Tennessee Shakespeare Co. Presents THE GRACE OF GRACE: SHINING A LIGHT THROUGH SHAKESPEARE'S BROKEN VILLAINS

Tennessee Shakespeare Company will explore the world's most infamous and bloody, yet innovative and cathartic, villains on its Tabor Stage January 25 – February 9 with the premiere of The Grace of Grace: Shining a Light Through Shakespeare's Broken Villains sponsored by The Sims Family Charitable Trust.

Created and acted by TSC founder and producing artistic director Dan McCleary (most recently Cyrano de Bergerac) with veteran actor and fight director Lauren Gunn (Olivia in Twelfth Night; Blanche in Streetcar Named Desire), Grace of Grace represents a new and exciting expansion of the theatre's long-time Literary Salon Series.

This 90-minute Enhanced Salon will feature scenes from King Lear, Henry IV part one, Richard III, Coriolanus, The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Macbeth.

In a life buffeted by familial loss, religious persecution, plagues, political upheaval, and a forbidden Dark Lady, William Shakespeare might well have felt deeply compelled to create his canon of “villains.”  Indeed, many of them today are known solely for their evil acts or famous quotes.  

But for a playwright who took artistic pains to understand his own life through his work, to represent on stage people from all types of backgrounds (during a period when this often was illegal), and who wrote plays with themes so complex that they defy one-word descriptions, were his bad guys truly penned just for entertainment?  As mere one-dimensional evil people who we enjoy marveling at or being appalled by?

In this fully-produced premiere, Dan McCleary declares Shakespeare's villains as so originally poetic, courageous, creative, and so vicious in their as to provide an undeniable subconscious grace for all of us today – and for their creator over 400 years ago. A direct pathway to compassion, as McCleary demonstrates on stage.

“After nearly 35 years of playing these men, I feel three clear arguments in support of their offering grace to us,” says McCleary.  “These are not academic arguments, rather they are feelingly known.  Our concert attempts to articulate the arguments through playing the men.  But we are encouraged to do so from inside what I believe to be the impossible landscape of one particular man's mind: the too-kind Macbeth, whose self-aware descent has informed our modern psyche for over 400 years.  

“Shakespeare's villains are profoundly self-aware, and they require a sounding board or compassion or witness from a live audience.  It has become clear over the years that either their conscious acts must be confessed, or their subconscious is screaming to be heard.  In an effort to heal.  I think they were, and remain, civilization's gateways to compassion, self-responsibility, freedom, sacrifice, and grace.  And my hope is to find the allure in this, the rationale for why these men are what they are, rather than have us be solely appalled by them.”

TSC's Salon format is here enhanced by an original story told amid mangled abbey arches with a soaring musical soundscape and a full costume design as the two actors divine Shakespeare's villains of deformity, abuse, honor, and prejudice.

“This Salon will be part rock concert and part fantasy, incorporating projections and monitors, sometimes bloody and violent, but always seeking understanding.”

The design team includes Jeremy Allen Fisher (Production/Lighting Design), Roger Hanna (Scenic Design), Austin Blake Conlee (Costume Design), Melanie Mulder (Props Design), and Micki McCormick (Sound Engineer). Jasmine Simmers is the Production Stage Manager.

In keeping with TSC's Salon tradition, please note that material and music may change from presentation to presentation as the piece develops with a live audience.

Tickets are $35.  Seniors (62+) are $29; Students (+/-22 with I.D.) are $22.  Running Time: approximately 90 minutes. No refunds/exchanges. House opens 30 minutes prior to curtain. Credit Card charges require a $1.50 per-ticket fee. Schedule subject to change with notice. Free parking.

Grace of Grace Salon Schedule:

Saturday, January 25: 7:30 pm (post-show reception)

Sunday, January 26:  3:00 pm

Saturday, February 1:  7:30 pm   

Sunday, February 2: 3:00 pm (post-show discussion)

Saturday, February 8:  7:30 pm 

Sunday, February 9: 3:00 pm 

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