Lary Opitz

    

Professor of Theatre, Skidmore College

Producing Artistic Director of The Saratoga Shakespeare Company

Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theatre - Room 237
(518) 580-5432 lopitz@skidmore.edu

Actors Equity Association
IATSE, United Scenic Artists Local#829
Shakespeare Theatre Association


Professional Biography

It is with great pride that Lary Opitz calls himself a "total theatre artist". Since his first professional Off-Broadway credit in 1967, he has worked as actor, director, playwright, scenic designer, lighting designer, costume designer, sound designer, producer, artistic director, stage manager, technician, and consultant on countless productions in hundreds of theatres throughout the world, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional, stock, touring and academic productions.

A graduate of Queens College (CUNY) and Lester Polakov's renowned Studio and Forum of Stage Design in New York, in 1980 he was one of only five lighting designers inducted into Local #829 of United Scenic Artists (IATSE). At that time there were only one hundred lighting designers in this professional organization governing design practices on Broadway. Resident lighting designer for the world-famous José Limón Dance Company for nine years, his designs have been seen in over thirty countries and throughout the United States, and include many New York and world premières for such choreographers as Alwin Nikolais, Meridith Monk, Sophie Maslow, Carla Maxwell, Lucas Hoving, Heinz Poll, Carlos Orta, Sarah Stackhouse, Jean Cebron, Susanne Linke, and Anna Sokolow. Capital District audiences have enjoyed his many theatre and dance designs at Skidmore Theatre, Capital Repertory Company, Proctor´s Theatre, The Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Shakespeare, and the Egg (Empire State Performing Arts Center).

As a theatre consultant, Mr. Opitz has designed and consulted on many major performance facilities including Capital Rep´s Market Theatre, the Empire State Performing Arts Center, Queens Playhouse in the Park, and the Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theatre on the Skidmore campus and he has been affiliated with Robert Lorelli Associates, Inc. In 2001 he and David Yergan created a new fully-equipped modular theatre space for the Saratoga County BOCES New Visions Theatre Arts Program. In 2002 they developed plans for a similar facility for the Warren County BOCES New Visions Theatre Arts Program. Mr. Opitz served as the technical editor and feature writer for Theatre Crafts Magazine (also known as TCI and Entertainment Design), the foremost periodical dealing with theatre design and technology.

An actor since 1965 and a member of Actors Equity Association (The only member of United Scenic Artists to also be an active Equity actor), he has returned to the boards in recent years performing the roles of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Polonius in Hamlet, Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Aegeon in The Comedy of Errors, Ferapont in The Three Sisters, George in Machinal, Marcus Andronicus in Titus Andronicus, Gremio in The Taming of the Shrew, David in Blood Relative, Duncan, Porter and Scottish Doctor in Macbeth, Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet, Gonzalo in The Tempest, and Duke Senior and Duke Frederick in As You Like It. He is a founding member of The Saratoga Shakespeare Company and has performed with New York's Instant Shakespeare Co. He had a featured role in the independent film Disoriented, and can be seen in Seabiscuit, The Skeptic and a documentary of What I Heard About Iraq. He performed in What I Heard About Iraq Off-Broadway and on tour. He appeared in numerous roles in a production of a new play in development entitled Diaghilev. The production was directed by Sheryl Kaller, choreographed by Robert La Fosse, and starred Thom Sesma. Mr. Opitz has performed as narrator with the Skidmore Orchestra in The Carnival of Animals and Tubby the Tuba. With Ryan Emmons, he developed a one-person production called Shakespeare of A Certain Age. During the summer of 2014 his credits included a lead role in a short film entitled The Damned McMarters and the role of Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor with the Saratoga Shakespeare Company.

In 1974 Lary Opitz joined the faculty of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY where he has developed and taught many courses in the Theatre Department (acting, design, management, seminars, etc.) and in the college´s Liberal Studies program (Arts and Politics in Weimar Germany) and has been very active in shaping the respected theatre training program. Former Design Director for the Theatre Department, he advised student designers and has designed scenery, lighting, properties, sound and costumes for well over one hundred Skidmore Theatre productions. He regularly offers internship, career planning and audition workshops to Skidmore students. Currently chairperson of the Theatre Department, he has been active on most of the major college committees and served as chairman of CAPT (Committee on Appointments, Promotions and Tenure). He created and maintains the Skidmore College Theater Web Page and served as the college parliamentarian for many years. A member of the Association of Arts Administration Educators, he was involved working in the development of the Arts Administration program for Skidmore. In 2015 he organized a New York City showcase for senior class actors and, with the generous support of successful TV producer David Miner (Class of '91) created a new program in which comedy improvisation is taught by The Second City of Chicago. Prior to the fall of 2016, Opitz served for many years as the Chairman of the Skidmore Theater Department.

In 1988 Mr. Opitz began writing and directing theatre productions. He has developed and directed six major adaptations: Woyzeck in Auschwitz, The Threepenny Opera, Bloomsday: 16 June 1904 (based on Ulysses by James Joyce), The Trial, The Merchant of Venice, and Kafka's Metamorphosis : A Slapstick Tragedy. He has also directed Arcadia, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, Blood Relative and RAB, a one-man show dealing with the life and works of Robert Burns. His most recent directing projects include an Argentinian tango production of Romeo and Juliet, Ajax in Iraq, Almost, Maine, If All the Sky Were Paper, and Julius Caesar. In the summer of 2015 he directed a production of Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost. Intrigued with the idea of training the "total theatre artist," he continues to explore projects for which he serves as writer, director, designer and, occasionally, actor. His study guide for Arcadia continues to have an international life. It has been used for a number of professional productions of the play and many academics have continue to use it since 1998. His script for Bloomsday: 16 June 1904 continues to be used in a number pf places for Bloomsday celebrations.

In 1995 Mr. Opitz and Barbara Opitz developed The Shakespeare Programme, a respected study-abroad program based in London and associated with The British American Dramatic Academy and The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. This program ran successfully from 1996-2015. At Skidmore College he offers a Scribner Seminar at Skidmore entitled: Shakespeare Was Jewish? His current theater courses include Introduction to Theater, Acting Shakespeare, Career Development for the Theater, Production Seminar, Director Workshops, and Audition Workshop.

Since 2003 Mr. Opitz has been a Scholar-in-Residence at New York University for three semesters, including Spring 2010. While in New York and England, he developed a new course on Shakespeare's verse and had opportunities to work with Louis Scheeder of The Classic Studio; Sir Peter Hall and John Barton, founders of the Royal Shakespeare Company; and Patsy Rodenburg, vocal coach of the Royal National Theatre. He was lighting designer for the world and New York premiere of Marathon, by Edoardo Erba, translated by Israel Horovitz and recently designed lights for Skidmore's Sweeney Todd. Recent scenic designs for Saratoga Shakespeare include productions of The Merry Wives of Windsor, Macbeth, Love's Labour's Lost , Cyrano, and Romeo and Juliet. Since 2010 he has been developing a new website designed to train students in Shakespearean acting. Designed as a living document that will continue to grow, the site will contain extensive material on how to approach Shakespeare's language, a primer of acting basics, and over one hundred monologue texts — including over fifty that are fully annotated.

Mr. Opitz is currently the Artistic Director for the Saratoga Shakespeare Company, a professional summer company established in 2000. With Executive Director Barbara Opitz he has continued to expand the summer offerings, budget and educational training program of the company.

Opitz has been a loyal and rabid New York Mets fan since 1962.

ACTING SITE


Lary Opitz with Eddie Jones in Seabiscuit


Lary Opitz as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice 2011


Yvonne Perry (Mistress Page), Godiva, Lary Opitz (Falstaff) and Brennie Rabine (Mistress Ford) in The Merry Wives of Windsor 2013

A Few Related Web Pages Created by Lary Opitz

The Skidmore College Shakespeare Programme

Arcadia Study Guide In 1998 Lary Opitz directed Tom Stoppard´s Arcadia at Skidmore College. All incoming Skidmore students read the play and it was central to the Liberal Studies I course that fall. This web page was developed for that project. In 2009 it was named Best of the Web in Literature by Shmoop (winner of a 2009 Webbies Award for Best Website for Students). This is an example of the dramaturgical web pages created for Skidmore's Seminar Productions.

Jane Lapotaire In 1998 our commencement speaker was renowned Royal Shakespeare Company actress Jane Lapotaire.

Skidmore College Department of Theatre

An Introduction to Parliamentary Procedure

Skidmore College Courses Taught

TH103 Introduction to Theatre (4 sem hrs) An introduction to the art of the theatre which seeks to answer the question, "Why Theatre?" Topics include: script analysis of significant plays, theatre and culture from prehistoric to 1700, forms and styles of theatre, the responsibilities of the theatre artist, the process of mounting productions, ethics and the collaborative process.
TH104 Introduction to Acting (3 sem hrs) The student is exposed to exercises designed to free the imagination through improvisation and theater games. Secondarily, training is offered in the basic skills of physical and vocal mastery, analytical insight into the text, and the ability to synthesize techniques so the student may acquire discipline in each area. Prerequisite: TH103. (Fulfills arts requirement)
SSP- 043 Shakespeare Was Jewish? (4 sem hrs) Perhaps not, though a case can be made. Shakespeare and Judaism do, however, intersect in a number of ways. The study of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice will play a central role in the course. Students will encounter a number of film versions and stage adaptations of the play while grappling with the question of whether or not Shakespeare’s work was anti-Semitic and how the play can best be presented in a post-Holocaust world. Concepts of justice and mercy, racial stereotypes, usury, and the history of antisemitism will be explored. Students will also examine Shakespeare’s knowledge of the Old Testament, his Talmudic knowledge, and his important influence on the Yiddish Theater. (First Year Scribner Seminar)
TH242 Acting Shakespeare (3 sem hrs) An exploration of the ways in which Shakespeare himself effectively serves as a guide for the comprehension and performance of his verse in his plays and poetry. The emphasis will be on analysis of verse, techniques in speaking it, and the use of verse techniques to explore and develop character. During the course, students will study, prepare, and present soliloquies, monologues (including set speeches), and sonnets.
TH228 Stage Lighting (4 sem hrs) [fulfills Quantitative Reasoning 2 requirement]A study of the theory, equipment, and technique involved in stage lighting for theatre and dance. Topics include optics, vision, electricity, color, aesthetics, design analysis, and design procedures. This course consists of lectures, working labs, and assigned responsibilities on Skidmore Theatre productions.
TH250/376 Production Seminar/Senior Project (1-4 sem hrs): Woyzeck, The Threepenny Opera, The Trial, Arcadia, The Merchant of Venice, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, Blood Relative, Romeo and Juliet, Almost Maine, Ajax in Iraq, If All the Sky Were Paper
TH327 Scenic Design (3 sem hrs) A studio course in advanced theories and practices of scenic design. Study and projects will involve the development of conceptual approaches, research, sketches, and presentation techniques. Students will serve as assistant designers on Skidmore Theatre Productions.
TH216 Stage Design: From Page to Stage (3 sem hrs) A studio course which explores the graphic techniques involved in theatre design and technology. Topics include drawing, painting, drafting, and model making.
TH251a Audition Workshop (2 sem hrs) A studio class in which all aspects of various types of auditions are explored. Students will prepare a number of monologues for critiques and will develop an audition book.
TH377 Career Development in Theater (1 sem hr) An exploration of professional ethics, current issues in the theater, audition technique, portfolio preparation, and career planning.
Arts and Politics in Weimar Germany (3 sem hrs) An examination of the artist, focusing on the arts in the Weimar Republic during the rise of Nazism. Movements (such as DaDa and Expressionism) and artists (such as Brecht, Mann, and Grosz) responded to a period of perpetual crisis due to war, revolution, and counterrevolution; economic and governmental failure; massive unemployment; and political strife abroad. Students will study the works and lives of selected artists in music, dance, painting, literature, theatre, film, and architecture in relationship to the political, economic, and social history of this period.