Shakespeare festival returns to St. Marys
Flint Hills Shakespeare Festival to stage 'The Comedy of Errors'
Posted: September 13, 2012 - 5:41pm
See more photographs of a dress rehearsal of "The Comedy of Errors" at Spotted.CJOnline.com.
By Bill Blankenship
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
ST. MARYS — The Flint Hills Shakespeare Festival returns to St. Marys for a third year with a classic play staged in a different location and guided by a new director.
"The Comedy of Errors," one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays and his shortest comedy, will open Friday for a two-weekend run with performances at 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays on a remote part of the St. Mary's College grounds. The festival's Artisan Village with food, beverage and arts and crafts vendors will open at 5 p.m. each performance date.
The first two Flint Hills Shakespeare Festivals were staged in a natural amphitheater near the fourth hole of the St. Marys Public Golf Course. However, "The Comedy of Errors" will be performed on a stage northwest of the college's buildings in a copse of trees with parking and entrance from Mount Calvary Road.
Those driving from Topeka should enter St. Marys on US-24 then turn north on 2nd Street, proceed up the hill, then turn east on Mount Calvary Road at the cemetery and follow the signs and guides. Walking shoes are recommended, and those attending should bring blankets or lawn chairs for seating.
Ben Moats, the festival's co-founder and president, said, "The new location will give us room to grow and provide a more magical experience because of the isolation and natural scenery."
The former location was adjacent to US-24 and the parallel railroad tracks.
Moats said the festival offers "a unique opportunity to enjoy and celebrate the arts in a day and age where they are often discredited."
With free parking and entry fees, which can be paid at the gate with cash or check, of $10 a person, $15 a couple, $30 a family and free for children 7 and younger, Moats called the festival "family-friendly and economical."
"People can feel good about bringing their children and given them an appreciation of the culture, as well," Moats added.
Directing the play is Andrew Clarendon, professor of English literature at St. Mary's College and a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who retired from the service as a lieutenant. At Annapolis, where he later taught, Clarendon studied Shakespeare with David Allen White, an expert on the Bard and co-editor of "Shakespeare A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Plays, His Poems, His Life, and Times, and More."
"He's the one who taught me really what Shakespeare is saying in the plays," Clarendon said of White. "He taught me to read and understand Shakespeare."
However, in encouraging people to attend the festival, Clarendon added, "Shakespeare is meant to be performed, not read."
When it is performed, the archaic language is easier to understand.
"He's great because of his language. He tells the truth in a beautiful way," Clarendon said. "When you seem him performed out on stage, and you see the genius and the magic, it's wonderful."
"The Comedy of Errors" deals with two sets of identical twins who were accidentally separated at birth.
Antipholus of Syracuse (John Liesenfeld) and his his servant, Dromio of Syracuse (Chris Perry), arrive in Ephesus, which turns out to be the home of their twin and same-named brothers, Antipholus of Epheses (John McCann) and his servant, Dromio of Ephesus (Patrick Murtha).
Because no one in Ephesus knows the Syracusan twins exist, their arrival leads to mistaken identity comedy involving both Antipholi and Dromios, as well as Antipholus of Ephesus' wife Adriana (Emilie Jordan); her sister Luciana (Danielle Grieco); her maid Luce (Theresa Dagenais); a Courtesan (Emily Thibeault); and more in the often farcical play.
The cast includes Doctor Pinch (Patrick Ard), a conjuring schoolmaster; Second Merchant (Matthew Baer); Solinus (Jeff Dagenais), duke of Ephesus; Aemilia (Monica Fawver), lady abbess at Ephesus; Jailer (John Forsee); Aegeon (Thomas J. Hughes Jr.), a merchant of Syracuse; Servant (Maryck Linn); Headsman (Aric Nichols); Officer (Bryan O'Leary); First Merchant (Gerard Pryor); Angelo (Vince Riccomini), a goldsmith; and Balthazar (Peter Stamos), a merchant.
For more about the festival, go to its website at www.flinthillsshakespearefestival.com or the festival's Facebook page.
Bill Blankenship can be reached at (785) 295-1284 or bill.blankenship@cjonline.com.
Follow Bill on Twitter @TCJ_AandE. Read Bill's blog.
Flint Hills Shakespeare Festival to stage 'The Comedy of Errors'
Posted: September 13, 2012 - 5:41pm
See more photographs of a dress rehearsal of "The Comedy of Errors" at Spotted.CJOnline.com.
By Bill Blankenship
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
ST. MARYS — The Flint Hills Shakespeare Festival returns to St. Marys for a third year with a classic play staged in a different location and guided by a new director.
"The Comedy of Errors," one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays and his shortest comedy, will open Friday for a two-weekend run with performances at 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays on a remote part of the St. Mary's College grounds. The festival's Artisan Village with food, beverage and arts and crafts vendors will open at 5 p.m. each performance date.
The first two Flint Hills Shakespeare Festivals were staged in a natural amphitheater near the fourth hole of the St. Marys Public Golf Course. However, "The Comedy of Errors" will be performed on a stage northwest of the college's buildings in a copse of trees with parking and entrance from Mount Calvary Road.
Those driving from Topeka should enter St. Marys on US-24 then turn north on 2nd Street, proceed up the hill, then turn east on Mount Calvary Road at the cemetery and follow the signs and guides. Walking shoes are recommended, and those attending should bring blankets or lawn chairs for seating.
Ben Moats, the festival's co-founder and president, said, "The new location will give us room to grow and provide a more magical experience because of the isolation and natural scenery."
The former location was adjacent to US-24 and the parallel railroad tracks.
Moats said the festival offers "a unique opportunity to enjoy and celebrate the arts in a day and age where they are often discredited."
With free parking and entry fees, which can be paid at the gate with cash or check, of $10 a person, $15 a couple, $30 a family and free for children 7 and younger, Moats called the festival "family-friendly and economical."
"People can feel good about bringing their children and given them an appreciation of the culture, as well," Moats added.
Directing the play is Andrew Clarendon, professor of English literature at St. Mary's College and a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who retired from the service as a lieutenant. At Annapolis, where he later taught, Clarendon studied Shakespeare with David Allen White, an expert on the Bard and co-editor of "Shakespeare A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Plays, His Poems, His Life, and Times, and More."
"He's the one who taught me really what Shakespeare is saying in the plays," Clarendon said of White. "He taught me to read and understand Shakespeare."
However, in encouraging people to attend the festival, Clarendon added, "Shakespeare is meant to be performed, not read."
When it is performed, the archaic language is easier to understand.
"He's great because of his language. He tells the truth in a beautiful way," Clarendon said. "When you seem him performed out on stage, and you see the genius and the magic, it's wonderful."
"The Comedy of Errors" deals with two sets of identical twins who were accidentally separated at birth.
Antipholus of Syracuse (John Liesenfeld) and his his servant, Dromio of Syracuse (Chris Perry), arrive in Ephesus, which turns out to be the home of their twin and same-named brothers, Antipholus of Epheses (John McCann) and his servant, Dromio of Ephesus (Patrick Murtha).
Because no one in Ephesus knows the Syracusan twins exist, their arrival leads to mistaken identity comedy involving both Antipholi and Dromios, as well as Antipholus of Ephesus' wife Adriana (Emilie Jordan); her sister Luciana (Danielle Grieco); her maid Luce (Theresa Dagenais); a Courtesan (Emily Thibeault); and more in the often farcical play.
The cast includes Doctor Pinch (Patrick Ard), a conjuring schoolmaster; Second Merchant (Matthew Baer); Solinus (Jeff Dagenais), duke of Ephesus; Aemilia (Monica Fawver), lady abbess at Ephesus; Jailer (John Forsee); Aegeon (Thomas J. Hughes Jr.), a merchant of Syracuse; Servant (Maryck Linn); Headsman (Aric Nichols); Officer (Bryan O'Leary); First Merchant (Gerard Pryor); Angelo (Vince Riccomini), a goldsmith; and Balthazar (Peter Stamos), a merchant.
For more about the festival, go to its website at www.flinthillsshakespearefestival.com or the festival's Facebook page.
Bill Blankenship can be reached at (785) 295-1284 or bill.blankenship@cjonline.com.
Follow Bill on Twitter @TCJ_AandE. Read Bill's blog.