Oak Park Festival Theatre Announces 2017 Season Casts and Directors

An action-filled Shakespeare tragedy paired with a swashbuckling, award-winning, rip-roaring comedy! This summer Oak Park Festival Theatre is filling Austin Gardens with epic passions and death-defying sword fights as we bring to life MACBETH by William Shakespeare and THE FAIR MAID OF THE WEST by Thomas Heywood.

MACBETH
JUNE 15th - JULY 22nd
Directed by Barbara Zahora

Arrogance. Ego. Pride. Madness.

The order of the land has been upended. Uncertainty and fear are the new constants.

400 years ago, during a time of great political transition and upheaval, Shakespeare gave us a vehicle to pick up a mirror and examine the chaos and destruction that could be created by a tyrannical ruler.

Macbeth, Shakespeare's blood-soaked and shortest tragedy, tells the story of a brave general who, consumed by ambition and fated promises, murders the King and seizes the throne for himself. Racked with guilt and fear, immediately he becomes a tyrannical ruler as he is forced to commit heinous crimes to protect himself from hostility and suspicion.

Full of furious battles and murderous whisperings, this summer Oak Park Festival Theatre brings you this timely, action-packed story of a country at war, and the bone-chilling lengths one man will go to for the sake of his own pride.

THE CAST

MACBETH - Matthew Fahey*
LADY MACBETH - Melanie Keller*
WITCH 1 - Elyse Dawson
WITCH 2 - Savanna Rae
WITCH 3 - Mark Lancaster
MACDUFF/CAPTAIN - Christopher Jones
BANQUO/DOCTOR - Bryan Wakefield
MALCOLM - Matthew Gall*
LENNOX/SIWARD - Joshua Carroll
DUNCAN/PORTER - Jack Hickey*+
FLEANCE/FIONA MACDUFF - Gwen Theis
LADY MACDUFF/HECTATE - Jhenai Mootz+
DONALBAIN/YOUNG SIWARD - Sean Kelly
ROSS/MENTEITH - Jaq Seifert

*denotes member of Actors' Equity Association
+denotes Oak Park Festival Theatre Company Member

SAVE THE DATE: OPENING NIGHT JUNE 17, 2017

THE FAIR MAID OF THE WEST
JULY 27th - SEPTEMBER 2nd
Directed and Adapted by Kevin Theis

The swashbuckling, award-winning, rip-roaring comedy, The Fair Maid of the West tells the tale of Bess Bridges, the low-born tavern girl, who falls in love with the gentleman soldier Spencer, who returns her affections. When Spencer kills a man in a tavern fight, he and his friend Goodlack are forced to flee the country. In doing so, Spencer leaves his worldly goods- including a tavern of his own- to Bess for safe-keeping. While Spencer is across the sea, Bess hears falsely of his death and, as his beneficiary, vows to buy a ship, travel across the seas and bring his body home. Assisted by Goodlack, the braggart Roughman and the comic innkeeper Clem, Bess battles with the Spanish Armada as she sails the seas in search of her true love. Eventually, of course, Spencer is discovered alive and the lovers are reunited. In the second half, the crew finds themselves washed ashore the mythical Island of Fez, where the King takes a liking to Bess. His wife, Queen Tota, takes a similar liking to Spencer and our heroes must find some way to escape the kingdom with their heads intact. Spoiler alert- love conquers all.

In 1994, Kevin Theis adapted and directed The Fair Maid of the West to immense critical acclaim. The proud recipient of eight Joseph Jefferson nominations, the production had both audiences and critics raving. Now in 2017, Theis and OPFT once again bring that merry mayhem, romance and epic adventure back to Chicagoland!

THE CAST
BESS BRIDGES - Amanda Forman
SPENCER - Zach Livingston
ROUGHMAN - Aaron Christensen*
GOODLACK - Debo Balogun
CLEM - Bobby Bowman
TOTA/CHORUS - Melissa Carlson*
MULLISHEG - Jack Hickey*+
ALCADE/CARROLL - Mark Lancaster
JOFFER - Drew Mierzejewski
SPANISH CAPTAIN/ENSEMBLE - Nelson A. Rodriguez
FIGHT ENSEMBLE - Bryan Wakefield
FIGHT ENSEMBLE - Ken Miller
FIGHT ENSEMBLE - Kate Booth
FIGHT ENSEMBLE - Bill Gordon

*denotes member of Actors' Equity Association
+denotes Oak Park Festival Theatre Company Member

SAVE THE DATE: OPENING NIGHT JULY 29, 2017

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