NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

3/01/2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES ­Scott Burrell hopes a more "user friendly" production of Shakespeare might be one way to create interest in the playwright's work. The NSU Theatre will present scenes from a dozen Shakespearean works in "Shakespeare: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" March 10-12 and 14-18 at 6 p.m. outside Lee H. Nelson Hall on the Northwestern State University. Admission is free and open to the public. Bleacher seating will be provided, but audience members are encouraged to bring their own chairs or blankets.

"We wanted to do something fun with Shakespeare and present it in a way that is more approachable," said Burrell, who is directing the production. "We have taken some famous scenes from Shakespeare and placed them in a more modern setting."

The production will include scenes from "The Winter Tale," "Romeo and Juliet," "Much Ado About Nothing," "The Taming of the Shrew," "A Comedy of Errors," "King Lear," "Hamlet," "Othello" and "Richard III."

Cast members are Mary Watson of Farmington, Mo.; Sarah Jessica Rhodes of Rusk, Texas; Liz Maxwell and Adam-Louis Breaux of New Orleans, Robin Rose of Natchitoches, Thea Richard of Arnaudville, Ronald Hornsby of Houma, Bryan Lee of Cochran, Ga.; Chris Ware of Baton Rouge and Kent Bernard of New Iberia. Beau Guedry of St. Amant is the stage manager and Samantha McWilliams of Destrehan is assistant stage manager.

"The scenes will show some good characters and good situations, bad characters and bad situations along with those who are monsters," said Burrell.

As an example of how some of the scenes will be more contemporary, a scene from "Othello" will be set in a corporate boardroom while a scene from "Richard III" will be in the world of organized crime.

"We began working with this as an effort by the cast to use their improvisational skill to find situations in which various scenes would work," said Burrell. "For the balcony scene in 'Romeo and Juliet,' instead of setting it in the play, we used a high school rehearsal of the play. At first, the actors were stiff as a typical high school actor would be, but by the end, they are much more serious and are into the scene."

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