Summer Shakespeare Festival 2023

Three Shakespeare enthusiasts attempt to do the impossible: Act their way through all of The Bard’s 37 plays in one night.  Enjoying a nine year run in London’s West End, this highly improvisational comedy retells the Bard’s great works, often poorly, through improvisation, rap, simulated sports games, audience participation, and sheer force of will. As the play progresses, it becomes clear that these actors are perhaps not the Shakespearean experts they appear to be. They comedically stumble their way through the Complete Works of William Shakespeare in a hilarious race against the clock, and what they don’t remember, they simply make up on the spot!  

Young Valentine travels to Milan to find his fortune, but instead falls for the fair Silvia, daughter of the Duke. His world is turned upside down when his best friend Proteus abandons his love Julia in Verona to woo Silvia for himself. With a pair of bumbling servants and a dog, it’s a lively Shakespearean comedy about the complexities of love, lust and friendship. Set in the 1910’s Mediterranean Countryside.

Loyal general Macbeth returns home from winning a battle and is discussing the military’s victory with his friend Banquo when they are unexpectedly confronted by three witches. The mysterious trio present an ominous prophecy—that Macbeth will be King of Scotland. But what does that mean for current monarch King Duncan? Macbeth is urged by his wife to kill the king and fulfill the prophecy, spurred by shared grief over a lost child and a desperation to revive their erstwhile family legacy. This one unnatural scheme unravels their entire existence. Ambition turns to corruption as the Macbeths descend further into a darkness from which there is no return. Our “Macbeth” will be taking inspiration from the American folk horror tales that haunted 1800s New England

The King of Navarre and his followers, Biron, Longaville, and Dumain, vow to devote themselves to the celibate life of scholarship for three years while their counterparts, the Princess of France and her attendant ladies, Rosaline, Maria, and Katherine, are refused entry to the city when they arrive. The ladies therefore decide to entice the scholars to break their vows. The comic subplot concerns the “fantastical” Spaniard Don Armado in pursuit of the country girl Jaquenetta. His rival in love is the “clown” Costard, and together with a pedantical schoolmaster, Holofernes, and his associate and biggest fan, Nathaniel, add to the comical delight that is Love’s Labor’s Lost! Our production will be conceptualized through a modernized French Rococo lens, and emphasize the traditional court setting that this piece was originally performed for.