Presenting the Free-to-the Public Shakespeare in the Park Series in the Wichita, Kansas Area
Announcing our 2012 Season:
Summer show: The Tempest (open director spot; message any Facebook page admin to apply)
Fall show: Julius Caesar (directed by Mark Anderson; cast will be 100% women)
We have selected the #2 and #3 responses to our audience survey. Our #1 response, The Merchant of Venice, is being performed at the Center for the Arts next season.
Auditions for the September production of TROILUS AND CRESSIDA will be held on Sat June 25th and Mon June 27th from 7 to 10 pm, both days. Auditions will be held at University Friends Church at 1840 W. University. Roles are available for 10 men and 3 women, ages 18 and up. Reading material will be provided. This is a Shakespeare-in-the-Park production. Rehearsals will begin in early August. The roles of Thersites and Pandarus have been pre-cast. For more information, contact director Dan Schuster at 316-655-2017 or by email at gurgi4@cox.net.
If one of these two dates does not work for you to audition, and you are interested, please let me know and I can see if we can arrange an alternate audition time for you.
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA is one of the most difficult plays in the Shakespeare canon – both in terms of content and in terms of its ability to be easily classified. In its day, the play has been referred to as a History, a Tragedy, and a Comedy. That said, it might seem to indicate that a performance of TROILUS AND CRESSIDA might be a jarring night of theatre. My answer to that would be – “Exactly.”
The play touches on the futility of war, homosexuality, and political
backstabbing; hardly easy topics any of them, and ones that the play explores but doesn’t necessarily answer. There are no tidy endings here – happy or sad. For this reason, the play has a very modern feel to it.
In my adaptation, I have stream lined the lengthy difficult speeches and aim to keep the action moving. I will also focus intensely with my actors on the meaning behind their words and the inter-relationships of the characters. In a play like this, with many epic characters (such as Ulysses and Achilles), it is important to bring these legendary figures down to a very human, imperfect level. I also plan on taking a slightly more feminist approach to the character of Cressida. Rather than just dismissing her as an unfaithful and wanton seductress, I aim to approach her as a young woman responding to difficult situations in the best manner that she can.
I hope that many of you will come explore with me this very dark, very
interesting play, in what will likely be the Kansas premiere of this Shakespeare work.