The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) |
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Friday September 22, 2017 to Saturday October 7, 2017 in Ophelia's Jump new Upland theater. All 37 plays in 97 minutes! Three madcap actors in tights weave their wicked way through all of Shakespeare’s comedies, histories, and tragedies in one wild ride that will leave you breathless and helpless with laughter! Written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer. Tickets are available at
opheliasjump.org or by calling 909-734-6565
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As You Like It now thru Sept 10th
The Antaeus Theater, which just moved from North Hollywood to Glendale, is playing Shakespeare's As You Like It. (Beware, they have double cast the play. Make sure to go when the Acorn Cast is on stage!) It was one of the absolute best Shakespeare performances ever. It's there until September 10 - so if you have time and inclination, I do highly recommend it. The acting is spectacular, music wonderful, clever use of the area, given a fairly small space. It's a completely new theater, comfortable - only 5 rows deep - a 99 seater. Easy parking and loads of fine eating places within an arm's length. You will not regret your decision to go.
Cal Poly Pomona Shakespeare Festival 2017
The COMEDY OF ERRORS
Directed by Guest Director, Sam Robinson
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE FOR FALL 2017
Opening Night: Thursday, September 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Saturday, September 9 at 7 p.m. at The School of Arts and Enterprise, Pomona
Friday, September 15 at 7 p.m. at Mayfield School, Pasadena
Saturday September 23 at 7:30 p.m. at The Gala, Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Sunday, September 24 at 2 p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Friday, September 29 at 8 p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Saturday, September 30 at 7:30 p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Sunday, October 1 at 2:00 p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Friday, October 6 at 8 p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Saturday, October 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Sunday, October 8 at 2 p.m at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
What happens when Antipholus meets Antipholus and Dromio meets Dromio?
The pairs look alike, so it must mean that these are sets of twins, correct?
That is exactly the case. In William Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors,” a Syracusan man and his servant run into their twin brothers in the Greek city of Ephesus. When friends and families of the twins in Ephesus mistake them for the Syracuse pair, a series of wild mishaps lead to all manner of dubious outcomes – including unjust beatings, near-seduction and arrests.
The Shakespearean comedy will play out on stage this September at the Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre, courtesy of The Southern California Shakespeare Festival (SCSF) – a program run by Cal Poly Pomona Department of Theatre and New Dance faculty member Linda Bisesti.
Bisesti, the festival’s founder and artistic director, says that for its 13th season, SCSF will be making some modern adjustments to one of the Bard’s earliest works that will put a fresh coat of paint on a play more than 400 years old.
Taking an already bizarre story over the top, the city of Ephesus becomes Venice Beach and Syracuse changed to San Diego. The carnival-like nature of Venice Beach will be played up with a pre-show performance of circus acts that will bleed into the main performance.
Bisesti said much of the play’s reimagining stems from director Sam Robinson, who will also invert genders of the characters to place women in men’s positions, and vice versa. Antipholus becomes Anna-Maria, and Dromio becomes Darian.
“The roles are gender-bended, so the husband and wife’s roles get reexamined in terms of gendering,” Bisesti says. “Part of my belief is that Shakespeare is gender-blind and colorblind. The Elizabethans did Shakespeare with all men, and now it’s time to do it with all sorts of different people and changing their roles.”
Under the umbrella of the Cal Poly Pomona Department of Theatre and New Dance, Bisesti says part of SCSF’s main goal is to provide students an opportunity to perform and work with Shakespeare’s plays.
This season’s performance includes a cast and crew of nearly 30 current Cal Poly Pomona students and alumni. Bisesti says it’s important for young actors to get a handle on Shakespeare, and helping them accomplish that was one reason why she founded SCSF in 2004.
“You really can’t train actors without good classical work, so I’m committed to providing them with that as the artistic director,” Bisesti says. “Language is one of the most important things you can train young actors in, and the really wonderful actors have all been trained in language and they know how to do Shakespeare.”
Teaching students to understand Shakespeare is no small labor, either.
“The language is 450 years old, so you have to make the actors walk up to it and you can’t dumb it down,” Bisesti says. “Actors have to actually understand the form of rhetoric Shakespeare is using, and it’s their job to persuade the viewer to the point of view of the character.”
Cal Poly Pomona theatre student Kaitlyn Tice played Petruchio in the Department of Theatre and New Dance’s 2016 production of “Taming of the Shrew,” but will perform during “The Comedy of Errors” preshow and handle things more on the production side of SCSF this season.
“One of the reasons I decided to come to Cal Poly Pomona is because of the Southern California Shakespeare Festival,” she says. “I’m a huge proponent of Shakespeare, and I think this production of ‘Comedy of Errors’ is an interesting take on how well you really know your partners and know yourself.”
Cara Vilencia, who will play the courtesan in this season’s production, says she feels the modern edits that Robinson and Bisesti are making to “The Comedy of Errors” will appeal to a wider variety of attendees.
“I think it’s cool we’re doing something more modern because it will help bring in a current audience to see what we’re doing on stage,” she says, “and it helps them understand what’s going on because a lot of people don’t speak Shakespearean language.”
All in all, Bisesti says people should consider seeing “The Comedy of Errors” if they appreciate Shakespeare and a hearty laugh.
“It’s a fun, frivolous and ridiculous comedy about mistaken identity, people who behave badly and get caught,” she says. “It’s somewhat farcical and probably more so than other Shakespeare plays, so I think that element in and of itself will be celebrated in this production.”
“The Comedy of Errors” opens at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7 at the Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre. The production continues its run at Cal Poly Pomona at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 23, 29, 30 and Oct. 6-7. Matinee shows are at 2 p.m. on Sept. 24, Oct. 1 and 8.
SCSF will also perform the play at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 9 at the School of Arts and Enterprise in Downtown Pomona.
Tickets are $20 general admission and $15 for students, staff and senior citizens.
Hamlet
OJ's Hamlet was one of the best Hamlets that I've seen. The guy playing Hamlet was just amazing not only with his stage movements and emotional displays but his acrobatic ability. The rest of the cast was very good also, especially Polonius. It also sported a live band
The women seemed to be more visible. Ophelia was excellent and Laertes as her sister worked out very well. Polonius was the epitome of a meddling old man. Claudius seemed to me to be a more devious planner, more akin to a Richard III, than I've seen before.
If you haven't seen it, it will be playing this Thursday 7/20 and Saturday 7/22 nights at 8 in the Pomona College open air
co-sponsored by Ophelia's Jump and Pomona College
presented
Much Ado about Nothing and
the Tragedy of Hamlet
From July 13 through July 23, 2017
at The Sontag Greek Theatre at
Pomona College in Claremont.
Tickets are available at opheliasjump.org, or
by calling 909-734-6565
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Cal Poly Pomona Shakespeare Festival 2017
The COMEDY OF ERRORS
Directed by Guest Director, Sam Robinson
Performance Schedule for Fall 2017
Opening Night: Thursday, September 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Saturday, September 9 at 7 p.m. at The School of Arts and Enterprise, Pomona
Friday, September 15 at 7 p.m. at Mayfield School, Pasadena
Sunday September 17 at p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Saturday September 23 at 7:30 p.m. at The Gala, Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Sunday, September 24 at 2 p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Friday, September 29 at 8 p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Saturday, September 30 at 7:30 p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Sunday, October 1 at 2:00 p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Friday, October 6 at 8 p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Saturday, October 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
Sunday, October 8 at 2 p.m at Cal Poly Pomona Studio Theatre
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SHAKESPEARE READERS GROUP
meets the Third Monday of the Month
from 6 - 9 p.m. at Pilgrim Place in the
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Bunger room in Napier Center
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to read various works of the Bard
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and his contemporaries.
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We will be reading
- Coriolanus Monday, July 17, 2017
- All's Well That Ends Well Monday, August 21. 2017
- Richard III Monday, September 18. 2017
- Perkin Warbeck. Monday, October 16, 2017
- Merchant of Venice. Monday, November 20, 2017
A Shakespeare Class
sponsored by Claremont Unified Adult Education Department
At Joslyn Senior Center
Studying and viewing Shakespeare plays that are currently performing locally
SHAKESPEARE BIRTHDAY READINGS AT THE LIBRARY
Presentations by the Shakespeare Readers Group
Claremont Public Library
208 Harvard Avenue, Claremont
Tueasday, April 25, 2017 at 6 PM
&
Ovitt Family Community Library
215 East C Street, Ontario
Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 6 PM