OTHELLO Announced At The Long Beach Playhouse

In this tragic masterpiece by Shakespeare, Othello, a powerful Moorish general, elopes with the Venetian lady Desdemona, inciting his envious friend Iago to put into motion a scheme to end their nuptial happiness through the poison of false accusations, distrust, rage, and eventually murder.

"The Studio Theatre has a bit of a tradition of reimagining Shakespeare. In 2013, we did Midsummer's Night Gay Dream. Last year, The Tempest roles had some gender changes," said Madison Mooney, the Playhouse's Executive Director. "In this production of Othello, the story takes place in an alternate version of the year 1963 where Venice is a leading military power."

Directing the show is Aurora J. Culver, an experienced director with several successful shows in her portfolio including last year's Pride and Prejudice on the Playhouse Mainstage. Regarding this production of Othello she said that setting the play in the 1960s gave license to draw global parallels to our American experiences. She noted that Othello is a man of color who has been accepted as a leader in spite of his differences and that he marries a white woman while there are still laws against interracial marriage.

In Culver's Othello, the lustful Rodrigo is a woman with passionate designs on Desdemona which was completely unacceptable in society. Culver said that in the Venetians' desire to control the island of Cypress we see a veneer that hides the destructive power of elitism, racism and toxic masculinity.

"Great playwrights like Shakespeare give us a chance to see ourselves with all our exposed humanity within the safe confines of a comfortable space," said Sean Gray, Producing Artistic Director for the Playhouse. "We can observe the mistakes of flawed humans. We can assess the damage of envy and revenge. We can learn the lessons without irreparably ruining our own lives. That's the power of good theater."

The cast includes both returning actors and those making their Playhouse debut. Returning are Don Kindle, Christian Jordan Skinner, David Clark Hutchison, Bernard-Benjamin Villa, Amara Phelps, and Lorraine Winslow. Making their first appearances for the Playhouse are: Alexander Harris, Hillary Weintraub, Carly Taylor, Erin Snett, Brendan Backman and Lorenzo Mireles.

SPECIAL EVENTS FOR THIS PLAY:

• Pay what you can Thursday August 29- community can see this production for whatever they can afford July
• Two for One Preview Friday August 30 - Tickets are $10.00
• Opening Night Champagne Reception with cast on August 31- Tickets are $27.00

Tickets are available at www.lbplayhouse.org, or by calling 562-494-1014, option 1.

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