CHESTERTOWN, MD—Two beloved veterans who are retiring this spring from the Washington College Drama Department are at the heart of an upcoming production of The Tragedy of King Lear, April 4-7 on campus. Timothy Maloney, who came to WC in 1966 to create the drama department, will play the lead role as the king who brings misery on himself when he decides to test the love and loyalty of his three daughters. And Jason Rubin, a professional set designer who joined the drama faculty 20 years after Maloney, in 1986, is directing the play.

The production is a collaboration that Maloney and Rubin took on with English Department chair and Shakespeare expert Kathryn Moncrief—the three are co-teaching a course called “King Lear:  Text and Performance” this semester. Another important partner in the process is student Maegan Clearwood ’13, whose work as dramaturg will fulfill her senior capstone experience. Funded by the College’s Cater Society of Junior Fellows, Clearwood spent two weeks in London this past January studying the production history of the play at the Globe Theatre and The Royal Shakespeare Company Archives at The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

“One of the most remarkable and exciting aspects of this production is the fact that there are eleven different majors represented in the cast and crew,” observes Drama Department chair Michele Volansky. “This is not just English or Drama or one facet of the campus community. It represents true collaboration among faculty and students and we look at it as a foundation for future interdisciplinary activities.”

The Tragedy of King Lear will be staged Thursday, April 
4, Friday, April 5, and Saturday, April 6, at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, April 7, at 1:00 p.m. 
All performances will be in Decker Theatre, Gibson Center for the Arts, on the College campus, 300 Washington Avenue. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students.

For more information, please visit http://www.washcoll.edu/departments/drama.