Summer 2001 Greenstage Program

ABOUT GREENSTAGE The past year GreenStage has been performing Shakespeare’s plays in the Puget Sound area Since 1989. Each summer we make our free Shakespeare in the Park shows available to thousands of area residents, performing before audiences of up to 500 people. With this summer’s shows, we hit the halfway mark of the thirty-eight plays in Lori K. Davis, Angie Stutting, Rachel Hornor Shakespeare’s Canon. We have also in Squish produced other classical works and brought original scripts to the Seattle Fringe Theater Festival for three years in a row. Our productions concentrate on story and characters, and put and empha- sis on capturing the life and truth in the plays. As Seattle’s Shakespeare in the Park Company, GreenStage is committed to presenting quality pro- David J. Dodge, Amelia Meckler, Ryan ductions of classical theater and new Spickard in The Winter’s Tale works in a manner that is available to all. Whenever possible we perform for free, collecting donations after each show. GreenStage’s FREE Shakespeare in the Park program consists of two plays by Shakespeare running in repertory in and around Seattle. We bring these shows to major parks in the city of Se- Barzin Akhavan, Peter Balogh and Eli Sklov attle (Lincoln, Woodland, Discovery, Simons in Henry IV, Part One Seward and Volunteer) as well as fairs and parks in surrounding areas. GreenStage’s park program is spon- sored by the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation through the Langston Hughes Cultural Arts Center and Sand Point Magnuson Park, our new home. Enjoy the show! Kimberly Atkinson and Stephen Loch in Much Ado About Nothing What’s happening next. You may be asking yourself, “Hey, doesn’t GreenStage usually do a show in the fall?” The answer is yes, we generally do. For the past few years, in addition to our summer shows, we have been producing a play in the fall and one in the Fringe Festival in March. As of 2002, however, the Seattle Fringe Theater Festival will be moving to mid September, which doesn’t allow enough time after our summer shows to be prepared for the festival. Because of this we will be changing our season. Instead of producing a show this fall, we will divert that energy to the mounting of a play that will open in early February of 2002. So without further ado we present the. GreenStage 2002 season February A Touch of the Poet by Eugene O’Neill To be performed on the grounds of Sand Point Magnuson Park Summer Shakespeare in the park We continue our ongoing project of producing Shakespeare’s history plays in historical order* with Henry IV Part Two Paired up with the ever popular comedy The Taming of the Shrew. That’s right, Two and the Shrew in 2002! OK, we know, it’s corny, but. * in 1998 we produced Richard II at the Nippon Kan Theater, and last summer brought Henry IV, Part One to the parks. Ken Holmes kenholmes.com 206-297-5933 Graphic Design • Web Design • Desktop Publishing Triolus & Cressida Macbeth CAST Cast - In order of appearance The Trojans The Weird Sisters Rachel Hornor Hector, son of King Priam David J. Dodge Melissa Brooks Paris, son of King Priam Amy Tiller Andrea Stuart Douglas Troilus, son of King Priam Jason Marr a wounded captain Jeffrey Spaulding Aeneas, a Trojan commander Peter Burford Duncan - king of Scotland David J. Dodge Cassandra, daughter of King Priam, a prophetess Libya Taylor Malcom - son of Duncan Jason Marr Andromache, Hector’s wife Amy Tiller Donalbain - Son of Duncan Amber Gotlib Calchas, a Trojan priest Peter Burford Lennox - a nobleman Roy Stanton Cressida, Calchas’ daughter Rachel Hornor Ross - a nobleman Courtney Sale Pandarus, a lord, Cressida’s uncle Eli Sklov Simons Macbeth - a Scottish general Jared Lyn Queen Hecuba Libya Taylor Banquo - a Scottish general Garth McArdle A musician Ron Mather Lady Macbeth - wife of Macbeth Liz McGown A Trojan soldier Eli Sklov Simons a servant Andrea Stuart Douglas The Greeks Macduff - a nobleman Jeffrey Spaulding Agamemnon, general commander of the Greeks Kevin Haggerty Fleance - son of Banquo Amber Gotlib Menelaus, King of Sparta, Agamemnon’s brother Ron Mather Seyton - a Porter in Macbeth’s household Melissa Brooks Helen, Menelaus’ wife, living with Paris Angie Stutting Three Murderers Rachel Hornor Achilles, a Greek commander Bryony Renner Melissa Brooks Ajax, a Greek commander Erin Langford Andrea Stuart Douglas Ulysses, a Greek commander Amelia Meckler Hecate David J. Dodge Nestor, a Greek commander Libya Taylor Lady Macduff Amber Gotlib Diomedes, a Greek commander Terence Artz A doctor Rachel Hornor Patroclus, Achilles’ companion Angie Stutting Cathness - a nobleman Garth McArdle Thersites, a scurrilous Greek Jennifer Pratt Siward - an English general David J. Dodge The Myrmidons Terence Artz Young Siward - Siward’s son Amber Gotlib Rachel Hornor Angie Stutting Time: After the war. Time: The 7th year of the Trojan War, 13th century, B.C. Place: Scotland Place: Troy, and the Greek camp before it. Director Ken Holmes Director David Nochimson Stage Manager Laura Garcia Stage Manager Deborah Shigeko Baskin Fight Director Ryan John Spickard Fight Director Ryan John Spickard Costumes Karen Anson Costumes Joe Shrope Props Tony Driscoll Puppet Christina Payne Production Manager Linda Lombardi Scenic Design Susannah Anderson Production Manager Linda Lombardi Director’s Notes Director’s Notes Troilus & Cressida ably in 1601, Elizabeth I’s reign, marked by so- MAcbeth through rehearsal, the more we realized that almost every word is necessary to tell the story. George Bernard Shaw said that, with Troilus cial harmony, economic prosperity, and a wide- The real Macbeth ruled Scotland from 1040- Consequently, very little has been left out of and Cressida, Shakespeare entered the twen- spread confidence in England’s place in the world, 1057. A reign of seventeen peaceful years, the original script in this production. tieth century. Previously, the play had been was coming to an end. There was a great deal of which was a mighty long time in those days. These days Macbeth has quite a reputa- universally dismissed as either dramatically social and economic turmoil lurking under the Shakespeare wrote a different Macbeth. The tion. Many feel that the play is cursed and flawed or obscene, or both. Shakespeare’s surface which, as the powerful and charismatic themes he included in the play were of great refer to it only as “the Scottish play.” Stories depiction of contradictory and often perverse queen’s influence receded into memory, would contemporary interest at the time it was writ- abound about disasters occurring during per- impulses expressed by his characters seemed reassert itself in the form of a bitter civil war. The ten. King James, a Scottish king newly on the formance of the play; from mentioning the play like careless stagecraft to the sensibilities of ear- world of Troilus and Cressida, as a result, is a English throne, liked the theater, and by name; or from quoting the play while in a lier eras. Moreover, the play lacks a compel- very uncertain world, sometimes even an inco- Shakespeare’s company became the official theater. There are many theories about why ling hero or a satisfying resolution. Modern herent world. Throughout the play, characters royal theater company. King James had much the curse exists, most fall into the urban legend psychology, however, created a context in discover that things which they once held as interest in the subject of witchcraft, even writ- category. Perhaps the curse legend actually which this erratic behavior and lack of resolu- unshakable truth no longer make sense. It’s no ing a book about the subject, Demonologie. exists, not from any supernatural reasons, but tion took on an emotional verisimilitude. And wonder that Troilus and Cressida should be re- The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, which had al- because many productions over the past hun- the escalating destructiveness made possible assessed as the confident prosperity of the Victo- most destroyed the entire English government, dred years or so have failed. Many produc- by the new technologies of modern warfare rian era gave way to twentieth century fears and had happened only a year earlier, and King tions cut the witches from the script or reduce gave new resonance to the bleakness which neuroses. Or, for that matter, in the wake of the James himself deciphered the clue that stopped their importance, trim the scene between characterizes the military endeavors in the play. recent technology economy collapse, raising con- it from succeeding. Equivocation, which plays Malcolm and Macduff in England, and/or rear- Consequently, there has been a land- cerns over the stability of our own society as we a large part in the Gunpowder Plot, is a con- range scenes to make cuts work. The problem slide of theatrical and scholarly activity sur- enter the new millennium. stant theme in the play. is that Macbeth is fairly pure just as it is, and the rounding Troilus and Cressida over the past All this might, understandably, lead one to Taking on the task of directing such a more you cut, the less power it has. Maybe 100 years. As societal attitudes about politics, conclude that Troilus and Cressida would present famous play is thrilling, scary, and at times, a that is the curse. war, gender roles, and sex have changed, so a rather daunting prospect, especially on a beau- bit overwhelming. There are so many pre- Rather than cursed, I feel blessed to have too have changed the ways in which directors, tiful summer afternoon in the park. There is no conceived notions about what this play is been granted such a wonderful cast to work actors, audiences and critics have confronted disputing that it amounts to a fractured vision of about.

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