The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles (SCLA), under the artistic direction of Ben Donenberg, returns to The Japanese Garden on the grounds of the VA West Los Angeles Healthcare Center campus with a rollicking summer production of William Shakespeare's romantic comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream," with live music and directed by Royal Shakespeare Company artist Kenn Sabberton - beginning July 9, through July 28 only. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is presented by SCLA in conjunction with VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. Scroll down for a first look at the cast in action!
The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles is well known and loved for its unique and engaging Los Angeles-focused interpretations of Shakespeare's plays. This year's production draws its inspiration from the late 1950's and early 1960's cultural revolution in Los Angeles. It will feature a returning military warrior's spectacular wedding and the adventures of four young lovers and a group of six amateur actors, controlled and manipulated by a trendsetting sprite that utilizes live music of the era to underscore the exploits inspired by the god of love. The West LA VA's idyllic Japanese Garden is particularly well suited to the play which Shakespeare set in a forest and for which the Japanese Garden is ideal. The play, a broad comic and crowd-pleasing comedy, is one of Shakespeare's most popular works.
The VA location speaks to many long-time themes of the Shakespeare Center - including presenting Shakespeare in a relevant way through settings that speak to present-day Angelenos, working with veterans with its Veteran Summer Employment program, and using theatre as a tool for personal and community transformation. Shakespeare Center creates great art that does great things.
The cast includes
Wyatt Fenner (Puck), who recently appeared in Rattlestick Playwrights Theater production of Slipping, as Elder Thomas in The Whale at
South Coast Repertory, Next Fall at The
Geffen Playhouse, and on television in Bones and Veronica Mars;Jason Frank (Demetrius), a 2012 American Conservatory Graduate; Jenna Johnson (Helena) played Rachel on Chronicles of the Dead (PBS) and performed in ten productions at American Conservatory Theatre;
Brian Joseph (Peter Quince),
Tracey A. Leigh (Titania) appeared in the National Tour of The Vagina Monologues, and at
South Coast Repertory in The Vibrator Play and Safe in Hell.
Michael Manuel (Bottom) has appeared in 80 plays over the past two decades and has been seen at the
Mark Taper Forum,
South Coast Repertory,
Seattle Rep, Cornerstone Theatre Company, the
Pasadena Playhouse, The
Geffen Playhouse,
Williamstown Theatre Festival, Interact Theatre Company, and A Noise Within, winning Drama-Logue and LADCC Awards; Marcella Lentz-Pope (Hermia) appeared in The Social Network, and has a recurring role as Mae Capone on Boardwalk Empire, and has appeared onRizzoli & Isles.
Paul Perri (Oberon) appeared on Broadway in Burn This directed by
Marshall Mason, A View From the Bridge (directed by
Arvin Brown), and Macbeth (directed by
Nicol Williamson), off Broadway in Aunt Dan and Lemon, Say Goodnight, Gracie, and Henry V at the New York Shakespeare Festival. He has appeared on television on Luck, Grey's Anatomy, NCIS, Without a Trace, CSI: New Yorkand Boston Legal; and
DeSean Terry (Lysander) just appeared in The Royale at the
Kirk Douglas Theatre, and has appeared onSouthland, ER, Sleeper Cell, Grey's Anatomy, House, Torchwood, NCIS-Los Angeles, Shameless, and Monk.
The Japanese Garden on the grounds of the West Los Angeles VA is at 11301 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90073 (adjacent to the Brentwood Theatre). Tickets for "Midsummer Night's Dream" are available online at
shakespearecenter.org. For information about the ticket program for active military and veterans, call SCLA at 213-481-2273.
Photo Credit: Michael Lamont
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