6 wonderful plays and 6 fantastic leaders!
We’re so excited to have the following plays and directors for our next season!
Thanks to our Readings Coordinator Kevin Manley for reviewing all the submissions and plays, and for selecting our season!
Check our calendar for more info and sign up here!
January and February: As You Like It, led by Patrick McBride
TL;DR: All brothers hate each other for some reason. Rosalind dresses up as a boy and convinces her crush to hit on her while she’s a boy. Everyone is married by a Greek god.
Rosalind and her cousin escape into the forest and find Orlando, Rosalind’s love. Disguised as a boy shepherd, Rosalind has Orlando woo her under the guise of “curing” him of his love for Rosalind. Rosalind reveals she is a girl and marries Orlando during a group wedding at the end of the play.
Patrick McBride has worked as a professional actor at numerous Shakespeare festivals and theatres around the country, the last two years touring with Intrepid in their Shakespeare education tour, and playing the fool for the San Diego Shakespeare Society’s stage reading of King Lear. He has taught Shakespeare classes for kids and adults at the Old Globe, the Shakespeare theater in Washington DC, Intrepid, and for Luminary Arts.
“My passion for Shakespeare focuses on how to play it and how to say it. When I direct one of his plays I assert that Shakespeare is directing from the grave, we simply need to find and follow the clues in the text that enable us to unlock how to best bring it to life on the stage. I will therefore discuss the language, the characters, the plot, the staging, the spectacle and the theme of As You Like It as if those participating in the open reading were the cast of the play and we were attempting our first read through.”
Patrick McBride
March and April: The Tempest, led by Genevieve Foster
TL;DR: A crew of men are shipwrecked on a magical island and tormented by an old man and his slaves.
Prospero uses magic to conjure a storm and torment the survivors of a shipwreck, including the King of Naples and Prospero’s treacherous brother, Antonio. Prospero’s slave, Caliban, plots to rid himself of his master, but is thwarted by Prospero’s spirit-servant Ariel. The King’s young son Ferdinand, thought to be dead, falls in love with Prospero’s daughter Miranda. Their celebrations are cut short when Prospero confronts his brother and reveals his identity as the usurped Duke of Milan. The families are reunited and all conflict is resolved. Prospero grants Ariel his freedom and prepares to leave the island.
Genevieve Foster is thrilled to be directing an open reading! She is a junior at Patrick Henry High School and has had onstage and backstage roles at San Diego Junior Theatre, JCompany Youth Theatre, and the Broadway San Diego Awards. Credits include: Macbeth (First Witch) at JCompany Youth Theatre; Twelfth Night (Lady Olivia), The Tempest (Miranda), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Peaseblossom) at San Diego Junior Theatre; and Much Ado About Mean Girls (Regina George) at Intrepid Theatre (virtual camp).
May and June: Julius Caesar, led by David Hausman
TL;DR: Julius Caesar is warned of the ides of March, ignores it, and dies; plebeians are way too easily swayed; all the conspirators die too.
Jealous conspirators convince Caesar’s friend Brutus to join their assassination plot against Caesar. To stop Caesar from gaining too much power, Brutus and the conspirators kill him on the Ides of March. Mark Antony drives the conspirators out of Rome and fights them in a battle. Brutus and his friend Cassius lose and kill themselves, leaving Antony to rule in Rome.
David Hausman is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin Drama School. He has performed on- and off-Broadway and in film and television. He writes screenplays, produces and directs. He is a proud Shakespeare nerd. His ashes will be scattered at Elsinor…if he dies.
July and August: Titus Andronicus, led by Bill Glaser
TL;DR: Tamora plans false incrimination, rape, murder, and mutilation. Titus plans murder and cannibalism. This is not a happy play.
The Roman general Titus Andronicus returns from war with four prisoners who vow to take revenge against him. They rape and mutilate Titus’ daughter and have his sons killed and banished. Titus kills two of them and cooks them into a pie, which he serves to their mother before killing her too. The Roman emperor kills Titus, and Titus’ last remaining son kills the emperor and takes his place.
Bill Glaser has been a life-long Shakespeare fanatic, having taught Shakespeare not only on the ninth and twelfth grade level but also to small groups and individuals. He once gave a presentation to a community arts group, and he has played small parts in a few amateur productions. Although he ranks several other plays as better, he has a special interest in Titus Andronicus in that he feels it is under-appreciated.
September and October: Much Ado About Nothing, led by Kim Keeline
TL;DR: Benedick and Beatrice don’t love each other but then they do. Claudio and Hero love each other but then they don’t but then they do again. Everyone gets married.
Count Claudio falls in love with Hero, the daughter of his host. Hero’s cousin Beatrice (a confirmed spinster) and Benedict (an eternal bachelor) are each duped into believing the other is in love with them. Claudio is deceived by a malicious plot and denounces Hero as unchaste before they marry. She faints and is believed dead, but recovers to be proved innocent by a chance discovery. Benedict wins Beatrice’s love defending her cousin’s honour, and to his surprise, Claudio is reunited with Hero, who he believed dead.
Kim Keeline is a writer and teacher who fell in love with Shakespeare when she was 12 and her parents took her to a production of Twelfth Night at the Old Globe. She eventually earned her Ph.D. in English Literature, specializing in Shakespeare and his time period. She gives lectures on the history and literature she loves through various groups and otherwise keeps busy. See more about her at kimkeeline.com
November and December: Cymbeline, led by Charlie Riendeau
TL;DR: Innogen’s fidelity is questioned, everyone puts on some sort of disguise, revelations abound at the end, and only one person dies.
King Cymbeline of Britain banishes his daughter Innogen’s husband, who then makes a bet on Innogen’s fidelity. Innogen is accused of being unfaithful, runs away, and becomes a page for the Roman army as it invades Britain. In the end, Innogen clears her name, discovers her long-lost brothers and reunites with her husband while Cymbeline makes peace with Rome.
Charlie Riendeau has participated in three Old Globe Shakespeare Festivals, several years of their winter seasons, and the first two Old Globe Educational Tours. He has acted in over 100 full productions, directed 25, and has participated in numerous readings for various theaters around the county. He has performed in London and New York and holds a degree in Theatre from SDSU.
We will continue to meet virtually on the first Tuesday of the month via Zoom, as long as it is recommended/required to do so.
Check our calendar for more info and sign up here!
Hilarious TL;DR [“too long, didn’t read”] notes and summaries from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
Photo Credits (Open Readings): AYLI: Shakespeare in the Park (The Public Theater), 2012, Joan Marcus; Cymbeline: Lincoln Center Theater, 2007, Sara Krulwich; JC: Stratford Festival, 2018, David Hou; Much Ado: Shakespeare in the Park (The Public Theater), 2019, Joan Marcus; Tempest: Stratford Festival, 2018, David Hou; Titus: Shakespeare’s Globe, 2014, Tristram Kenton
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