The Acting Company Performs Revered Classics Reimagined at Popejoy Hall

One of the nation's most lauded companies brings two of the world's greatest stories to Popejoy's stage this February. The Acting Company, celebrating its 50th anniversary, is touring the country with productions of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers in an adaptation commissioned by the company. Both productions will be performed in repertory in Popejoy Hall.

The script for the adaptation of The Three Musketeers draws its inspiration from an astonishing secret: during his life, Dumas' father, General Alex Dumas, was the highest-ranking person of color in a Western military. Playwright Kirsten Childs reimagines this swashbuckling tale through the lens of the novelist's little-known cultural history. The production sheds new light on this swashbuckling adventure and gives a favorite story new importance. An inspiring tale filled with laughter and adventure, The Three Musketeers is a reminder to all that courage, honesty, and valour can change the world.

The Three Musketeers opens The Acting Company's Albuquerque run at 8pm, Saturday, February 18, 2023.

The company's production of Romeo and Juliet is set in the present-day American South. Holding up the ancient feud in Shakespeare's tragedy against a current culture steeped in class and racial conflict makes Romeo and Juliet as resonant to contemporary viewers as it was to audiences four centuries ago. The play includes some of the most glorious poetry ever written, delivered by complex and

Romeo and Juliet completes the company's run in Albuquerque with its performance beginning at 4pm, Sunday, February 19, 2023.

Commissioned by The Acting Company to write the script for The Three Musketeers, Childs is a professor in New York University's Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program and has written for Disney Theatricals, the American Songbook series at Lincoln Center, the New Electric Company, Works and Process at the Guggenheim Museum and City Center Encores!

The production is directed by The Acting Company's Artistic Director, Kent Gash. An award-winning director, artistic leader, educator, and author, Gash brings an extensive career in directing for both commercial and non-profit theaters, including The Public Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Steppenwolf Theater.

Leah C. Gardiner directed Romeo and Juliet. She directed the recent award-winning revival of Ntozake Shange's "for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf" at The Public Theatre. She has also directed Judith Light in the national tour of Wit and has directed for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club, Arena Stage, and Berkeley Rep, among many others.

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