#dara silverman

[larryland]

Imagine sitting in a beautiful, verdant shaded dell on a perfect Berkshire summer’s evening. Even though busy Route 7 is in walking distance of where you are sitting, any sound of the traffic is muffled by the majestic old growth trees surrounding you. At the base of the gentle slope before you sits a tiny patch of a wooden stage, on to which a troupe of remarkably talented young actors bursts forth with tremendous energy to present a rollicking two hours of Shakespeare.

This happens every summer at The Dell at The Mount, located just behind the mansion’s Stables adjacent to the parking area, where Shakespeare & Company stages an abbreviated version of one of the Bard’s plays. In past years the shows have had strong name recognition – Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet – but this year the company has gone out on a limb and is presenting Love’s Labors Lost, an obscure early entry into the Bard’s canon that is seldom produced and little known to the general public.

But I implore you not to let the obscurity of the title put you off. Director Kelly Galvin’s condensation of the script trims off much that would be confounding to modern audiences and highlighted both the romance and the clowning at the core of the play. Her actors use the entire landscape of The Dell, rushing up and down hills, hiking through the forest, and creating merry mayhem wherever they go.

Quick plot summary: The King of Navarre (Rylan Morsbach) and his courtiers – Berowne (David Bertoldi), Longaville (Madeleine Maggio), and Dumaine (Devante Owens) – sign a pact to spend the next three years devoting themselves to study, foreswearing all entertainments, including the company of women. So of course, before the ink is dry, the Princess of France (Rory Hammond) and three lovely attendants – Rosaline (Caroline Calkins), Katharine (Dara Silverman), and Maria (Emily Eldridge-Ingram) – show up. Despite forcing them to camp outside the castle wall, each gentleman quickly finds himself smitten with one of the ladies, and hilarity ensues as they first attempt to woo without letting their companions discover their weakness, and then come to the ladies in disguise as Muscovites (ie Russians from Moscow) in an attempt to assure that their affections are returned.

In a subplot the lowly Costard (Luke Haskell) and the hifalutin’ Don Adriano de Armado (Thomas Reynolds) vie for the affections of country bumpkin Jacquenetta (also Madeleine Maggio). Costard is then paid by various suitors to deliver love letters and, being unable to read, manages to get many missives in the wrong hands.

The show is opened by the loquacious and orotund scholar, Holofernes (Lori Evans), and the plain-spoken Moth (Bella Pelz). Eldridge-Ingram doubles as the aptly named Officer Dull; Caitlin Kraft plays the Princess’s efficient secretary Boyet; Fiona Herter is the Forester who leads the ladies on a successful afternoon of bow hunting; and Cindy Wade is Marcade.

As the play draws to its conclusion, Holofernes organizes a dreadful pageant of The Nine Worthies to entertain the court, which devolves into a ridiculous free-for-all interrupted by a shocking announcement. I will not spoil the surprise and let you see for yourself how it all ends.

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If it is not plain from this description, this is a very funny 90+ minutes of theatre. I am still laughing at the Muscovites – definitely worth the comedic price of admission – and smiling at playful the battle of the sexes, which the ladies win hands down.

The cast is uniformly excellent and each give charming and distinctive performances, while playing superbly as an ensemble. They really do function both as outstanding individual performers and a cohesive whole and singling them out for praise felt like picking the individual chocolate chips out of a chocolate chip cookie – the chips are yummy, but the whole cookie is so much more delicious. They just genuinely seem to be having fun out there, and fun is always contagious!

There are many challenges to performing out of doors – sudden downpours, extreme temperatures, inhaling insects during crucial lines – but none is greater for the actor than making themselves heard. There is nothing to bounce the voice off of, it just leaves your mouth and goes sailing out into the environment where it is quickly absorbed by soil, foliage, and the audience’s clothing. Voice expert Kristin Linklater was a founding member of Shakespeare & Company, and her vocal techniques form a core of their actor training. Linklater trained Gwendolyn Schwinke is the vocal coach for this production, and she and Galvin have assisted the young actors in making themselves clearly heard throughout The Dell. Because I am in a wheelchair which is difficult to maneuver over grass, I park myself high up on the hillside, close to the roadway that runs behind The Stables and I could hear every word.

Costume designer Elizabeth Magas has done an excellent job of crafting colorful and whimsical outfits that distinguish the characters at a glance, important outdoors where actors are viewed from a greater distance than usual, and helpful when roles are doubled. Apparently, it is the early 1960’s in France because the Princess and her cohort have Donna Reed frocks for daywear and Mary Tyler Moore capri pants for their hunting expedition.

Deborah Morris has provided a subtle and evocative score. I always enjoy hearing the music wafting through The Dell at these outdoor performances, and this year was no exception.

The small set on the stage area is agreeably designed by Devon Drohan in a rustic and romantic theme. The lighting is provided by Mother Nature. The Dell is nice and shady for the 6 pm performances, but sun block and wide brimmed hats are recommended for the 11 am shows on Saturdays. The evening I attended was relatively bug-free, but insect repellent is always a prudent precaution.

Tickets are reasonably priced at $25 for adults and $10 for youth, and a day trip to Lenox to see The Mount, catch a concert at Tanglewood, do some shopping, and dine at one of the eclectic eateries is always a treat. I highly recommend Love’s Labors Lost for a family outing this summer!

Love’s Labors Lost by William Shakespeare, directed by Kelly Galvin, runs from July 10-August 18, 2018, outdoors in The Dell at The Mount, 2 Plunkett Street in Lenox MA. Vocal coach Gwendolyn Schwinke, set design by Devon Drohan, costume design by Elizabeth Magas, original score by Deborah Morris, stage management by Cindy Wade. CAST: Bella Pelz as Moth, Caitlin Kraft as Boyet, Caroline Calkins as Rosaline, Dara Silverman as Katharine and Sir Nathaniel, Devid Bertoldi as Berowne, Devante Owens as Dumaine, Emily Eldridge-Ingram, Fiona Herter as the Forester, Lori Evans as Holofernes, Luke Haskell as Costard, Madeleine Maggio as Longaville and Jacquenetta, Rory Hammond as the Princess of France, Rylan Morsebach as the King of Navarre, Thomas Reynolds and Don Armado, and Cindy Wade as Marcade.

Tickets for Love’s Labor’s Lost are available online at shakespeare.org, or by calling Shakespeare & Company’s box office at [phone]. The show is family-friendly, general admission, and tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for youth. Performances will run approximately 90 minutes with no intermission, and will be followed by short talk-back with the actors. The Mount is located at 2 Plunkett Street in Lenox, Massachusetts. The grounds open 90 minutes before each performance. Audience members are encouraged to bring chairs or blankets and a picnic; chairs are also available to rent for a fee of $2 per chair.

Rain Policy:

From time to time weather may affect your enjoyment of the performance in the outdoor at the Mount or the Roman Garden Theatre. Most often the show will go on and depending on the severity of the rain, will be performed as scheduled. Performances at the Mount may be held for 20 minutes to see if the rain will let up. If the weather may cause a safety risk for you, the performers, and the staff, the performance will be cancelled.

If a performance is cancelled for any reason, please contact the Box Office within 48 hours of the cancelled performance and choose one of the options listed below.

EXCHANGE– Exchange your ticket for any of our other schedule performances. The Exchange fee will be waived.

DONATE – Show your support for the great work across all of our stages and donate the value of the tickets back to the Festival.

Imagine sitting in a beautiful, verdant shaded dell on a perfect Berkshire summer’s evening. Even though busy Route 7 is in walking distance of where you are sitting, any sound of the traffic is muffled by the majestic old growth trees surrounding you.

[larryland]

Kelly Galvin has been an actress, an educator, a student, an assistant director, and has worked in the box office and the costume shop over her nine seasons with Shakespeare & Company. Now she returns, with a brand new MFA from Boston University in hand, to take up the reins as director of Love’s Labors Lost, being staged this summer outdoors in The Dell at The Mount.

“I am so happy to be back working with this group,” Galvin said. “I’ve had a great experience of being part of the company on many different levels. It feels like a natural next step here at my artistic home.”

Galvin has directed regionally and throughout the country, including this past season’s WAM Theatre MainStage production of The Last Wife, and is familiar to Shakespeare & Company audiences for her roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear, The Venetian Twins, The Winter’s Tale, The Learned Ladies, and Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

Love’s Labors Lost is not a widely produced. It was last performed by Shakespeare & Company in 1999, before they moved to their current Kemble Street campus, on their outdoor Main Stage at The Mount. Current Artistic Director Allyn Burrows played Berowne in that production, and it was his idea to bring it back to the grounds of The Mount in a 90-minute, family friendly version.

The play begins with the King of Navarre dedicating himself and his country to a life of scholarship. The King and his courtiers – Berowne, Longaville, and Dumaine – have made an oath renouncing worldly pleasures and have commanded all the townsfolk of Navarre to do the same. But when the Princess of France and her ladies arrive on a diplomatic visit, the King and his friends find the enticements of summer love more powerful than they had imagined.

“In working to cut the script to 90 minutes, we found that William Shakespeare was sending up the trend in his time for people to use five words when one would do and quoting copiously in Latin. We have no reference for that nowadays, so the jokes weren’t going to land, no matter what,” Galvin explained. “Once those cuts were made the play was already quite condensed. To make it family friendly, we cut out the more archaic jargon, and are playing up the witty word-play and the clowning. Love’s Labors Lost has some of the funniest comedy scenes in the Shakespearean canon.”

(The play also features the single longest word in all of Shakespeare’s plays – honorificabilitudinitatibus – which can be translated as “the state of being able to achieve honors.” Galvin promises it will be pronounced correctly by the character of Costard at every performance. Listen for it!)

“I am excited to get to direct this project exactly because it is family friendly,” Galvin continued. “An 8-year-old can have a great experience, but so can an 80-year-old with a deep knowledge of Shakespeare. Bringing a broad, diverse audience together, gives people a deeper experience and I find that very exciting.”

“This is my first time directing in The Dell,” Galvin explained, “And it is a beautiful challenge. Being out in nature is so inspiring.”

Audience members bring blankets and folding chairs (there are also a few chairs available to rent for $2 a piece), and often picnics, and spread out on the grassy hillside ranging three quarters of the way around the stage proper, although the action can take place anywhere, including in and around the audience itself.

“Oh yes, we’ll be running through the audience,” Galvin laughed. “In Elizabethan theatre you always engage with the audience and we have lots of fun, interactive surprises planned. We have talked about the audience. We are well rehearsed but the audience will change the show, as will the nature around us. If someone from the audience does something, use that. If there is a sudden breeze, breathe it in, go with it.”

“And outdoors we can see the audience, and the audience can see each other and experience each other more deeply. When a kid laughs at a line I never thought of as funny, I can see her and it gives me a new insight.”

“It was challenging rehearsing in last week’s heat wave because the show is very high energy and physically demanding, but we have strategically placed water bottles available and the cast has been building their stamina.”

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But Galvin notes that it is also very challenging in terms of sight lines and acoustics, since there is no predicting how and where exactly the audience will sit, and there is no hard surface beyond the playing area for the actors’ voices to bounce off of.

“We have been working on how to tell the story as clearly as we can visually,” said Galvin, who was still in rehearsals at the time of this interview. “How do we make the voice big enough to convey the hugeness of Shakespeare’s text and also carry? Through working with our Linklater-trained voice coach, Gwendolyn Schwinke, these young actors have really risen to the occasion and are doing a beautiful job of sharing their voice in the space.”

The shows in The Dell are typically cast with younger actors. “This season we have a wonderful cast,” Galvin enthused. “Rory Hammond, daughter of Michael Hammond and Diane Prusha, two actors well known to Shakespeare & Company audiences, who has literally grown up steeped in the work of the Company is a great leader. She is playing the Princess of France, who in turn is a powerful character and very much her own woman. Scholars think that Shakespeare was paying a bit of homage to his monarch, Queen Elizabeth I.”

“David Bertoldi, who plays Berowne has impeccable comic timing and a great rapport with audience. And Rylan Morsbach, who is well known to Berkshire audiences, is bringing fresh energy and a wonderful nerdiness to the role of the King of Navarre.”

The cast also includes Caroline Calkins, Emily Eldridge-Ingram, Lori Evans, Luke Haskell, Fiona Herter, Caitlin Kraft, Madeleine Rose Maggio, Devante Owens, Bella Pelz, Thomas Reynolds, and Dara Silverman. The creative team includes Devon Drohan (Set Design), Elizabeth Magas (Costume Design), Deborah Morris​ (Composer), and Cindy Wade (Stage Manager).

“I fell in love with Shakespeare as a kid seeing the plays performed. I love reading Shakespeare too, but that is not how his plays are intended to be received,” Glavin concluded. “So the opportunity to direct in this space for our widest ranging audience is really special for me

Tickets for Love’s Labor’s Lost are available online at shakespeare.org, or by calling Shakespeare & Company’s box office at [phone]. The show is family-friendly, general admission, and tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for youth. Performances will run approximately 90 minutes with no intermission, and will be followed by short talk-back with the actors. The Mount is located at 2 Plunkett Street in Lenox, Massachusetts. The grounds open 90 minutes before each performance. Audience members are encouraged to bring chairs or blankets and a picnic; chairs are also available to rent for a fee of $2 per chair.

Rain Policy:

From time to time weather may affect your enjoyment of the performance in the outdoor at the Mount or the Roman Garden Theatre. Most often the show will go on and depending on the severity of the rain, will be performed as scheduled. Performances at the Mount may be held for 20 minutes to see if the rain will let up. If the weather may cause a safety risk for you, the performers, and the staff, the performance will be cancelled.

If a performance is cancelled for any reason, please contact the Box Office within 48 hours of the cancelled performance and choose one of the options listed below.

EXCHANGE– Exchange your ticket for any of our other schedule performances. The Exchange fee will be waived.

DONATE – Show your support for the great work across all of our stages and donate the value of the tickets back to the Festival.

Director Kelly Galvin Brings Seldom Produced Love’ Labors Lost to a Wider Audience Kelly Galvin has been an actress, an educator, a student, an assistant director, and has worked in the box office and the costume shop over her nine seasons with…

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Shakespeare & Company Presents "Love's Labor's Lost" Outdoors at The Mount

Shakespeare & Company Presents “Love’s Labor’s Lost” Outdoors at The Mount

(Lenox, MA) – Shakespeare & Company presents William Shakespeare’s comedy Love’s Labor’s Lost, directed by Kelly Galvin and performed outside in The Dell at The Mount, Edith Wharton’s Home. This family-friendly, open-air production featuring Shakespeare & Company Education Artists runs from July 10th – August 18th.

“One of Shakespeare’s very first plays, Love’s Labor’s Lost offers us a glimpse of…

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[larryland]

Shakespeare & Company Presents "Love's Labor's Lost"

Shakespeare & Company Presents “Love’s Labor’s Lost”

(Lenox, MA) – Shakespeare & Company presents William Shakespeare’s comedy Love’s Labor’s Lost, directed by Kelly Galvin and performed outside in The Dell at The Mount, Edith Wharton’s Home. This family-friendly, open-air production featuring Shakespeare & Company Education Artists runs from July 10th – August 18th.

“One of Shakespeare’s very first plays, Love’s Labor’s Lost offers us a glimpse of…

View On WordPress

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by Roseann Cane

During a talk-show interview some years back, Mel Brooks relayed an anecdote about a fight he had with his late wife, Anne Bancroft. The shouting escalated, and Brooks became so frustrated that he grabbed his wife by the shoulders. “How dare you put your hands on my instrument!” Bancroft exclaimed. Brooks paused, and then said, “Can ya play Melancholy Baby?”

Most actors are taught early on to regard their bodies as instruments, that an integral part of their skill set, in addition to the characterizations they create and the dialogue they speak, is the physiological component: breathing, voice, movement. One thing I always look forward to when I attend a Shakespeare & Company play is the troupe’s beautifully honed physicality, the seemingly bottomless well from which their actors of all ages draw their energy and stamina.

 And so it was with the company’s outdoor production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream, which just opened at The Dell at The Mount, Edith Wharton’s home in Lenox. Outdoor theater provides significant challenges to those who perform it. They are at the mercy of Mother Nature and modern technology alike, challenged by changes in weather, low-flying aircraft, unpredictable insects, and an audience less inclined to stay seated and quietly attentive than they would in a more formal indoor theater. I’m delighted to report that the cast and crew of A Midsummer’s Night Dream not only rose to the challenges, but, for the most part, embraced them.

I’ve seen so many productions of this play over the decades that I’ve lost count. Fairly or un-, it’s a little difficult to surprise me. But I knew I was in for something special from the moment my companion and I entered The Dell. Some of the actors casually milled about and greeted audience members as we searched for a spot to place our folding chairs. Because the grounds open 90 minutes before the show begins , the actors have ample time before they dress and prepare for the show, and I found it refreshing that they greeted and exchanged pleasantries with us.

Director Jonathan Croy was charming and low-key as he explained to the audience the fight call exercises the actors were doing. (Duels and other fights in plays are tightly choreographed by experts, and it is customary, and necessary, that the actors have a rehearsal, a “fight call,” before every show.) Another lovely touch, I thought; there’s no reason that people who are not theater professionals would otherwise know this, and I believe it strengthened the bond between audience and cast.

And oh, what a cast! A mix of Shakespeare & Company regulars and newcomers, many of these young actors had participated in the Company’s Northeast Regional Educational tour of the show, and they were engaging, hilarious, and acrobatic. With a few minor exceptions, they made themselves heard and seen despite the expansive outdoor wooded space, a whimpering baby, and the occasional low-flying aircraft. There was one unusually loud and extended flyover during which the actors continued speaking and they were impossible to hear, but I’m sure that the performers are unable to discern the differences between noise levels, so I think it only fair to chalk that up to the vagaries of outdoor theater.

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I was disappointed that I was unable to see a substantial amount of downstage action because of the location of my seat. There is a “blanket zone” (a designated place for those sitting on blankets rather than chairs) right before the stage, and I wonder how many people in rows above that zone missed out on the action, too. This is really my only quibble with the direction; Croy and Douglas Seldin kept the action going at a wonderfully zany pace, expertly weaving contemporary songs, acrobatics, and surprises that are thoroughly engaging. I loved the interactions between actors and audience throughout the play, and in the hope that you will go, I’ll withhold any description.

Thomas Randle is outstanding as a sharply drawn, wickedly funny Puck. He is certainly one of the most fully realized, devilish Pucks I’ve had the pleasure of seeing. Also delightful were Caroline Calkins as Hermia; Madeleine Rose Maggio as Helena; and as the motley group of actors, the Rude Mechanicals, who perform Pyramus and Thisby, Tim Dowd (Nick Bottom), Caitlin Craft (Snug), Rory Hammond (Peter Quince), Mairead Koehler (Tom Snout), Leon Schwendener (Francis Flute), and Dara Silverman (Robin Starveling).

The splendid faeries (David Bertoli as Oberon; Kate Kenney as Titiania; and some aforementioned actors who doubled as faeries, including Rory Hammond and Madeleine Rose Maggio) were a feast for the eyes in their jewel-toned costumes, designed by Govane Lohbauer. All of Lohbauer’s costumes, in fact, a potpourri of period mixes, mostly Edwardian, were stunning and eccentric in the best possible way.

Hats off to director Croy, who also designed sets and sound. While I found the music and sound effects well-chosen, their execution left something to be desired. The sound quality seemed a little ragged, and each time we heard music, it came to an abrupt stop, rather than fading out.

 This family-friendly show, abridged to 90 intermissionless minutes, would be a great introduction to Shakespeare for children. A talk-back with the cast follows the show, and the cast members were friendly and forthcoming. You may bring your own chairs or rent them. You may also bring a blanket to sit in the aforementioned Blanket Zone, which is available a bit later than the rest of the seating area, which opens 90 minutes before the show. Picnics are encouraged. In the event of rain, the company will stop the show and invite you back for no additional charge.

The Shakespeare and Company production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, directed by Jonathan Croy, runs from July-August in The Dell at The Mount, 2 Plunkett Street in Lenox MA. Costume Design by Govane Lohbauer; Vocal Coaches Gwendolyn Schwinke & Ariel Bock; Stage Manager Cindy Wade; Wardrobe Elizabeth Bray CAST: David Bertoldi as Oberon, Caroline Calkins as Hermia, Tim Dowd as Bottom, Lori Evans as Egeus, Rory Hammond as Peter Quince/Cobweb, Luke Haskell as Lysander, Kate Kenney as Titania, Mairead Koehler as Snout, Caitlin Kraft as Hippolyta/Snug, Madeleine Rose Maggio as Hippolyta/Snug, Devante Owens as Theseus, Thomas Randle as Puck, Thomas Reynolds as Demetrius, Leon Schwendener as Flute, Dara Silverman as Philostrate/Starveling.

REVIEW: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in The Dell at The Mount by Roseann Cane During a talk-show interview some years back, Mel Brooks relayed an anecdote about a fight he had with his late wife, Anne Bancroft.