Actors from the London Stage (left to right) Matthew Douglas, Erin Brodie, Robert Mountford, Eunice Roberts and William Hoyland discuss their craft during an Informal Dialogue at Santa Monica College's Concert Hall on Tuesday, October 28, 2008. Actors from the London Stage, a troupe of classically trained Shakespearean performers are in residency on Santa Monica College campus for a full week of seminars, master classes, campus assemblies, and other educational outreach, culminating in an exciting full-length performance of Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" on Saturday, Nov. 1, in SMC's new Broad Stage.

The troupe uses minimal props, costumes and lighting effects, the five actors play all the parts in the full-length Shakespeare play, shifting from role to role by gesture, stance, intonation, or the simple use of a skirt or scarf. The actors also cross gender boundaries; for example, Eunice Roberts, the actor playing Paulina, also plays several male roles, including Mamillius and Dion. Started in 1975, Actors From The London Stage has toured colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and is one of the oldest established touring Shakespeare theater companies in the world. The actors' residency is an educational program developed by Homer Swander in 1975 at the University of California, Santa Barbara and founded by renowned British actor Patrick Stewart.