Photo Preview: Southwest Shakespeare Company's JULIUS CAESAR

JULIUS CAESAR is Shakespeare's account of the effects of tyranny, assassination, and rebellion on a country and its people is gripping theatre at its best. Historically-based on events surrounding the death of Julius Caesar and its aftermath, this play has a meaning through the ages. Though
Brutus and Cassius dominate the second half, it is Caesar's ghost that hovers over the play. Set in American Civil War, this penetrating and powerful production is not to be missed.

Directed by nationally-esteemed director Richard Corley, and featuring Don Harvey as Brutus (many New York Theatre productions including Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind, and films such as The Untouchables, Casualties of War, Eight Men Out, American Heart, Die Hard 2, and Public Enemies) and Irish Actor Hope Brown as Mark Antony (Focus Theatre, Cork Opera House, Samuel Beckett Theatre, and films Waiting to Exhale, Terminal Velocity, In America, Custer's Last Stand, Yesterday's Children)

JULIUS CAESAR is produced by Southwest Shakespeare Company, previewing January 7, 2010, and the show runs January 8 -23, 2010, in the Piper Repertory Theater, Mesa Arts Center, One East Main Street, Mesa (Center and Main Street; half-mile east of Country Club Drive). Performances are
Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 7:30 p.m. with additional performances / matinees: Sun, Jan. 17 at 3 p.m. and Sat, Jan. 23 at 2 p.m.

Ticket prices: Adults - $33.50; Seniors/Students w/ID - $25; Children - $12.50; Matinees - $25; Student Rush with ID - $12.50. Call the Box Office at 480-644-6500. Three-Show "Flex" Series Premium, and Upper "Bargain" Balcony Series Subscriptions are available from the Box Office. Group rates at 480-641-7039. Talkbacks are scheduled for Jan. 8, 9, 14, and 22, after the performances.

Additional Info: Flachmann Seminar, Saturday, January 9, 2010, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at First United Methodist Church, 15 E. First Ave. Mesa. Cost is $50 per person, including lunch & the evening's show. Season Subscribers attend FREE ($10 for lunch). Reservations required. To reserve, contact Jennifer at 602-741-1996 or jruddle@swshakespeare.org. For more information, visit http://www.swshakespeare.org/.

JULIUS CAESAR is one of Shakespeare's earliest tragedies and is the first of Shakespeare's three Roman plays, the others being Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra. CAESAR portrays the conspiracy surrounding the Roman Emperor, the distinct division of the country and the subsequent war.

Director Richard Corley says, "I'm thrilled to direct this fast-moving and powerful production of one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. JULIUS CAESAR is a play for our time, full of astonishing scenes of action and the richness of Shakespeare's language. It tells the story of war and its consequences."

Southwest Shakespeare Company (SSC) is in the middle of its 16th season. SSC was co-founded in 1994 by two educators and actors, Kevin Dressler and Randy Messersmith. The 2005-06 season opened at the new Mesa Arts Center (MAC), located in downtown Mesa. Under Jared Sakren's leadership as artistic director, SSC expanded its season and performed a total of five shows in two of its four theaters, the 550-seat Virginia G. Piper Repertory Theater and the 99-seat Anita Cox Farnsworth Studio Theater. SSC mounted a six show season in 2006-07, performing in yet a third theater at the "MAC," the Nesbitt/Elliott Playhouse Theater. The SSC serves to create professional theatrical productions, which will entertain, educate, inspire and elevate the general public and educational communities of Arizona, designed to make classical literature understandable and appreciated by all patrons.

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