Arts - Sunday Shakespeare Socials to kick off at The Warren - Sunday Shakespeare Socials to kick off at The Warren

Shakespeare is coming to the Workhouse Stage at the Warren, and it's in capable hands.

   Sunday, November 8, Workhouse Theatre Company (WTC) kicks off its Second Sunday Shakespeare Socials; a three-production social/ potluck endeavor at The Warren that will span the 2009-2010 season. At the helm is Diane Mountford, a Camden resident and veteran WTC director (A Company of Wayward Saints, 100) who - by the way - also happens to be the founder and artistic director of the locally-renowned Minnesota Shakespeare Project.

    Shakespeare...social potluck? "It is exactly like it sounds," says WTC Artistic Director Jeff Redman. "Bring a hot dish, side dish or a dessert. Mingle with your friends and neighbors. Then settle in for a quality reading of a great play by Shakespeare." Audience members are encouraged to come early with a dish to share or a meal of their own and partake in this community-oriented theater event. Says Redman, "The reading will be low key and you will be more than welcome to excuse yourself in the middle for a second helping of chili or another ‘Special K' Bar. Workhouse will provide the tableware and something to drink, the audience will provide the food and the conversation." Oh yes, and the staged reading of a classic Shakespearean play.

    Staged reading of classical theatre is not an entirely new experience for WTC and The Warren. Mountford directed an all-Camden-cast production of Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, as part of the 2006-2007 season's successful Readers Theatre Series. The November 8 social will feature Cymbeline, a work which borrows many themes of jealousy, revenge and misunderstanding from the more well-known Othello and Romeo and Juliet, but which ties loose threads together at the end more in the vein of an Agatha Christie novel. Mountford stresses the lighter nature of the play, which stands in contrast to the "typical Shakespearean tragedy," however, referring to Cymbeline's almost "fairy-tale"-like feel. "It is a fun show," she says.

    Mark Webb, WTC Managing Director Mark Webb says, "This will be great for a first-time ‘Shakespearience'!" The social begins at 1 p.m. (show expected to begin by 2 p.m.) and tickets are $5 at the door ($3 if a dish is brought to share). For info about WTC's current season, including February's main stage production of Apartment 3A, visit www.workhousetheatre.org.