CT Shakespeare theaters plan comedy, smaller summer performances
Verily, Shakespeare shall return this summer.
While Elm Shakespeare Company in New Haven, will not be able to do its usual large outdoor Shakespeare production for the second year in a row, it will be doing some live shows nevertheless. Smaller Shakespeare-themed companies are jumping back in to live performance with caution and enthusiasm.
Elm Shakespeare
Elm Shakespeare Producing Artistic Director Rebecca Goodheart says making an outdoor Shakespeare show happen this year extends beyond the guidelines of state government.
In addition to navigating the coronavirus requirements of Southern Connecticut State University where the company rehearses, and the city of New Haven where it performs, the Actors Equity union requires separate drivers for each performer and weekly testing not just for the Equity actors but for anyone in touch with them. Those and other regulations could add over $80,000 to the production budget, Goodheart says.
“Besides that, if a city is above five [COVID] cases per 100,000 people, they pull the plug anyway — and New Haven hasn’t been under 20 in a year.”
Elm Shakespeare’s solution is to cancel its big Shakespeare production this year. Instead, it will offer a student festival in August featuring close to 100 students in five productions staged over a single weekend, including adaptations of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (half an hour long, for small children), “The Comedy of Errors” (for middle school students) and 90-minute teen-acted productions of “As You Like It” and “Pericles.”
Elm Shakespeare may also stage a special outdoor event in the fall using professional actors, if Actors Equity regulations have changed.
The company also plans to explore social and political issues in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” through collaborations with the anti-gun-violence nonprofit Ice the Beef and specialists in the political
performance style known as Theater of the Oppressed. Those performances are scheduled for June 26 as part of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.
The company is continuing its “Building a Brave New Theater” virtual discussion series by hosting a virtual performance of “Cry Havoc!,” Stephan Wolfert’s examination of military veterans in Shakespeare’s plays, on May 6, holding its second “BIPOC
Directors Forum” on May 20, then on May 26 assembling a panel of theater-makers who’ve created works in the past year “inspired by and in response to multiple national tragedies such as the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the many lives lost to Covid-19.”
The full schedule of Elm Shakespeare
events, with more set to be added in coming weeks, is at elmshakespeare.org/ calendar.
Capital Classics
Capital Classics, which performs annually on the lawn outside the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford, returns to live performance just in time for its 30th anniversary.
Herb Emanuelson, the company’s marketing director, says USJ has been “a great partner” over the years, allowing Capital Classics to build and rehearse its shows there as well as perform. The live performances will follow state guidelines, but are also based on a survey the company conducted with its audiences.
Like a lot of Shakespeare companies this year, Capital Classics is assuming its audiences need a comedy.
“As You Like It,” directed by Capital Classics artistic associate Geoffrey Sheehan, will run July 29 through Aug. 15. Emanuelson explains that “after such a difficult year, Geoff has connected with the feeling of celebration and a return to nature.”
Its next Shakespeare Book Club will be on May 3, discussing “Macbeth.” The June 7 edition will concern
“As You Like It,” a comedy centered around banishment and concealment of true identities.
While USJ’s Autorino Center has traditionally been used a back-up space when it has rained, this year there will be no indoor alternative, and social distancing and masking will be in effect outdoors. Tickets
($20 adults, $14 children) are already on sale at usj. edu/arts/autorino-centerfor-the-arts. In honor of Shakespeare’s birthday (believed to be sometime in April), Capital Classics is offering $5 discounts on tickets through the end of this month.
There’s another Capital Classics project in the works — not live, and not even virtual. For its 30th anniversary, the company is putting together a book of memories from founders and longtime members, which it hopes to publish later this year.
FUSE Theatre
A newcomer on the summer Shakespeare scene, the Madison-based Fuse Theatre of CT, founded in 2019, is readying a new virtual musical production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” This version of the fantasy romance finds its lovers lost not in an enchanted forest but in “the wilds of the world-wide web” during the isolated summer of 2020, according to the company’s website. The songs will be by Lydia Arachne, with lyrics taken from Shakespeare’s script.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream — The Rewired Musical” will run online May 21 through June 4. Its the debut production from FUSE, which was founded in 2019 and describes itself as “inclusive organization dedicated to educational outreach, development of new works, opportunities for career-oriented artists, exemplary training programs and a commitment to producing high quality theatrical productions.” More information is at fusetheatrect.org.