Duende Productions Presents Inaugural Show TWELFTH NIGHT

Duende Productions is thrilled to present their premiere show, Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT. Directed by Amy Hayes, the stripped down production will focus on storytelling and imagination by using only 8 actors and no set. The production runs April 4-21at Alchemical Studios (104 West 14th St. New York, NY). Showtimes are Wednesday-Sunday at 7:30pm. Tickets can be purchased for $40 online at www.duendeproduction.org or at the door.

"It gives a very echo to the seat where Love is thron'd."

Eight actors. A bare stage. A violent shipwreck. A love-sick duke. Separated twins. A beautiful countess. Exploding with energy and originality, this is Shakespeare as you've never seen it. Funny, vibrant, and raw, Shakespeare's beloved tale of love and loss shimmers to life as the actors weave music, magic, and beauty from nothing... before your eyes.

Using only a white box theater and white blocks for a set, Duende Productions seeks to make a performance on which the actors and the audience can project their imaginations. The production will feature original music composed by Olivia Vessel and performed by the actors.

The cast features Jim Ireland* (Every Tongue Confess, Arena Stage), Kaileela Hobby* (Vanity Fair, Pearl Theatre Company), Alexandra Bonesho* (Spit, Nylon Fusion Theatre Company), Rick Busser* (The Blacklist), Amy Hayes* (America is Hard To See, Life Jacket Theatre), Joel Oramas* (Romeo and Juliet, Burning Coal Theatre), Seth Rue* (NYC Debut), and Olivia Vessel (Comedy Cellar) . *Actors are appearing courtesy of the Actor's Equity Association.

The production team includes Les Dickert (lighting design), Ilana Breitman (costume design), Andrew Hayes (set design and fight choreography), Joshua Shain (production manager and technical director), and Malka Wallick(assistant director).

Amy Hayes (director) received her B.A. in Theatre and English from Vanderbilt University, and her MFA in Acting from the University of Nebraska. She continues to study at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA. Specializing in classic texts, her directing credits include Checklist/Feeding the Kitty (Network Theatre Company NYC); Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare and Company Fall Festival); Jason and (Medea) and Impressionism (Wisdom Tooth Theatre Project); Arcadia (DePauw University); Romeo and Juliet (Y2K and ACO Players); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Putnam County Playhouse); Romulus Linney's Sand Mountain (Wagon Train Productions); Twelfth Night (IndyShakes at Indyfringe); and Art (Indyfringe Festival). She has acted all over the country in such roles as Lady Macbeth, Hermione in The Winter's Tale, Gertrude in Hamlet, Mistress Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Mrs. Erelynne in Lady Windemere's Fan, Toinette in Moliere's Imaginary Invalid, Lucia in A Shayna Maidel, Maria and Olivia in Twelfth Night, Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy, Maria in The Sound of Music, and Guildenstern in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. She taught acting and theatre courses at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana and was the founding director of The Fall Festival of Shakespeare at DePauw, a program which brings Shakespeare alive to Putnam County teenagers through their performance of his plays. Her book A Collection of Wednesdays was published in 2010 by Zondervan Press (Harper Collins). She served as the Founding Artistic Director for IndyShakes from 2012-2016, as Artistic Director for Wisdom Tooth Theatre Project from 2014-2016 and is the Founding Artistic Director of Duende Productions in NYC.

Duende Productions seeks to make profound, illuminating, and elegant works for theatre and film that are classics-based or inspired, language driven, and actor focused. They produce stories that explore the breadth and depth of human experience and leave audiences breathless. Duende (from Spanish mythology): (n.) the mysterious power of art to deepy move a person. Founded in 2019 by Amy Hayes, Twelfth Night is their inaugural production.