St. Louis Shakespeare Opens Season With TAMING OF THE SHREW 7/16-25

Formerly of New York City, actor/director Todd Pieper will be making his St. Louis directing debut as he helms St. Louis Shakespeare's 26th Season opener, THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (July 16-25) at the Grandel Theatre in Grand Center.

Taking on the Bard's comedic battle of wills between Kate and Petruchio is no small feat but Pieper seems up to the task. A graduate of the National Shakespeare Conservatory in New York City he has taught Beginning Shakespeare at the NSC, an Acting Shakespeare Workshop in Sienna, Italy and dozens of commercial acting and voice-over workshops in the Big Apple. "It's funny," he says, "but I originally moved to New York to study classical acting. I never dreamed I'd direct or teach. But circumstances pushed me in that direction when I was working on a production of Strindberg's Miss Julie. We lost our director and I had to step into the position. It was a great experience and I've been hooked on directing ever since."

Not one to shy away from appearing onstage, Pieper was seen last year in three SLS productions (Edward III, The Merchant of Venice and Treasure Island) and Muddy Waters' production of The Lady from Dubuque. "I really love the collaboration between actor and director," says Pieper. "It doesn't matter whether I'm onstage or backstage. I'm always amazed at what actors bring to a performance," he continues, "and I love the challenge of finding ways to make those creative choices work within the production. That's what has made this experience with Shrew so much fun. The actors have brought things to the stage I couldn't even have imagined."
A Shakespeare favorite, the farcical Taming of the Shrew tells the story of the shrewish Katherine (Suki Peters) eldest daughter to the wealthy Baptista (AlFred Erickson) whose sharp tongue and fierce temper are a terror to the suitors (Aaron Dodd, Ben Ritchie and Jason Puff) who flock after her younger sister, Bianca (Katie Puglisi). To gain access to Bianca, her suitors hire Petruchio (Andrew Keller) to wed the fearsome Katherine. In a titanic battle of wills, each has met their match as their struggle to overpower one another finally reveals their true love.

(pictured left to right: Suki Peters, AlFred Erickson and Andrew Keller)
For more information about St. Louis Shakespeare's 26th Season productions, or for tickets, visit the SLS website at www.stlshakespeare.org or call 314.361.5664.