Oedipus"

Everyone knows "Oedipus Rex" by the Greek playwright, Sophocles, but far fewer are aware of the revision that the ancient Roman playwright, Seneca gave the play nearly 500 years later. A staged reading of Seneca's "Oedipus" explored the Roman version of the classic Greek tragedy, and will attempt to assess why Seneca's revision hasn't had as enduring a legacy as Sophocles' original.

- Wednesday, December 6th, 6:30 - 8:00pm: Anton Chekhov's one-act comedies

Anton Chekhov, the great Russian playwright who is best known for such tragicomic plays as "Uncle Vanya," "The Three Sisters," and "The Cherry Orchard" also wrote a variety of lesser known one-act plays, two of which, "The Anniversary" and "The Bear" were presented as a staged reading, in which we attempted to find out whether Chekhov's one-act farces measure up to his full length masterpieces, and whether they are still as humorous over a century later.