First Stage's Young Company to Stage MACBETH

Next up for First Stage's Young Company, the Theater Academy's award-winning training program for advanced high school actors, will be MACBETH, Shakespeare's darkest tragedy, infamously known as the cursed Scottish play. The play will be performed in the newly renovated, theater-in-the round Goodman Mainstage Hall at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center. Directed by First Stage Young Company faculty member Marcella Kearns, with fight and intimacy direction by Christopher Elst, MACBETH is filled with ferocious battles, supernatural horrors, famously gorgeous poetry and some of the Bard's most vivid characters.

Tempted by an evil prophecy from a trio of witches and encouraged by his Lady ever deeper into his own dark ambition, Macbeth rages a bloody path to the throne of Scotland and the forces of destruction are unleashed. Sponsored by United Performing Arts Fund. MACBETH runs March 25 - April 3, 2022 at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, located at 325 W. Walnut Street in downtown Milwaukee. Tickets are $15.

Tickets are available online at firststage.org or through the First Stage Box Office at (414) 267-2961. Performance runtime is approximately 2 hours plus an intermission. Suggested for families and young people ages 13+.

Director Marcella Kearns had this to say about the production: "When I was a kid, my military father told me tales of the downfall of a Scottish warrior who had saved his people. I didn't realize until I was much older that Macbeth was how I learned to love Shakespeare - even before I knew who the playwright was. MACBETH demands of its actors prowess with language. Strength for radical physical transformation and combat. Courage and resilience for gazing into the brightest and the murkiest aspects of the human spirit. As Young Company, the cast has brought this arsenal of tools from day one."

Added Young Company Director Matt Daniels: "More than 400 years after it was written,
Macbeth remains scarily of the moment. This exploration of ambition and its pitfalls is one of
Shakespeare's tightest plays and will be expertly led by longtime Young Company faculty
member Marcella Kearns with fight choreography by Christopher Elst. This play is fast, furious
and terrifying, and a great way to welcome Young Company's award-winning Shakespeare
chops to the remodeled Goodman Mainstage Hall, where battles for the vast Scottish landscape
will be right in the audience's lap."

Young Company Performance Projects are actor-driven presentations using elemental
production values. By stripping down to a nearly bare stage, the connection of actor to
audience is enhanced, and the words of the play come alive in exciting ways. These fully
rehearsed studio projects allow First Stage's award-winning students to showcase their
graduate level skills with full-length material, from Shakespeare to American classics to pieces
commissioned specially for them.

Young Company recently won several awards at the 2021 Utah Shakespeare Festival High
School Competition, including: 1st and 2nd place monologue, 1st place duo/trio scene, 1st
place Ensemble scene, the Roy Jones Award, the Barbara Barrett award, The Larry Lott Award,
and the Essex Division Sweepstakes.

The Young Company cast for MACBETH includes: Leo Madson (West Allis) as Hecate/Malcolm;
Jonathan Edwards (Milwaukee) as 1 Witch (Old Man)/Menteith; Sabrina Borg (Cedarburg) as 2
Witch (Porter)/Angus; Maya Thomure (Whitefish Bay) as 3 Witch (Gentlewoman)/Fleance;
Zachary Nowacek (Wauwatosa) as Duncan/1 Murderer/Siward/Understudy for Liam Jeninga;
Elena Marking (Franklin) as Donalbain/2 Murderer/Young Siward/Understudy Swing for Angel
Rivera/Molly McVey/John Eash-Scott; Emily Treffert (Glendale) as Captain/Macduff's
Wife/Doctor; Liam Jeninga (Delavan) as Macbeth; Elisheva Scheuer (Bayside) as Lady; Aderyn
Grace (Milwaukee) as Banquo; Angel Rivera (Milwaukee) as Macduff/Macduff's Son; Mari
Garey (Monona) Lennox/Understudy for Elisheva Scheuer; Molly McVey (Bayside) as Ross; John
Eash-Scott (Wauwatosa) as Seyton/Understudy Swing for Jonathan Edwards/Zachary
Nowacek/Elena Marking; Molly Domski (Glendale) as Understudy Swing for Mari Garey/Sabrina
Borg/Emily Treffert and Beau Murie (Shorewood) as Understudy Swing for Maya Thomure/Leo
Madson/Aderyn Grace.

The Artistic Staff for MACBETH includes: Matt Daniels (Director of Young Company); Marcella
Kearns (Director); Lucy Kuhnen-Grooms (Assistant to the Director); Christopher Elst (Fight and
Intimacy Director); Amy Sue Hazel (Scenic Coordinator); Shane O'Neil (Lighting Coordinator);
Derek Buckles (Sound Coordinator); Michelle Verbos (Costume Coordinator) and Megan Harris
(Stage Manager).

Tickets are $15 - Tickets may be purchased at firststage.org/ or by phone (414) 267-2961.
COVID Protocols: First Stage updated COVID safety protocols can be viewed here:
firststage.org/plan-your-visit/safety-security/ - performances.

Photo Credits: Paul Ruffolo

Pictured: Elisheva Scheuer and Liam Jeninga in MACBETH. First Stage, 2022.

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