Independent Shakespeare Co. Presents RICHARD III This Summer

This summer INDEPENDENT SHAKESPEARE CO. presents an electrified interpretation of Shakespeare's indelible anti-hero, RICHARD III, featuring David Melville as Richard and directed by Independent Shakespeare Co.'s Artistic Director, Melissa Chalsma. RICHARD III will begin previews at THE GRIFFITH PARK FREE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL on Saturday, June 25 at 7pm and will open on Thursday, June 30 at 7:00pm and perform through Sunday, July 24 at the Old Zoo in Griffith Park. All ISC Summer Shakespeare productions are FREE to the public! RICHARD III is the first of two productions being presented at this year's GRIFFITH PARK FREE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL. THE TEMPEST will play July 30 - September 4.

For over 200 years, the most produced play in the world was Colley Cibber's adaptation of Shakespeare's RICHARD III. Through the ages, classical actors (including David Garrick and Edmund Booth) refitted it for their versions of the indelible anti-hero. Independent Shakespeare Co. pulls the best from the past and combines it with an entirely modern take for this electrified re-imagining of the tale of a man driven to pursue power by any means.

Comments Artistic Director Melissa Chalsma, "As we considered the vexing issues of presenting Shakespeare's final play in a nine-play story (kind of like jumping into "Game of Thrones" in the final season) we turned to Colley Cibber's 18th century version. Although we've restored much of the text to Shakespeare's original (and added back in some characters) we've retained Cibber's condensing of the story, and even several of his ingenious original scenes. Much of Cibber's dramaturgy was to contemporize the play for an audience; in our version, we are incorporating live music (a distinctly Shakespearean element), but in our case the music is rock. This, alongside modern-inflected costumes will encourage audiences to draw parallels to their own world: Shakespeare's object lesson in what happens when tyranny goes unrestrained is as timely today as it was 400 years ago."

With an increase in the number of performances this season, ISC expects to serve its largest audience to date. Comments ISC Board Chair Eduardo A. Braniff, "The board of directors is enormously energized by seeing our community growing every season. Every new and returning audience member is proof that we are delivering on our mission to bring Los Angeles together and to address the inequity of access to the arts."

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST

MELISSA CHALSMA (Director) is the co-founder and Artistic Director of

Independent Shakespeare Co. (ISC). Under her leadership, along with co-founder David Melville, the company created the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival, which has grown into the largest theater event of its kind in Los Angeles. In 2015, ISC received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle's highest honor, the Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in theater. She directs and acts in many ISC productions. ISC roles include Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Rosalind in As You Like It, Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream(as well as directing), Hermione in The Winter's Tale and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. As director: Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer, Hamlet, The Comedy of Errors, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Two Gentleman of Verona, Romeo & Juliet. She has performed in theaters across the country, on Broadway (including the American premiere of Harold Pinter's Moonlight with Jason Robards, Blythe Danner, and Liev Schreiber), and in the UK.

In her ten years as a college faculty member she taught at Moorpark College, Pepperdine University, and California State University, Northridge. Drawing on her

experience as an educator, she has guided the company in the development of educational programming for schools, as well as workshops directed toward families that take place before performances in Griffith Park.

The cast of RICHARD III will feature: David Melville as Richard, Fiona Cheung, Joseph Culliton, William Elsman, April Fritz, Lorenzo Gonzalez, Mary Goodchild, Aisha Kabia, Jack Lancaster, Tatiana Louder, Victor Manso, Nathan Nonhof, Katie Powers-Faulk, Evan Lewis Smith, Bernadette Sullivan, Kalean Ung and Brandon Wong.

Season Production Design is by Caitlin Lainoff. Season Lighting Design is by Bosco Flanagan. Costume Design is by Garry Lennon. Original music composed by David Melville. Musical direction is by Chris Porter.

SCHEDULE AND PRICING

RICHARD III will preview on Saturday, June 25 at 7:00pm and will open on Thursday, June 30 at 7:00pm and perform through Sunday, July 24 at the Old Zoo in Griffith Park. All ISC Summer Shakespeare productions are FREE to the public.

For more information, please call (818) 710-6306 or online at www.iscla.org

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