Axis Theatre Will Stage Encore Run of New Staging of TWELFTH NIGHT

Due to popular demand and critical acclaim, Axis Theatre Company is thrilled to present an encore engagement of its celebrated new staging of William Shakespeare’s most heart-breaking comedy, Twelfth Night. Directed by Axis Theatre’s founder and Artistic Director Randall Sharp, this streamlined production is adapted by playwright and dramaturg Marc Palmieri and features original music by Paul Carbonara performed live. Previews begin September 25 at Axis Theatre (1 Sheridan Square, Manhattan), with a press opening set for September 28, for a limited run through October 26, 2024. Tickets are now on sale at www.axiscompany.org.

Even in a season of the darkest calamities, does the human will to be happy ever surrender? Shall there be cakes, ale, dancing and love, as the darkness ever looms? Director Randall Sharp brings her signature stark and musical touch to one of Shakespeare’s most hilarious, yet heart-breaking tales of unrequited love. Sharp’s radical interpretation focuses on the yearning for human connection.

Marc Palmieri remarked, “Twelfth Night premiered in 1602 at a time of great anxiety in England that included violent religious division, recent theatre shutdowns following the London Plague, tension over who would succeed Queen Elizabeth I, and the growing ultraconservative Puritan movement in Parliament. Sound familiar?”

“Axis Theatre Company’s new adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is something to celebrate,” declared Deirdre Donovan in Off Off Online. “Directed by Randall Sharp, and superbly performed by a 12-member ensemble cast, this Twelfth Night is a wild and wonderful romp through Illyria.” 

Holli Harms in Front Row Center wrote, “Marc Palmieri’s brilliant adaptation… is pure story; accessible, lovely and flowing. Director Randall Sharp’s staging is clean and simple, allowing the heart of the story to be presented… there is a rainbow of color in the music of the play that adds all kinds of texture… the ensemble is prodigious, using the space with grace of movement that glides and flies from scene to scene. All strong solid performances.”

Mark Rifkin in This Week in New York remarked, “Twelfth Night demonstrates precisely what Sharp and Axis do best, whether offering an original play or a fresh take on an old chestnut.”

The 12-member ensemble cast of Twelfth Night includes Spencer Aste, Brian Barnhart, Eli Bridges, Andrew Dawson, George Demas, Katy Frame, Britt Genelin, Robert Ierardi, Brian Parks, Dee Pelletier, Jon McCormick, and Jim Sterling, along with musicians Paul Carbonara and Yonatan Gutfeld.

The creative team for Twelfth Night includes Karl Ruckdeschel (costume design), David Zeffren (lighting design), Paul Carbonara (original music, sound design), Lynn Mancinelli (prop design, choreography), Will Vicari (wig design), Regina Betancourt (production stage manager), Marc Palmieri (dramaturgy), Jon McCormick (technical director), Amy Harper (assistant light designer), Laurie Kilmartin (assistant stage manager), Brian Barnhart (producing director), and Jeffrey Resnick (executive producer).

Twenty performances of Twelfth Night will take place September 25 – October 26, 2024 at Axis Theatre, located at 1 Sheridan Square in Manhattan’s West Village. Critics are welcome as of the first performance on September 25 for an opening on September 28. General admission tickets are $40 for adults, $20 for seniors/students, and $10 for artists and people under 30. Performances are Free for veterans and active U.S. service members and their families. Tickets can be purchased online at www.axiscompany.org.

Marc Palmieri’s adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night will be published by TRW in the fall of 2024. Axis Theatre Company’s production originally opened on April 27, 2024 and ran for twenty performances between April 25 – May 24, 2024. 

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