Emmy award-winning actor Anthony Zerbe returns to Hope College's Great Performance Series on Friday-Saturday, Jan. 10-11, at 7 p.m., in the Knickerbocker Theatre.
Emmy award-winning actor Anthony Zerbe returns to Hope College's Great Performance Series on Friday-Saturday, Jan. 10-11, at 7 p.m., in the Knickerbocker Theatre.
Recognized as one of the country's most versatile actors, Zerbe will be performing his original one-man show, "It's All Done with Mirrors... an avalanche of E.E. Cummings," based on the work and life of the great 20th- century poet.
Zerbe's work provides access to the art and energy of one of America's most beloved poets. The Cambridge ladies who "live in furnished souls," blue-eyed Buffalo Bill, the comic love duet of "he-said, she-said," all come alive in Zerbe's show.
Like Cummings, Zerbe is an accomplished raconteur, and his asides and anecdotes recall a time when conversation was considered an art form.
Zerbe performed with his friend Roscoe Lee Browne as part of the Great Performance Series two years ago, and a return engagement was soon confirmed.
Fresh from filming for the two sequels to the hit movie, "The Matrix," Zerbe will be spending a week on campus teaching 10 students how to present their own spoken word performance.
Zerbe has been successful in film, stage, and television, winning an Emmy award for his role as Lt. Trench in "Harry-0." His television appearances range from "Gunsmoke" and "Mission: Impossible" to "Murder, She Wrote" and "Fraiser."
His stage work includes five seasons of residency at the Old Globe Theatre, where his roles included Macbeth, Iago and Richard III. His role of Iago was reprised with James Earl Jones for a Mark Taper Forum of "Othello." He has also appeared in several Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.
His appearance in "The Matrix" sequels continues a long film history which includes "Cool Hand Luke," "They Call Me Mister Tibbs," "Papillion," "Star Trek IX: Insurrection," "License To Kill" and many others.
Zerbe's play based on Cummings's work has received rave reviews.
"The Los Angeles Times" called it "a charismatic performance... the art and craft of acting honed to a fine point."
"Pure magic," said the "San Diego Union," and United States Poet Laureate Rita Dove says it "should be required viewing for students of life, ages 9-99."
Tickets for the performances are $14 for regular adult admission, $12 for senior citizens, and $5 for children 18 and under. Tickets for the general public will be on sale on Thursday-Saturday, Jan. 9-11, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Box Office in the theatre lobby of the DeWitt Center, which can be called at (616) 395-7890.
Group discount tickets may be obtained by calling (616) 395-7893.
The Knickerbocker Theatre is located at 86 E. 8th St. in downtown Holland. The DeWitt Center is located on Columbia Avenue at 12th Street.