BRT Presents The World Premiere Of WHAT YOU WILL On 2/10

Bristol Riverside Theatre presents the World Premiere of What You Will, a BRT original interpretation of Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night from February 10 through March 1, 2009. A daring and bold take on the classic comedy that combines the language of Shakespeare with contemporary rhythms and movement, What You Will is conceived and co-directed by BRT Artistic Director Keith Baker and Donald Byrd, acclaimed choreographer of Broadway's The Color Purple and Artistic Director of Seattle's Spectrum Dance Theater. Music direction and original music by hip hop producer Justin Ellington completes the marriage of text, high-energy movement and heart-pounding music.

What You Will begins previews February 10, opens February 12, and closes March 1, 2009. Tickets are $29 - $37, with $10 student tickets, and are available by calling the Box Office at (215) 785-0100 or visiting the theatre at 120 Radcliffe Street in Bristol, with information online at www.brtstage.org. [A full performance schedule follows on page 4.]

In this new interpretation, Shakespeare's original text is heard with a distinctively contemporary American voice as the worlds of modern urban and classical theatre are fused. In What You Will (Shakespeare's full title for the play was Twelfth Night, Or What You Will), the social center of Illyria is Club 12th Night - a place where pranks and disguises, playful games and folly rule. A shipwrecked woman stumbles into the club, beginning a chain of events leading to an astonishing conclusion. Mistaken identities, intrigue, music, a beautiful heiress, drunken partiers, and a spiteful servant merge with a hip-hop rhythm in Shakespeare's enchanting tale of revelry and love.

"We are thrilled to welcome Donald Byrd to BRT this season to explore how the energy of hip hop and spoken word interact with the classic language of Shakespeare," says Keith Baker. "There are many beautiful standard productions of Shakespeare's plays, but they are remote from a 21st-century generation. What You Will seeks to overcome that with a completely contemporary production that is focused on the use of language in current hip-hop culture and in Shakespeare. Indeed, he could have been called a 16th-century rap artist in many ways. He bent, turned, and cajoled language to his own uses. He invented much of the English we now use. Nothing was sacred to him. Boredom was the devil and he used language to hold onto the imagination of his audience in a way unheard of before him. The same can be easily said of rap and spoken word. We seek to find a distinctive American voice in Shakespearean performance."

Co-Director Donald Byrd says, "It is not just about making Shakespeare accessible and understandable to the hip-hop generation but also making hip-hop and its generation's points of view, perspectives, and sensibilities understandable to an older generation as well. It is about communicating human values and the human condition, which are always relevant and eternal, regardless of how a generation chooses to articulate or express them. What we have in common, regardless of race, age, social background, music or literary preferences, etc., is our humanity, and this project will hopefully help us recognize that."

The theatre has also created a special website, www.howwewill.org, for the project which includes footage of workshops held in New York, interviews with the directors and composers, and discussions of the show's concept - opening wide the development process to the audience.

The young and multi-talented cast of What You Will features Christin S. Davis as Viola, Gabriel "Kwik Step" Dionisio as Curio, John Patrick Driscoll as Andrew Aguecheek, RJ Foster as Orsino, Abe Goldfarb as Sir Toby Belch, Miriam Hyman as Olivia, Valerie Issembert as Maria, Jackson Loo as Fabian, Peter Macklin as Captain and Priest, Claudia Pellegrini on violin, Stephen Pilkington as Sebastian, BrIan Richardson as Antonio, Trevor Vaughn as Feste, and Carl Wallnau as Malvolio.

The lighting is designed by Bucks County local Ryan O'Gara, who first took an interest in lighting as a kid while volunteering at BRT. He was under the tutelage of some of the theater's designers and eventually received a scholarship from the Bristol Lions Club to attend the School of Design and Production at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. O'Gara has since gone on to design for numerous dance and Theater Productions, including several Broadway productions.

The set and costumes are designed by Hiroshi Iwasaki who has designed for several Philadelphia theaters including The Wilma Theater, Arden Theatre Company, InterAct Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, and Pig Iron Theatre Company. A native of Japan, he is a founding member of Big House (Plays & Spectacle), and he teaches and designs for Bryn Mawr/Haverford College's Theatre Program.

Justin Ellington has toured the world and performed as keyboardist with many artists including Verve recording artist Lizz Wright, Motown recording artist Donnie, and jazz trumPeter Russell Gunn. Ellington is a member of the multi-platinum Production Company Bangladesh which has created songs for artists such as Ciara, Kelis, Marsha (Floetry), Lil Wayne, and Ludacris. His work as a composer for shows includes Will Power's acclaimed The Seven, and work on numerous productions for ALLIANCE THEATRE in Atlanta, Georgia, including Top Dog Under Dog, King Hedley II, Shakespeare's R&J, Ferdinand and the Bull, and Androcles the Lion - part of the body of work which led to ALLIANCE THEATRE's 2006 Tony Award for Best Regional Theater. Ellington has also worked in Atlanta with Push Push Theatre, 7 Stages Theatre, Horizons Theatre and Clark Atlanta University, among others, and such regional theatres as Children's Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Goodman Theatre/Congo Square, New York Theatre Workshop, and St. Louis Black Repertory.

Keith Baker is Artistic Director of Bristol Riverside Theatre and is a director, composer, conductor, musical director, musician and singer. He trained at The Neighborhood Playhouse, Juilliard, and the University of Freiburg and is a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Most recently, Baker directed The Spitfire Grill and appeared in Absurd Person Singular at BRT. He was Artistic Director of Florida Repertory Theatre during the 1980s and was director of the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival for four years, mounting over eighteen of Shakespeare's plays to great success. The festival, twenty years later is still going strong and has become a vital force in the theatre of the mid-west. In his career, Baker has directed over 250 productions of every style and form. 11 times nominated for his work as an actor, he was twice the recipient of the State of Florida's coveted Carbonell Award. Nominated 7 times for the Philadelphia Barrymore awards, his production of The Balkan Women won Best Play of the Year in 1998. His 2002 production of The Dresser was nominated for 6 Barrymore awards including Best Overall Production and Best Direction of a Play.

Donald Byrd has served as Artistic Director of Spectrum Dance Theater since 2002. Byrd studied at Tufts and Yale Universities, The Cambridge School of Ballet, the London School of Contemporary Dance, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, and with Mia Slavenska. He danced with Twyla Tharp, Karole Armitage, and Gus Solomons Jr. among others. Since 1976, Byrd has created over 80 works for his former company and for Spectrum Dance Theater, as well as for many major modern dance repertory companies including The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Philadanco, and Dallas Black Dance Theater. He has also choreographed works for classical companies including Pacific Northwest Ballet and Oregon Ballet Theater. His best known work is his reworking of the Christmas classic, The Nutcracker, into The Harlem Nutcracker, which received critical acclaim and toured nationally for 5 years. Byrd has also choreographed for numerous stage productions including work at Seattle Children's Theater, Center Stage in Baltimore, the New York Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, San Francisco Opera, and New York City Opera. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Dance Theater Workshop in New York. Recent projects include choreography to Motown classic hits for The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and the Tony nominated musical, The Color Purple.

What You Will has been supported by a grant from the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative with additional support from the Marketing Innovation Program, both programs of the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, and administered by The University of the Arts, Philadelphia.

Since 1986, BRT has brought consistently acclaimed professional theatre to Bucks County and maintained a long-term commitment to finding and developing new plays. The theatre is the recipient of over 50 Barrymore Award nominations for Excellence in Theatre, given annually by the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. In addition to its mainstage productions, the theatre serves as a cultural hub for the community, with such programs as children's theatre, community concerts and exhibitions of local visual arts. Currently under the direction of Artistic Director Keith Baker and Founding Producing Director Susan D. Atkinson, BRT is in its 22nd season. For information, visit www.brtstage.org.

 

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