Carl Forsman brings free classical theatre to town with Piedmont Shakespeare Company
This summer, the Piedmont Shakespeare Company (PSC) hosts their inaugural season of bringing classic Shakespeare works to the community — free of charge. It’s an exciting and meaningful addition to the arts and culture landscape of the Piedmont Triad. Carl Forsman, UNCSA Drama faculty member and co-artistic director of PSC, is directing “Hamlet” for the first season, marking a return to summer theater for the industry veteran.
Carl Forsman directing the Spring 2024 School of Drama production of "The Rover." / Photo: Allison Lee Isley
An introduction to theater
“My mom and dad met when my mom was directing ‘Can-Can’ at Duke University,” shares Forsman when asked about his early ties to the theater. “She was a history teacher, and he was a Methodist minister; both were heavily involved in amateur theater throughout their lives.” He grew up around plays and attended his first Broadway show when he was only six years old.
Enrolled at Middlebury College with the intent to study finance, Forsman quickly pivoted to theater after taking a class with Richard Romagnoli during his first semester. The following summer, his brother approached him with a challenge: he wanted to present “Burn This” by Lanford Wilson with the local community theater group but was meeting opposition because it included a gay character. The obvious solution? Form a theater company of their own. Horizon Community Theater was born in their New Jersey town and continued for five summers. The first person Forsman hired to direct for Horizon was Cliff Odle. More than 30 years later, Odle is on faculty at UNCSA and is performing the role of Polonius in “Hamlet” with PSC.
Cliff Odle as Polonius in Piedmont Shakespeare Company's production of "Hamlet" / Photo: HuthPhoto
After having directed over 20 plays by the time he received his diploma, Forsman moved to the Midwest to pursue a master’s degree in directing at University of Minnesota before landing in New York City to pursue directing opportunities. He came on board as founding artistic director of Keen Company — now a Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Off-Broadway staple — and enjoyed a 12-year tenure.
“I taught as an adjunct professor at New York University [while at Keen],” says Forsman. “It was a nice mix of things, and I felt like there weren’t many other jobs that could be better than what I was doing.” When UNCSA alumnus and faculty member Quin Gordon came to see a play he was directing and approached him about the job of dean of the School of Drama, Forsman began to consider the opportunity. “Being the dean at UNCSA was one of those better jobs,” he says. “It is such a revered institution… it was an exciting move for me.”
Leading and learning
Forsman moved to North Carolina to join UNCSA in 2012 and served as dean for five years. Under his leadership, applications to the school nearly doubled, guest artist visits increased, a multi-year partnership with the North Carolina Symphony was initiated and the Keys to the Kingdom series was formed. The program, which has produced more than 70 plays to date, falls outside of the standard Drama curriculum and gives students the time and space to create their own work. “It’s free from the shackles of responsibility, except for the responsibility to make something worth watching,” explains Forsman. “I have seen heroic failures and extraordinary triumphs come from Keys to the Kingdom, and all are valuable. It has been instrumental in helping students find their voice and see possibility in meager means, but big visions.”
Moving from dean to faculty member was easy for Forsman because of his love of teaching. He now teaches second-year acting students and leads a studio four audition class, a directing practicum and a special topics fourth-year class in producing. And he has directed a slew of sprawling main stage productions at UNCSA — some favorites including “Detective Story,” “Mother Courage and Her Children,” “The Rover” and “Romeo & Juliet.” Each semester, the students keep him engaged and eager to return.
Alyssa James taking a bow for "Mother Courage and her Children" directed by Carl Forsman in Spring 2023. James is playing Horatio in "Hamlet." / Photo: Wayne Reich
“All I have ever wanted in life is to be in a rehearsal room with people I care about doing a play I love,” says Forsman. “It is the greatest honor anyone can ask for… take a great play, give it a hard shake, ask hard questions and do it with artists who are worth asking those questions with. That’s the best life I can possibly imagine, and I get to do it over and over again.”
“I’m a better director than when I got here,” he continues, “and it’s because of the students. They have challenged me and helped me grow and find new answers, solutions and ways of working.”
Return to summer theater
Forsman’s work as a director continues this summer with PSC’s production of “Hamlet,” performed over two weeks at six different locations across the region. Though he has directed for more than a dozen theater companies in his career, Piedmont Shakespeare Company is a unique opportunity as he joins Co-Artistic Director Kim Shively and Executive Director David McGraw in this new venture. He first met Shively when she served as intimacy coordinator for UNCSA’s spring 2024 production of “The Rover.” Shivley and her Elon University colleague McGraw invited Forsman to partner with them for the Shakespeare theater. He was all in.
It would have been easy to make the work inaccessible, charging high ticket prices and performing in limited locations, but Forsman and his partners deeply believe that encountering the work of Shakespeare is good for everyone. “It’s the act of people gathering, putting down their phones, focusing their attention, listening with their whole being and being challenged and confused and excited by the most beautiful poetry ever written,” he says. “We’ve lost many of these traditions, but we can return people to them in a small way. There’s no barrier. Everyone is welcome.”
PSC has been bolstered by enormous support in its early stages, raising funds to eliminate ticket fees while paying all actors and stage support fair wages. The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts was an early adopter. “They immediately saw the value we are delivering, and their early investment has been echoed in smaller waves of support from others throughout the year,” says Forsman, adding that the idea of accessibility feels fundamental to the entire process.
“I don’t think that accessibility and easiness are the same thing,” explains Forsman. “The only thing that scares me about starting a free summer Shakespeare company is a belief that the job is to make it simple or easy… if people want ease they can stay home and watch Netflix. There’s no sin in that. But the point of culture is not ease.”
Shakespeare was specifically chosen for his mysterious and complex body of work. “Hamlet,” a revenge tragedy, represents the most popular form of theater in its day. “By nature, ‘Hamlet’ is complex. There have been more words written about it than any piece of literature in the history of the world. Nobody is going to reserve a ticket to it thinking it’s going to be easy.”
Looking ahead
Unsurprisingly, among the “Hamlet” cast and crew are many UNCSA students, alumni and faculty from the schools of Drama and Design & Production, many of whom Forsman has worked alongside for numerous campus productions. This will be his first and last time directing “Hamlet,” though. “It’s scary enough the first time,” he exclaims. “It’s mysterious and elusive and that is a great part of its beauty.”
The cast and crew of "Hamlet" / Photo: HuthPhoto
A play, Forsman says, is a blueprint. “It’s a hope; a prayer of an event that is yet to be.” As he continues to teach and direct at UNCSA and in the community, Forsman will bring blueprints to life on stage — sharing important stories with audiences who are eager to take the leap into a challenging, yet welcoming new world.
June 26, 2025