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TN Shakespeare Company Kicks Off 5th Season with THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED), Now thru 10/7
By: BWW News Desk Sep. 20, 2012
Tennessee Shakespeare Company (TSC), the Mid-South's professional classical theatre, presents the "excessively fun-loving side of its namesake" with the wildly popular stage comedy, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield from tonight, September 20 – October 7 in the Poplar Pike Playhouse in Germantown, TN.
Three comic actors from around the country come together in an attempt to present all 37 of William Shakespeare's plays (and perhaps one additional long, lost plays) in just 97 minutes.
Directed by TSC founder and producing artistic director Dan McCleary, Complete Works will donate proceeds from its three-week run to the nationally-recognized fine arts program at Germantown High School. The zaniness is sponsored by Nancy and Dan Copp, and Margaret and Owen B. Tabor, M.D. The production's exclusive media sponsor is Commercial Appeal Media.
Complete Works, playing at the Poplar Pike Playhouse (where TSC's record-setting Midsummer Night's Dream played in 2009), features actors David Goldstein (TSC's Southern Yuletide), Amelia Hammond (TSC's The Tempest), and improvisational comedian Sam Reiff-Pasarew from NYC's Story Pirates. The intrepid trio straps on the tights and color-coordinated sneakers to weave their wicked way through all of Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies in one wild ride that will leave you breathless and helpless with laughter.
In attempting to play out the entire canon as quickly and as authentically as they can, the actors find themselves improvising with the audience and with a little local influence: Othello as an R&B hit song, Titus Andronicus as a cooking show, all 16 comedies as one improvised commedia piece, the Histories as a Big East Conference football game, and Hamlet…backwards!
"Our audiences have experienced two seasons of TSC plays in which many of the characters have ended up dead on stage," says McCleary from the rehearsal hall, where the cast was improvising the Othello plot to Booker T. and the MG's Green Onions, "so we thought we'd just finish all the characters off in one evening. Today in rehearsal I'm pretty certain I experienced in one hour David's pants exploding when he uttered the title of the Scottish Play, Amelia pounding on Richard III's hump until he fumbled the football, and Sam playing quite possibly the largest, most unattractive Juliet in the history of American theatre. I'm so proud."
Bruce Bui, of Ballet Memphis, provides the quick-change costume design in his fourth season with the company, and Memphian Matt Strampe is the scenic and lighting designer.
Public Performance Schedule at the Poplar Pike Playhouse
September 20 at 7:00 pm: Preview/Free Will Kids' Night
September 21 at 7:30 pm: Opening and post-show reception
September 22 at 7:30 pm: Performance
September 23 at 3:00 pm: Performance
September 27 at 7:00 pm: Free Will Kids' Night
September 28 at 7:30 pm: Performance
September 29 at 7:30 pm: Performance
September 30 at 3:00 pm: Performance
October 4 at 7:00 pm: Free Will Kids' Night
October 5 at 7:30 pm: Performance
October 6 at 7:30 pm: Performance
October 7 at 3:00 pm: Closing
Ticket Information
Tickets on sale now. All performances are $25 in advance and $30 day-of-show. All preview performances are $15 regardless of when purchased. Free Will Kids' Nights: Children 17 years and younger admitted FREE when accompanied by a paying/attending guardian.
Located in the historic train depot at 2260 West Street, Germantown, TN. Monday - Friday, 9am – 5pm.
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