Artfarm to present Shakespeare in the Grove July 12-23

MIDDLETOWN » The Middletown-based theatre company Artfarm brings Shakespeare to the Grove at Middlesex Community College for the twelfth year with a groundbreaking production of Hamlet running July 1223.

“This is not the Hamlet that you read in high school,” said Executive Director Dic Wheeler, who is directing this summer’s production, “This is a fastpaced, contemporary Hamlet which is all about action and reaction in a highstakes world.”

Wheeler has condensed Shakespeare’s mammoth masterpiece to a swift twohour cut which utilizes 11 actors.

“With this streamlined cut we’re really getting to the bones of the story,” said Marcella Trowbridge, Artistic Director of Artfarm, “and a lot of that is about taking action in the face of corruption, in the face of an unjust government. And I think that right now it feels resonant. It feels crucial and vital for a play that’s over 400 years old.”

Trowbridge will be taking on the title role. “It’s a tremendous gift to be able to play this role,” she says, “I am certainly not the first woman in history to play Hamlet. There have been some dynamic women who have played Hamlet. It’s a lot to do justice to this. My hope is that as an actor, I bring a sense of emotional accessibility and intuitiveness to Hamlet- who is already very intellectual and reflective.”

Wheeler said, “Marcella Trowbridge is a modern Hamlet, a thinker and a fighter in a world where gender identity is in flux.”

The full cast includes Alex Kydd, Peter Loffredo, J. Golden, Nick Perry, Cassandra Spadory, Nathan Tracy, Jacob Harris Wright, Alice Wilkinson, and Equity actors Callie Beaulieu as Queen Gertrude and Noah Tuleja as King Cladius.

Artfarm’s Hamlet will run Wednesday July 12 through Sunday July 16 and Wednesday July 19 through Sunday July 23 at 8 p.m. in the Cedar Grove on the campus of Middlesex Community College. Patrons are encouraged to come early and enjoy a picnic overlooking the Connecticut River Valley before the show.

Middlesex Community College is located at 100 Training Hill Road, Middletown.

Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for kids. July 12 is a “Pay-What-You-Can” preview.

For tickets and information, contact Artfarm at 860-346-4390, email info@ art-farm.org, or go to www. art-farm.org.

Shakespeare in the Grove 2017 is made possible by support from the Middletown Commission on the Arts, Pratt & Whitney, and generous donors and businesses. Shakespeare in the Grove is co-sponsored by Middlesex Community College.