LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST Opens August 13 at Shakespeare By The Sea

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more! Shakespeare by the Sea's stunning 24th season continues with Shakespeare's celebration of love and letters with Love's Labour's Lost, opening August 13 at 8 pm.

Audience members can attend SBTS just as they used to pre-pandemic - no reservations, no ticketing, no fencing, no proof of vaccination - just show up. Bard's Bites Boxed Picnics available for online purchase 24 hours in advance for onsite pickup. See website for details www.shakespearebythesea.org

Love's Labour's Lost will have a limited run of six performances over two weekends, and will be performed exclusively at Point Fermin Park. For those who are not able to come to San Pedro for the performances, SBTS will be filming a performance that can be viewed online starting August 28. Audience members can get the link to the free filmed stream via our website www.shakespearebythesea.org.

Love's Labour's Lost: In this love letter to love, a young king and his companions vow to swear off worldly pleasures and devote themselves to scholastic pursuits. But when the Princess of France and her crew arrive, their oath immediately proves difficult to keep. A witty and silly meditation on what love does to us and what it asks of us. The production is being helmed by director Amanda McRaven who is new to SBTS. Amanda earned her MFA in Directing from UC, Irvine and is in her fourth decade of making theater. She works on performance that is physical, that re-ignites liveness, and that engages non-theater communities. She is most interested in creating collaborative, vigorous, heart-driven, expansive, intimate, audience-centered performances.

Featuring a company of both new and returning artists, the show features Cylan Brown (Don Armado), Mason Conrad (Costard), Christopher Diem (Dumaine), Angel Dumapias (Princess), Eli Gonzalez (Longaville/Forester), Melissa Green (Maria/Dull), Amber Luallen (Katherine), Mateo Mpinduzi-Mott (Prince), Azim Rizk (Berowne); Mickey Tron (Moth), Mig Windows (Rosaline), and Maddy Wager (Jacquenetta/Boyet).

"In many ways this is the perfect play to come back to the theater with. It's both light and heavy, hilarious and nonsensical, a love story and not a love story," says director Amanda McRaven. "I've always been drawn to it because it seems wiser than all the other old plays about love. Much of it takes place in the open air, where the women are forced to bivouac when the men bar them from entering the castle. But they find a joyful release there, a new way of being perhaps. That feels right for this summer-here under these trees overlooking the ocean, may we all together find some good catharsis."

Following it's canceled 2020 season due to the pandemic, SBTS returned to live performances last month with Richard III. "We knew that returning to performances with an audience would be thrilling," says founder and Producing Artistic Director Lisa Coffi, "but the experience surpassed our expectations. To be able to connect with our artists and patrons again in person was a joy beyond measure."

Stephanie Coltrin continues, "The opportunity to once again gather in this magnificent setting to experience collectively the magic of storytelling with an audience was inspiring. We can't wait for the celebration to continue in August."

Set Designed by Christopher Beyries, Costume Design by Allison Dillard, Sound Design/Original Music by Kaydin Hamby. Elena M. Cruz is stage manager, Cinthia Nava is sound engineer, Kira Sherman is Tour Manager. Produced by Lisa Coffi and Stephanie Coltrin.

Since 1998, SBTS has reached over 520,000 youth and their families, seniors and individuals in Southern California with quality arts and educational programs. Funded entirely by donations and grants, Shakespeare by the Sea brings contemporary and classic works to underserved, culturally diverse audiences in order to ignite imagination, promote literacy, and encourage artistic expression.

To post a comment, you must register and login.