MONTGOMERY, AL.- After sharing the Blount Cultural Park with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival for the past 20 years, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts has organized the institutions’ first major collaborative project with The Art of the Theatre, an exhibition focusing on the creative teams that are responsible for live theatrical productions in The Wars of the Roses Trilogy. This installation, which features products of the theatre crafts—scene, costume design and the like—opens Saturday, November 1, 2008 and runs through Sunday, January 25, 2009 at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. It will also be featured at the Mobile Museum of Art February 20 through June 7, 2009.

The Wars of the Roses Trilogy is an adaptation of four plays written by Shakespeare (Henry VI, Parts A, B, and C, plus Richard III). The Trilogy, set amidst England’s civil war between the House of Lancaster under the banner of the red rose and the House of Yorke with its white rose, was in production at ASF during 2007.

The exhibition design features a portion of the two-story stage set, the throne, and and the council table that are constants in all three plays. Exhibition viewers will be able to walk onto the “stage,” pass through the doors of the set, enter the dressing room where a manikin is “made-up,” and proceed through the costume shop, prop shop, and set shop. Video and photos from the production as well as images of backstage production shops will also be in the exhibition.

In conjunction with The Art of the Theatre, Booker T. Washington Magnet High School dance theatre and the education department of the MMFA, have collaborated to feature Ballet and the Bard at the Museum. The performances will showcase four originial ballets based upon Shakespearean plays: “Storm” from The Tempest; “Lear’s Daughters” based on King Lear; “Sleepwalker” adapted from Macbeth, and “Bottom’s Dream” from the comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Choreographed by BTW Dance Theatre instructor, Gary Moore, the performances will be held on Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at 11 a.m., and Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Each performance will last about an hour and will be followed by guided tours of The Art of the Theatre. For reservations, call 334.240.4365.

Also, enjoy the special opportunity to view The Art of the Theatre Up Close on Saturday, November 22, 2008 from 10 A.M. to 12:30 P.M. at both the ASF and MMFA. Begin with a special backstage tour at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival at 10 A.M. led by ASF Production Manager, Timothy O’Connell.. At 11:30 A.M. tour The Art of the Theatre exhibition at the Museum; exploring sets, costumes, and props from an Elizabethan-style production of Shakespeare’s Wars of the Roses trilogy. Make your reservations for lunch at Café M afterwards and be sure to enjoy a matinee or evening performance of A Christmas Carol: The Musical. For more information about The Art of the Theatre Up Close, please call the Museum’s education department at 334.240.4333. For Café M reservations, 334.240.4338; for ASF’s box office, 334.271.5353.

The Art of the Theatre is sponsored by Central Alabama Community Foundation, Alabama State Council on the Arts, Laura and Barrie Harmon, Giles Enterprises, Barganier Davis Sims, and Summit America Capital.

The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday Noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free and donations are welcome. For more information, call the MMFA at 334.240.4333 or visit the website at www.mmfa.org.

The MMFA, a department of the City of Montgomery, is supported by funds from the City and County of Montgomery and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts Association. Programs are made possible, in part, by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.