Visionary director Jeremy X. Halpern tames this four-hundred year old diatribe on male-female relationships. Company founder Paul Casali will star as Petruchio, and Lance Windish (formerly of Cirque du Soleil) will be featured as his manservant Grumio. This production proudly introduces Anna Lewis as the fiery hellion Kate, also starring company member Maria Alegre as her sultry younger sister Bianca. Mr. Halpern is using techniques combined from the work of Anne Bogart and Jerzy Grotowski to create a radically new ensemble-based approach to this legendary romantic work of theatre.
Shakespeare's immortal comedy pits the plucky but honorable Petruchio against the wild and merciless Kate, and, as Petruchio predicts, "where two raging fires meet together, they do consume the thing that feeds their fury". Kate's younger sister Bianca is forbidden by their father to marry any of her many suitors until her shrewish older sister Katherine is married. And only Petruchio is willing to take on that challenge. With the aid of his occasionally trusty servant Grumio, Petruchio guides "Kate the Cursed" into a true loving partnership of trust and passion.
The production will be performed in Central Park at majestic Belvedere Castle (near the Delacorte Theatre and Shakespeare Garden, entrance at 79th Street.). There will be two performances daily, at 4 and 7 pm, beginning Thursday July 30th and running through Sunday August 2nd. Admission is free for all.
Jeremy X. Halpern is the sole proprietor of 1-800-Weirdos, and founder the multimedia performance group Verge. At 1-800-Weirdos he performs live on www.weirdos.tv every night at midnight and mixes random callers to the 800 number into the show while traveling rapidly into the future. As an actor, he has worked with such notables as Anne Bogart, Jerzy Grotowski, and Eugenio Barba, and performed recently at P.S. 122 in the NTUSA's acclaimed show, "Chautauqua!". He also performed for many years at Belvedere Castle as Caliban in the Faux-Real Theatre Company's annual production of "William Shakespeare's Haunted House." As a director with Verge, he has masterminded such bizarre epics as "Speak of the Devil (A Satanic Cabaret)" and "Battle of the Dead Celebs" (A comic dance of historical significance).
The TimeSpace Theatre Co. was founded by Paul Casali with a mission to explore time and space through the performing arts, producing classical theatre with a crisply modern approach. Past productions include Iphegenia at Aulis. This is the company's first collaboration with Mr. Halpern.
Belvedere Castle in Central Park
Subway: B, C to 81st Street
For more information visit www.weirdos.com/shrew
