A member of Actors Equity and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artsits, Renée Bucciarelli has performed extensively in classical and experimental theaters Off-Broadway and regionally, including Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) with Julie Taymor, New Jersey Shakespeare Company, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, and the Kings County Shakespeare Company (KCSC), with which she was an Associate Artist for 17 years. The New York Times has called her work as an actor "fiery" and "enlightening".
As Associate Artistic Director of Kings County Shakespeare Company (2000-2003), Renée created educational programming designed for students of St. Francis College (KCSC's venue host) as well as with the diverse community of Brooklyn, New York that the company serves. She produced The Lysistrata Project (a theatrical anti-war event) and KCSC's acclaimed HAMLET, starring Sean McNall. From 1996-2005 she was Education Director for KCSC's “You Gotta Have Bard!” children's summer program, which she instituted with Liz Shipman.
As Director of Teen Musical Theatre at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, she and her students developed an original work entitled Midsummer in the Key of Dreams--a hip-hop version of Shakespeare's play--that was featured on National Public Radio, Television NY1, at the Welcome Back to Brooklyn festival, the Brooklyn Arts Exchange Teen Arts Festival, and with KCSC's Festival in 2000.
Renée is the Director/Developer of The Shakespeare Playground, an outgrowth of the educational program she started at KCSC. Dubbed “the hottest” theater workshop for children by The New York Post in 2000, this program has served hundreds of public, private, and home-schooled Brooklyn school children at the elementary, middle and high school levels. The Shakespeare Playground has been hosted by KCSC, Shakespeare on the Sound (Rowayton, Connecticut), and the California Shakespeare Theater (Berkeley) recently featured the program in all but name. In 2004 Reneé chaired a panel on “Innovative Educational Outreach” for the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America's Annual Conference.
She is a graduate cum laude of Wesleyan University, and the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Theatre Institute. More information available at her website: http://www.fraj.com/renee