Dragon Theatre To Produce Shakespeare For The First Time In 19 Years

Witches. Prophesies. King. Queen. Love. Murder. You know the story, but you've never seen a production quite like this. Performed by a cast of eight, William Shakespeare's tragic tale of all-powerful ambition and consuming conscience takes on an entirely new life, focusing not only on WHAT propels us through life, but WHO. When power, family, and fate all intertwine, what choices do we make? And are those choices really up to us? Macbeth comes to the Dragon stage in Spring 2019 to show us all why this story remains utterly timeless and painfully relevant.

Managing Director Kimberly Wadycki says "Macbeth is produced and directed by Roneet Rahamim and Max Tachis as a part of our mentoring program. They're both incredibly talented actors and Dragon is thrilled to give them both a chance to show off their directorial chops and showcase them in a new way to the Bay Area. It's exciting that for the first time in nineteen years Dragon is producing a play by William Shakespeare. Meredith typically avoided producing Shakespeare to focus on under-produced plays, but when Max and Roneet pitched their version of the script and their vision of the story we were all hooked. It's a really smart cut that really tightens up the story and focuses on the real meat of the play - the power politics. Macbeth is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays because its meditation on the corruption of power is timeless - it's the original Game of Thrones. There's a bit of a theme this season in which we have women in various ages and stages of life struggling to find their power and Ladies Macbeth and MacDuff are a fascinating example of this. There's also a minor through line of blood this season and Macbeth brings it in spades - it's Shakespeare's shortest and bloodiest tragedy. All in all, there's a reason why this play is produced 413 years later and the audience will have plenty to talk about after the show. "

When asked to explain why they chose Macbeth for their 2nd Stages pitch, Roneet and Max said that "[o]ur ultimate goal for this production of William Shakespeare's Macbeth was two-fold; assemble an ensemble of artists that we admire to build a show together and strip this classic piece down to its core values. In regards to the former, we couldn't be more proud. Our names may be on the program but next to "Director" it could just as easily read, "Everyone". There isn't a moment in this show that doesn't have the entire team's fingerprints on it and chances to work on a true ensemble-driven piece of theatre are few and far between.

As for the latter, we keep coming back to Shakespeare, don't we? It's not hard to see why; his poetry is beautiful and his stories are human. With over thirty plays to choose from, one can see oneself in any number of characters, for good or for bad, and that is the inherent reason for the unbelievable longevity of his work. To connect with people and characters from over four centuries ago means we aren't so different from them... which means we certainly aren't so different from each other now. It's a humbling reminder of the importance and truth in art.

The themes in Macbeth are universal and well-known. Ambition, power, corruption, greed; seemingly inevitable aspects of human nature that have been no more resonant than they are in our world right now. But this idea of connectivity through relationships (romantic, familial, brotherhood in combat, etc.) is not, historically, the main focus of this play. For us, however, it was the most important.

The idea that witches, curses, prophesies, and even fate are not actually inevitable is an attractive one, especially when framing it around the complex relationships that truly make the events in the play come to pass. The Macbeths don't start their lives as villains. Everybody is one bad decision away from the life-altering event. Who we surround ourselves with, who we build up, who we let in, and who we connect with can change everything. This is not just a story about what drives us through life; it is also a story about who. Which brings us back to our primary question: Why on Earth are we doing this? Simply put... connection."

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT: William Shakespeare (most likely April 23,1564 to April 23, 1616) was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. His father, John Shakespeare, was a leather merchant, and his mother, Mary Arden, a local landed heiress. William had two older sisters, Joan and Judith, and three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard and Edmund. Before William's birth, his father was a successful merchant and held official positions as alderman and bailiff, an office resembling a mayor. However, records indicate John's fortunes declined sometime in the late 1570s.

Not much is known about William Shakespeare's early life, but we do know that he married Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582. William was 18 and Anne was 26, and, as it turns out, pregnant. Their first child, a daughter they named Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583. Two years later, on February 2, 1585, twins Hamnet and Judith were born. Hamnet later died of unknown causes at age 11.

Shakespeare moved up to London by the early 1590s, and documents show that he was a managing partner in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, an acting company in London with which he was connected for most of his career. Considered the most important troupe of its time, the company changed its name to the King's Men following the crowning of King James I, in 1603. Early in his career, Shakespeare was able to attract the attention of Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton, to whom he dedicated his first- and second-published poems: "Venus and Adonis" (1593) and "The Rape of Lucrece" (1594). By 1597, Shakespeare had already written and published 15 plays. Records show that at this time he purchased the second largest house in Stratford, called New House, for his family. By 1599, Shakespeare and his business partners built their own theater on the south bank of the Thames River, which they called the Globe Theater. All told we now believe that William Shakespeare wrote a total of 37 plays and 154 sonnets in his lifetime.

The exact cause of William Shakespeare's death is unknown, though many believe he died following a brief illness. Tradition holds that Shakespeare died on his 52nd birthday, April 23, 1616, but some scholars believe this is a myth. Church records show he was interred at Trinity Church on April 25, 1616. In his will, he left the bulk of his possessions to his eldest daughter, Susanna. Though entitled to a third of his estate, little seems to have gone to his wife, Anne, whom he bequeathed his "second-best bed. After his death, two of Shakespeare's friends at the King's Men, John Heminge and Henry Condell, collected his plays and bought them to a publisher. This collection was officially published in 1623 and today is known as the First Folio. 233 copies of this First Folio still survive today.

Featuring the talents of: Tasi Alabastro (Macbeth), Jonathan Covey (Malcolm et al.), Maya Greenberg (Banquo et al.), Sarah Haas (Ross et al.), Troy Johnson (The Porter et al.), Maria Marquis (Lady Macbeth), Roneet Aliza Rahamim (Lady Macduff et al.), and Max Tachis (Lord Macduff et al.)