DIRECTOR’S NOTES
Shakespeare's works have fascinated me ever since I was in high school. His characters and plots are so poetic and rich in imagery and imagination, and his works still inspire and fascinate me to this day.
When I talk about Shakespeare, a lot of people I know say to me that his works are really complicated, and that they don't feel "smart" enough to understand them. My first words to them are always that that couldn't be any farther from his original intentions!
When carefully studying his plays, you may sometimes notice that characters will repeat the same thought a few times in a row, just with diferent wording. This was one hundred percent intentional on Shakespeare's part! His audiences would be standing room only, eating, drinking, swearing, and laughing as loud as they would like. They would interact with the performers before them, and the performers wouldn’t hold back on the raunchy humor that is, to some degree, in every single one of his plays.
A Shakespeare play was always an event for the community to meet together, laugh together, make fun of the performers, make fun of each other, and have a good time. I believe that is at the heart of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged); to perform these works with the original spirit that they were first performed with. This group of friends wants to share the absurdity, the grotesque, and the perverseness of Shakespeare with each other and with an audience, and they just hope the audience has some things to share in return.
Tonight, we will explore, ridicule, and hopefully in the end, appreciate all that Shakespeare has done. There's a reason that his works have stood the test of time; join us in discovering what that reason is. Now, on with the show, and may the bard be with you!
Hollie
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S NOTES
Welcome! Thank you for joining us for the opening show of our 48th season! The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) has a special place in my heart. Sometime in the early 90’s, I had been working at The Theater Project for a few years, Al said, “Sometimes I take some Young Company to see plays in NY, do you want to come along?”. I thought sure - sounds like fun. So we headed to the big city, (what a different time it was then) all of us in Al’s car on our way to spend the weekend on the floor of his friends apartment. The first night the kids wanted to see Les Miz and Al and I wanted to see The Rose Tattoo with Mercedes Ruehl at Circle in the Square. So we compromised, they went to Les Miz and we went to The Rose Tattoo. Perfect! At the play Al and I heard about this show playing off broadway that was supposed to be hilarious, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged. We figured it would be fun for the kids and we could have a good laugh. We went to TKTS, got our tickets and headed to the show. I loved it! I laughed out loud! I was hoping to be called up on stage! The kids loved it! It was so much fun. On the drive home we promised we would produce it as soon as the rights became available. A few years later they did and I was lucky to play the part of Adam.It was such a success we brought it back the following year with the same cast.
I am thrilled to have Hollie directing this cast and bringing it back to The Theater Project stage. It’s still funny, it still makes me laugh. It’s a perfect way to kick off the 2019- 20 season. So sit back and enjoy the show and come back a lot this season. And...stay tuned, after that weekend in NY I also promised to one day produce The Rose Tattoo. It’s on my bucket list.
Best, Wendy
