All Academia’s a Stage

Rafael de Acha
With thanks to William Shakespeare
All Academia’s a Stage
And all the Ph. D’s merely players:
They have their exits, if not tenured,
And one Prof in his time plays many parts,
His lectures being simply endless.
At first, the Freshman, mewling and puking in th’advisor’s arms,
And then the shining Sophomore,
With his backpack and sourpuss at 8 AM class,
Creeping [...]

A veteran returns

From Christine Dolen’s blog Drama Queen: (http://miamiherald.typepad.com/drama_queen/theater)
When Rafael de Acha abruptly left his job as artistic director of New Theatre in April 2006, one of the reasons he gave was the desire to spend more time enjoying life with his wife (and New Theatre co-founder), actress and college prof Kimberly Daniel.

Both artists have been through [...]

Verdi and Shakespeare

Rafael de Acha © 2008
In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago, the arch-enemy of his professed friend Othello, hyphenated low-life, evil-incarnate, bottom-feeder, low-grade officer and greatest anti-hero of all time - obliquely hints at what makes him tick. This happens at the onset of the play, in the Venetian scene with which Verdi dispensed in his opera.
Shakespeare provides [...]

My All-time Favorite Desert Island Opera Videos

Rafael de Acha © 2008
Opera and opera recordings and opera singers are like anything else that appeals primarily to the senses and only secondarily to the brain: it all is rather personal, quirky, and irrational. One man’s potion = another man’s poison.
So, when it comes to making a selection of video recordings that will accompany [...]