Summer brings warm weather, longer days vacation and for many
county residents, summer heralds the opening of several popular
theater productions.
During the month of July, Windsor and Sebastopol host outdoor
Shakespeare performances while Healdsburg’s Raven Theater will
house the North Bay’s premiere production of CATS.
Shakespeare On The Green (SOTG) has been entertaining thousands
of theater lovers for the past five years with free, open air
performances of the world’s greatest plays and the local theater
troupe will continue its tradition of free shows by performing
Romeo & Juliet on July 16, 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25.
Steven David Martin, who will direct Romeo & Juliet on the
Windsor Town Green, said performing outside brings a different
energy to a production. “When doing outdoor theater the environment
becomes an exciting and unpredictable character in the play. For
some reason doing a play outdoors seems to bring the audience and
cast closer together. Maybe it’s the sense of sharing a great
adventure together under the blue afternoon sky or an evening
canopy of stars. It really is an experience like no other,” he
said.
Martin said performing Shakespeare has its own unique set of
challenges. “Doing Shakespeare outdoors is a special treat as we
get to approximate what it might have been like to stage plays in
Shakespeare’s time,” he said.” It’s especially true for the first
act of our plays when it is still light outside. Since
Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed in the afternoon (no
artificial lights then!) for instance we experience the challenge
of transporting the audience to Juliet’s garden at midnight for the
famous balcony scene, while in reality it will be about 7:30 p.m.,
daylight and probably about 80 degrees on the Green.”
The Sonoma County Repertory Theater is also working to bring
Shakespeare to modern audiences for their 17th Annual Sebastopol
Shakespeare Festival and director Jon Tracy has created a new
environment for staging Macbeth.
Tracy said his version will be “reminiscent of the
depression-era” and be “something from a time long forgotten, when
culture and, perhaps, magic thrived… now just the dusty remnants
remain. It has made way for a cultureless world of warriors and a
certainly bloody industrial revolution. The kings men see future
not history, as they brazenly walk over the broken foundations of
old. This old world has energy though…”
Both plays offer audiences a chance to explore some of
Shakespeare’s most powerful plays. The story of Romeo & Juliet
has become ingrained in society as a synonym for tragedy and
Macbeth’s warnings on the foibles of power are as astute today as
they were when first written.
Tracy said his depiction of Macbeth’s rise to power will be “a
story of ambition. A story of revenge.”
Healdsburg’s Raven Players are tackling a modern classic and
have already begun showings of CATS, directed by John
DeGaetano.
CATS ran on Broadway for 18 years, making it one of Broadway’s
longest running shows. It is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s finest score,
featuring the haunting song, “Memory.” Winner of the Laurence
Olivier Award and the Tony Award for Best Musical, CATS has been
performed around the world in numerous productions in more than 20
languages and in 1998 was made into a video.
The story describes an annual gathering of Jellicle cats where
one special cat is selected to ascend to the Heavyside Layer and
the show is known for its unusual musical construction.
“A very complicated score set in a very common place… for cats
that is,” said CATS’ Director John DeGaetano, who has worked for
years in theatre, film, and public television including an upcoming
National Geographic docu-drama. His production credits include Miss
Saigon, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Monster
Bash. He is President of the Raven Players Board of Directors.
The Raven Players organized in 2005, regrouping the original
Raven Players to build a resident, self-sustaining community
theater company in Healdsburg that is known for consistently high
quality productions and for being a popular destination for live
theater in the North Bay. Shows are produced in association with
Raven Performing Arts Theater and former highlights have included
Evita, Seussical, Steel Magnolias, Sylvia and Kander and Ebb’s 2 By
5. The 2010-2011 season, which will be formally announced on July
8th, includes RENT.
THEATER EVENTS
CATS
July 9-11, 16-18, 23-25
Raven Theater, 115 North Street, Healdsburg
707-433-6335, ext. 11, www.ravenplayers.org.
Tickets: $15-$35
MacBeth
July 8,9,10, 15,16,17, 18, 22, 23, 24 and 25. All performances
begin promptly at 7 p.m. Park opens at 5:30 for picnicking. Ives
Park, 7400 Willow St., Sebastopol. 823-0177, www.the-rep.com.
Tickets: $25
Romeo & Juliet
July 16, 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25. Windsor Town Green, 701
McClelland Drive.
