Running time 2:20
An atmospheric production using illusion as well as emotion
Winner in a tie for the Ushers' Favorite Show Award for March
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Storyline: With prophecies from three witches ringing in his ears and driven by his wife’s ambitions, a Scottish lord kills his King and assumes the throne, only to find that he must commit other murders to keep it. As guilt eats at him and at his wife, he is cornered and killed by one of his own intended victims.

This co-production with the Two River Theater Company had a run at their theater in Red Bank, New Jersey before opening here at the Folger. As a result, the work opening here is well polished and the kinks have been worked out. Why Red Bank? Because that is Aaron Posner's new artistic home. He became the Artistic Director there in 2006 after years at the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia which he co-founded. Having directed over half a dozen productions here at the Folger, Posner's touch has become identifiable to local theater goers, and many of those touches are visible here. There is a clarity of storytelling as well as a fondness for visual effects, and a certain ability to pause for a moment to let a particularly important point or intriguing image sink in to the consciousness before moving on. All of that is on display here, along with his frequent use of masks. Frank Ippolito gets credit for mask design this time out, while Teller is credited for magic design. Which is responsible for some of the puppet-like visages that emerge from the witches' cauldron isn't quite clear, but their impact is. They add images that stick in the mind. Another aspect that adds heft to the evening is the quality of the fights - with full clanging of battle metal - directed by Dale Anthony Girard.

The production isn't all visages and illusions. Mostly it is straight out acting, using a fairly tightened version of Shakespeare's text. With Ian Merrill Peakes providing an increasingly anxiety-ridden Macbeth, Kate Eastwood Norris contributing a notable portrayal of his Lady's descent into madness, and Paul Morella making a smoothly effective Banquo, both in life and in death, the play progresses with a sense of power even when it seems a bit too-predictable. Morella's multiple appearances as Banquo's ghost seem, as they should, to come out of nowhere, at times with a bloodiness that seems a tad too-theatrical. But, then, the play has always been a bloody one, and here that blood flows thin and tomato red.

The production sits solidly on the Folgers' often inhospitable stage with its two pillars that have given designers such fits and such opportunities over the years. Daniel Conway has come to know that embracing those pillars is the secret of turning the space from merely a stage into an environment where a play can play out. Again this time, he uses the pillars to hide some things, emphasize others and facilitate even others. He separates them with a gorgeous gate that seems halfway between wrought iron and climbing vine, encircles them with crowns of thorns and flickering candles, suspends an elevated structure between them for the cauldron which the witches implore to bubble, and attaches a screen to shield percussionist John Kilkenny, multiplying rather than dividing the playing space as he's at it. Only his industrial-looking platforms of steel mesh seem a bit out of time. All is bathed in the dreamy lights of Thom Weaver alternately illuminating the action and cloaking the illusions.

Written by William Shakespeare. Conceived and directed by Teller and Aaron Posner. Magic design by Teller. Magic Consultation by Matthew Holtzclaw. Fight direction by Dale Anthony Girard. Design: Daniel Conway (set) Devon Painter (costumes) Frank Ippolito (masks and effects) Thom Weaver (lights) Karin Graybash (sound) Kenny Wollesen (music composition) T. Charles Erickson (photography) Kate Olden (stage manager). Cast: Jeremy Brown, Ben Cook, Evander Duck, Jr. Eric Hissom, Cleo House, Jr., Joe Isenberg, Scott Kerns, John Kilkenny, Paul Morella, Cody Nickell, Kate Eastwood Norris, Dan Olmstead, Ian Merrill Peakes, Karen Peakes, Benjamin Schiffbauer, Peter Vance, Noel Velez, Andrew Zox.

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Running time 1:40 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a marvelous melding of comedy, pageant and early music
Price range $40-$48
Click here to buy the original script

Storyline: A farcical tale of a man and his wife who steal a sheep from a trio of shepherds and hide it in a feeding trough in a barn merges with the biblical stories of the shepherds who first receive the news of the birth Jesus who can be found wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.

This is not a production of the Folger Theater, the three-play-a-year operation under Artistic Director Janet Alexander Griffin which has been responsible for so many superb theatrical ventures in this house for so many years. This is a production of another organization within the Folger Shakespeare Library's structure, one that we at Potomac Stages don't get to cover very often. The Folger Consort is a chamber music ensemble under Artistic Directors Robert Eisenstein and Christopher Kendall. All three artistic directors are listed in the program for this melding of talents theatrical and musical and Eisenstein is both the musical director of the production and one of the on-stage musicians.

Adaptor/director Mary Hall Surface has accomplished a difficult task, making a five hundred year old performance piece fresh and engaging for an audience not particularly schooled in the mysteries of mystery plays. Mystery plays? Most people probably think this means a mystery to be solved such as an Agatha Christie whodunit. Not so. Mystery plays were written in England for performances outside of churches to bring biblical stories to life for the common man (and woman). The name comes from the Latin word mysterium which may have been a reference to the "mystery of faith" or simply to the guilds of craftsmen who sponsored the performances since mysterium also referred to the mystery of craft.

Twyford doesn't have quite as much of an opportunity to demonstrate her considerable comedic skills as one would want, but what chances she has are well taken and she and Brownstein make a fine couple. Cromie, McDonald and Wilson make a completely charming trio, avoiding excesses on either extreme. They could have gone for Three Stooges style shtick and seemed simply silly, or they could have assumed a professorial seriousness in an effort to re-create a long-lost performance style with what limited historical accuracy could be gleaned from sketchy records. Instead, they simply form a trio of partners and make a connection with the audience with open, honest performance techniques. It works well.

Adapted from the medieval text and directed by Mary Hall Surface. Musical direction by Robert Eisenstein. Choreography by Roberta Gasbarre. Design: Tony Cisek (set) Erin Nugent (costumes) Aaron Cromie (puppets) Andrew Conway (properties) Dan Covey (lights) Carol Pratt (photography) Caitlin McAndrews (stage manager). Cast: Andrew Brownstein, Kate Vetter Cain, Aaron Cromie, Magdalyn Donnelly, Paige Hernandez,  Bob McDonald, Jon Reynolds, Holly Twyford, Chris Wilson. Musicians: Robert Eisenstein. Charles Weaver, Tom Zajac.

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Running time 2:50 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a high-energy, high-spirited production
 of the Bard's romantic comedy
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Storyline: Feuding brothers, young women disguised as young men, faithful servants and court intrigue all come together in the forest of Arden where a Duke has banished his predecessor. One young man, in love with a young woman he believes is still back at the court, pens love letters which he leaves on the trees of the forest. The object of his love, however, has followed him to the forest disguised as a boy. All ends happily when love overcomes adversity, confusion and hatred.

This may well be the lightest of all of Shakespeare's romantic comedies. It may also be one of the most quotable, for all evening long you will recognize phrases that have become part of contemporary speech from "All the world is a stage" to "Men are April when they woo, December when they wed." Its language is not just quotable, it tells its story in clean plot devices with clear explanations and what rhapsodizing that there is is beautiful to listen to. As with all Shakespearean plays, the principal characters inhabit a world filled with unique and often colorful characters, but the success of the play often rests on the lovers Orlando and Rosalind as surely as Romeo and Juliet relies on the star-crossed pair or Hamlet, Lear or Macbeth demand a commanding male star.

As Orlando, Vélez seems to hint at what the role might have been in the hands of either a Matthew Broderick on a Broadway stage or a Ferris Bueller on a high school one, with that unique blend of insouciance and self-amused humor that marked that actor's early years. Vélez' drive to find his love is clear and his ability to let Shakespeare's lines drop effortlessly from his moth is impressive. So to with Quaid, but as fine as the leading lady's language is, it is the moments of inarticulate infatuation that mark her sparkling performance. When love hits, the impact is physical and she's incapable of speech in the way a valley girl giggles uncontrollably when the high school hunk walks by her group at the mall. When she does find her voice, Quaid finds the meter within the verse to make sense of the dialogue. When she dresses as a boy to follow her man (or is that dresses as a man to follow her boy?) she never for a moment holds her pelvis still, emanating an energetic physicality that requires the audience to exert a great will to suspend disbelief and follow the cross dressing plot. Ah, but it is such fun to follow that plot!   

Peppered with supporting roles of note, the play offers the delight of seeing Sarah Marshall in the normally male role of the clown from the Duke's court who travels to the forest with Rosalind. She's just a delight as is Scott McCormick in briefer moments in multiple smaller roles including one that has him pouncing in the garb of a professional wrestler. Joseph Marcell is back in the Potomac Region after notable work at Arena in Gem of the Ocean and the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Romeo and Juliet. Here he is the loyal follower of the deposed Duke, a philosopher of note who even sings of the ages of man. Speaking of singing, Kiah Victoria, who's stage presence was a constant source of magic as Melissa Arctic here four years ago, accompanies the climax of the story from the bridge over the stage. She's in fine voice for this snippet of song although her way with spoken Elizabethan meter early in the play is not so mellifluous. Timmy Ray James makes a smooth "good" Duke to Conrad Feininger's hyperkinetic "bad" Duke. Best of all, however, is the physical assault on the role of the shepherdess who falls in love with Rosalind in her disguise as a boy by Tonya Beckman Ross.

Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Derek Goldman. Design: Clint Ramos (set) Carol Bailey (costumes) Andrew Conway (properties) Dan Covey (lights) André Pluess (original music and sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Che Wernsman (stage manager). Cast: Terrence Currier, Conrad Feininger, Gene Gillette, Michael Grew, Timmy Ray James, Joseph Marcell, Sarah Marshall, Scott McCormick, Matthew McGloin, Amanda Quaid, Jon Reynolds, Tonya Beckman Ross, Miriam Silverman, Jjana Valentiner, Noel Vélez, Kiah Victoria.

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Running time 2:10 - one intermission
A brisk and clear mounting of Shakespeare's magic story
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Storyline: Master magician Prospero, having spent a dozen years marooned on a desert island with his daughter, his slave and an airy spirit he freed from a wicked spell, conjures a storm to wreck the passing ship of the Duke of Milan who usurped his position and set him adrift to die. The crew and passengers survive the wreck and find magic, redemption, romance and happiness in paradise.

Tony Cisek's set consists of three circular platforms, each with patterns mirroring magical symbols that look as if they could be from Tolkien's middle-earth. These patterns are prominent as well on a circular screen at the back of the playing space. John Boesche's film of scudding clouds and swirling ocean swells are projected on that screen, while Marybeth Fritzky, as the spirit Ariel, looks through it from behind. She's never actually on the stage, always watching from above. The feeling of the forces of nature and of her omni-presence is enhanced by Lindsay Jones' combination of music and wind sounds. The cumulative effect of all these touches is a highly atmospheric production.

Michael Rudko plays Prospero in a much lighter, less disturbed tone than many others. He's a bit batty after his dozen years on a desert island, and displays an understandable touch of a Robinson Crusoe in his reactions to the activities of his usurper and his troupe. The delight of the production, however, is the pairing of Mikaal Sulaiman and Erin Weaver as the young lovers. Sulaiman's Ferdinand is the epitome of infatuation from the first moment he sets eyes on Weaver's Miranda, and she returns the compliment with a wide-eyed sense of wonder.

David Emerson Toney makes a strangely detached King of Naples at the head of a strangely aloof group of passengers on the ship whose wreck starts the play. The only one in the group that seems to have much spark is Jim Zidar. There's one pair in Shakespeare's text who get a very different treatment here. Stephano the drunkard and Trinculo the jester, who lead the "savage slave" Caliban astray, have become figments of his own deranged imagination. One is represented by the bottle he carries in one hand, the other simply as his other hand, which he moves like ventriloquist Señor Wences's hand ("close the box!") or a sock puppet. As a result, Todd Scofield, who plays Caliban, is a much less threatening savage.

Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Aaron Posner. Design: Tony Cisek (set) John Boesche (projections) Kate Turner-Walker (costumes) Brett Terrell (properties) Dan Covey (lights) Lindsay Jones (original music and sound) Carol Pratt (photography) Kate Olden (stage manager). Cast: Michael Stewart Allen, Marybeth Fritsky, Michael Rudko, Jefferson A. Russell, Todd Schofield, Mikaal Sulaiman, David Emerson Toney, Erin Weaver, Jim Zidar.

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Running time 2:40 - one intermission
A visually distinctive and often impressive production
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: A king with three daughters decides to divide his kingdom in order to leave each a slice. The size of each slice is to be determined by how much each daughter says she loves him. Two seek the maximum inheritance through flattery but the third maintains that her love is not conditioned on inheritance and she refuses to participate. Infuriated, he disowns her, setting in train a course of events that leads to tragedy, costing the king not just his kingdom but his sanity. All the while, an earl also has difficulties with his children - one evil son and one good one. As the two families' fates intertwine, both fathers loose all they hold dear.

Director Alfred Preisser is the Artistic Director of the Classical Theatre of Harlem where this joint production premiered last September. It is a relatively new classical theater, but has drawn approving attention for its stagings of the tragedies of Shakespeare as well as other classics. Its first season, 1999 - 2000, featured Macbeth and Aristophanes' Lysistrata - both directed by Preisser. Here, he has re-located the legend of Lear from a mythical ancient England to an even more ancient Mesopotamia around the time of Hammurabi, whose profile hangs among the medallions of famous lawgivers in our House of Representatives. His Code of Hammurabi included 282 laws, among them "If a man put another man's eye out, his eye should be put out also." This gives a resonance to the production of Shakespeare's play involving the blinding of the Earl of Gloucester. Preisser stages this with flying fluid as Gloucester's eyeballs are squeezed for maximum horror.

The Mesopotamian theme in Preisser's approach is delivered by a physical design for the production that is different from any Lear you have ever seen. Gone is the garb of old England, replaced by the flowing gowns of an ancient civilization between the Euphrates and the Tigris designed by Kimerly Glennon. Set designer Troy Hourie uses arabesque patterns in the floor and wall coverings to reinforce that feel. The most atmospheric, however, is the contribution of Shayshahn MacPherson who sits above it all on a bridge over the stage playing a collection of percussion instruments. While those instruments are of modern design (timpani, cymbals, etc.) the sound he gets is evocative of a world long past.

While De Shields and Jones make the strongest impressions, they certainly aren't the entire show. Harold Surratt is a supremely satisfying Earl of Gloucester, making his own journey from proud father to suicidal shell of his former self. Danyan Davis holds his own as Jones' sibling, the good son Edgar who masquerades as "Mad Tom." Christina Sajous turns in a nicely tuned performance as Cordelia, the daughter who wouldn't flatter falsely. The other two daughters can seem in some productions as bookends without difference but Chantal Jean-Pierre and Deidra LeWan Starnes create distinctive characters as Goneril and Regan.

Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Alfred Preisser. Design: Troy Hourie (set) Kimberly Glennon (costumes) Aaron Black (lights) Scott Suchman (photography) Che Wernsman (stage manager). Cast: Duane Allen, JJ Area, Jerome Preston Bates, Danyon Davis, André De Sheilds, Chantal Jean-Pierre, Ty Jones, Ian Lockhart, Shayshahn MacPherson, Francis Mateo, Christina Sajous, Ken Schatz, Todd Scofield, Zuanna Sherman, Deidra LaWan Starnes, Harold Surratt.

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Running time 2:20 - one intermission
Fairies, lovers and courtiers set in art deco 1930s
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Storyline: Romantic mix-ups in the court of the Duke of Athens are compounded by the intervention of the King and Queen of the fairies who inhabit the nearby woods, as magic potions intended to make couples fall instantly and completely in love with each other create bonds instead between the wrong partners. Added confusion comes as a wandering troupe of actors gather in the woods to rehearse their play and a mischievous fairy turns one of them into an ass.

Banno isn't limited to ideas of lip-synching. He has a raft of other concepts at play. The highest of them all is the casting of Kate Eastwood Norris as Puck. Puck? Isn't he a boy fairy? No. He's a fairy -- and they aren't necessarily gender based sprites. Norris' Puck is as dramatically acceptable as Mary Martin's or Sandy Duncan's Peter Pan. As we have seen many times on this stage (remember The Two Gentlemen of Verona?) she can be an inspired comic. She doesn't play Puck as a genderless sprite, however. Her Puck is quite clearly both a female and in love with her king, Oberon. It adds an additional layer of texture to a piece which Banno has already textured within an inch of its life. John Lescault and Deboarah Hazlett share the often double cast roles of the Duke and Duchess of Athens and the King and Queen of the Fairies, Oberon and his Titania. Lescault makes a charming Hollywood-ish leading man (think John Gilbert in dressing gown) and Hazlett a bright starlet (think Fay Wray in nightgown).

Often in other productions, the four young lovers involved in the mix and match antics that Shakespeare conceived get to seem interchangeable and, thus, confusing. Not here. Here each seems to top the others as each comes into focus. Briel Banks is distinctly impassioned as Hermia, in love with one but betrothed to another. Marcus Kyd is lively as the one she prefers while Stephanie Burden is joyously clueless as the girl in the "third man out" position. Oh, but it is Tim Getman who really shakes things up. Seeming so officiously overconfident of his position to start, when the fairies work their magic on him he awakes to become the comic engine of the show. When Getman and Kyd climb over each other in a knock down drag out struggle, one wonders if this should be credited to the choreographer, a fight director, the director or the performers themselves. No matter, it is just pure fun.

David Marks' rendition of Nick Bottom, who is transformed into an ass, is in the time honored tradition of playing the character as something of an ass even before the transition. The final performance by him and his little band of players does seem to go on way too long. But, then, it comes at the end of an evening where every bright idea seems to have been indulged to within an inch of the line of too much ... and, sometimes, just an inch beyond.

Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Joe Banno. Choreographed by Peter DiMuro. Design: Erhard Rom (set) Kate Turner-Walker (costumes) Michelle Elwyn (properties) Dan Covey (lights) Neil McFadden (sound) Carol Pratt (photography) Taryn J. Colberg (stage manager). Cast: Briel Banks, Bob Barr, Stephanie Burden, Ralph Cosham, Megan Dominy, Catherine Flye, Tim Getman, Deborah Hazlett, Annie Houston, Marcus Kyd, Jan Knightley, John Lescault, David Marks, Kate Eastwood Norris, Roxi Trapp-Dukes, Rachel Zampelli.

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Reviewed April 13
Running time 2:15 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a rollicking good time
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: In the age of France's Louis XV a marriage is arranged between two socially prominent families. The couple has never met before.  When the groom comes to meet the bride, he decides to switch identities with his servant so he can observe his bride-to-be without her knowledge. Unbeknownst to him, she has adopted the same trick, switching identities with her maid. Love blossoms, but who ends up with whom?

This translation/adaptation of the play by Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux is by the same Steven Wadsworth who made Molière's Don Juan, which he directed in his own adaptation at the Shakespeare Theatre earlier this year, so enjoyable. One can only say "keep them coming," for both have proven to be hugely entertaining. Like Molière, Marivaux uses broad comedy to deliver social commentary. But, unlike Molière, who preceded him by half a century, his work was most successful in the Comédie Française with its lighter, more formalized style. Wadsworth retains some of the sense of that style but seems acutely aware that his audience is a modern one not intimately familiar with the conventions of nearly three hundred years ago. He does what Marivaux tried to do then, give contemporary audiences a good time. (There is a brief thumbs up gesture, however, that seems all together too contemporary.)

Peakes last impressed on this stage in a much more serious role, the evil Angelo in Measure for Measure. Here he is in a jovial mode with physical comedy and bright expressions to spare. James, as the father-in-law-to-be, and Dunn, as James' son, keep a subplot of family intrigue galloping along while Ross throws in a slew of sideways glances and flippantries that delight. Neither Montelongo nor Chanel quite match the rest of the cast in comic energy but both serve as effective foils and Chanel does light up a few romantic moments quite nicely.

The bright pastels of the lime-green stucco stairway set with its sinuous curves so suitable to the Louis XV style and the silk and satin creations that bespeak the social standing of the characters are brightly lit so that the entire package sparkles. Sound cues are a bit abrupt but the choice of accompanying music enlivens the evening.

Written by Pierre de Marivaux. Translated and adapted by Stephen Wadsworth. Directed by Richard Clifford. Design: Tony Cisek (set) Kate Turner-Walker (costumes) Katherine Osborne (properties) Dan Covey (lights) Neil McFadden (sound) Carol Pratt (photography) Jess W. Speaker III (stage manager). Cast: Tymberlee Chanel, James O. Dunn, Timmy Ray James, Matthew Montelongo, Ian Merrill Peakes, Tonya Beckman Ross.

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Reviewed January 22
Running time 2:20 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for notable direction of a normally problematic play
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: The Duke of Vienna turns over the reigns of government to a regent, trusting him to bring order to the city that has become too open under his own lenient approach. But the Duke remains in the area disguised as a friar in order to see how things are going. When he finds that the regent has succumbed to the temptation to misuse the power given him, the Duke plots to right some of the wrongs before retaking power. He finds it isn't as easy to undo mistakes as it might have seemed.

We've seen Aaron Posner rise to the occasion when a playwright gives him a good start, but not necessarily all the material needed for a great evening of theater. At Theater Alliance he took Hamvai's Headsman's Holiday and held the audience's attention from start to end. Here at Folger he made magic with Craig Wright's sometimes problematic Melissa Arctic and is in the process of building an impressive body of work in the cannon of Shakespeare's plays including a strikingly dramatic Othello with Craig Wallace and the fabulously funny The Two Gentlemen of Verona with Lucy Newman-Williams, Kate Eastwood Norris and Holly Twyford. Now Posner puts his stamp on Measure for Measure and that stamp is an effective one indeed. He doesn't try to hide the heavy elements behind light, airy humor. Instead, he gives the darker elements of the story the prominence found in the text and uses broad, even bawdy humor and some tremendously inventive puppetry to underline the messages and meanings. The result isn't actually a comedy. But, then, neither is the  original text what most would consider especially comedic.

Another Aaron is crucial to the success of Aaron Posner's conception. Aaron Cromie designed the puppets which, more than anything else, solve the problem of the preposterous plot point of the Duke of Vienna wandering around among members of his own nobility without being recognized. Mark Zeisler plays the role with admirable heft, never adopting a demeaning, less-than-ducal demeanor. However, all the time that he is supposedly "disguised" as a simple friar, he carries a two-third's life size puppet of himself which he manipulates to great effect. This gives all the other character a "being" to address in dialogue that is but isn't the duke - making their failure to see through his ruse quite believable. Ian Merrill Peakes returns to the Folger as the evil Angelo to whom the Duke has relinquished power, and David Marks delivers a marvelously comic clown as the pimp Pompey. Adding a touch of sexual chemistry to the mix are Mark J. Sullivan and Marybeth Fritzky as the lovers whose pre-marital activities trigger much of the plot.

Zeisler isn't the only one with one of Cromie's puppets enhancing a character. Cromie has contributed over half a dozen nearly people size puppets, each a bit more inventive than the last. They give the entire production a sense of fantasy that allows the plot to work, while advancing rather than diverting attention from the story. Devon Painter contributes costumes, some echoed nicely in the puppet's garb, and Daniel Conway, as he almost always does, makes the constricted space of the Folger's Elizabethan Theatre into a world that fits the play. All the elements contribute to a unified look and feel for the production and that is the mark of a fine piece of work by the director.

Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Aaron Posner. Design: Daniel Conway (set) Devon Painter (costumes) Aaron Cromie (puppets) Michelle Elwyn (properties) John Hoey (lights) Neil McFadden (sound) Carol Pratt (photography) Laura Smith (stage manager). Cast: Bob Barr, Marybeth Fritsky, David Marks, Tony Nam, Michele Osherow, Ian Merrill Peakes, Karen Peakes, Todd Scovield, Mark J. Sullivan, David Emerson Toney, Craig Wallace, Mark Zeisler.

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Reviewed October 26
Running time 2:40 - one intermission
Shakespeare's comedy is moved to Post WW II England in a highly entertaining production
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: Confusion reigns over who loves whom as the Governor welcomes soldiers back from war. Overheard plots are misunderstood and disguised assignations result in a jealous groom rejecting the Governor’s daughter at the altar under the false impression that she has already been unfaithful to him. She appears to die of the shame of it all. A counter-rouse is set up to expose the slander as a falsehood. Through it all, the Governor’s niece and a returning soldier continue the battle of words they fought before the war. It all ends just before a multiple wedding, leaving the audience to wonder if this time it will all go as planned.

The most marvelous performance is by Jim Zidar who makes the small clownish part of the word-mangling constable who out malaprops Richard Sheridan's Mrs. Malaprop hysterical. He believes he has foiled a nefarious plot ("our watch, sir, hath indeed comprehended two aspicious persons"). It is a part that has defeated lesser comics, for the string of misused words is so long that the gag can seem strained. Not here. The key to his success is the earnestness of his characters' desire to impress. He can deliver himself of a jumbled phrase such as "O villain! thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this" with such conviction and clarity that the intended meaning is as clear as the comic error. Of course, any good comedian relies on his straight man, and here Zidar is blessed with the blissful innocence of Richard Mancini as his second in command, who obviously believes his superior is the finest, brightest and smartest man he knows. He beams with delight over every pompous malapropism.

The stronger of the two intertwined plotlines is the one involving the battle between the sharp tongues of the niece and the soldier. There are two ways to approach this pairing. Either play them as the precursor of Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in comedies by Garson Kanin, or as an early version of combatants such as Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler in the drama by Margaret Mitchell. Kate Eastwood Norris, whose portrayal of the niece at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton was such a well balanced delight, and P.J. Sosko place the emphasis on the feisty comedy. They address many of their barbs directly to the audience, bringing us in to their confidence. Theirs are the two other superb performances of the evening. The second story, that of the wedding interrupted by the charge of infidelity, fares less well in the hands of Dean Alai and Tiffany Fillmore. Fillmore certainly looks great as the ingénue/bride, but there's little connection between the two, and Dean can't overcome some of the more unbelievable inconsistencies in his part. 

James Kronzer provides the London setting which begins with WWII sandbags and blackout curtains all around and ends bright and lively under Dan Covey's effective lighting plot. Indeed, the effect at the top of the show, when the war ends and the blackout curtains are pulled down, is perhaps the finest visual effect.

Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Nick Hutchison. Design: James Kronzer (set) Kate Turner Walker (costumes) Elizabeth Johnson (properties) Dan Covey (lights) Martin Dejardins (sound & original music) Carol Pratt (photography) Kate Olden (stage manager). Cast: Dean Alai, James Beard, Nathaniel P. Claridad, James Denvil, Tiffany Fillmore, Beth Hylton, Timmy Ray James, Jim Jorgensen, Liz Mamana, Richard Mancini, Tel Monks, David Mullins, Kate Eastwood Norris, P.J. Sosko, Patrick Tansor, Tryphena Wade, Jim Zidar.

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Reviewed April 20
Running time 2:55 - one intermission
Great performers try hard to bring a dull story to life
 Click here to buy the script

Storyline: This eighteenth century comedy deals with a father trying to arrange financially advantageous marriages for his two daughters, one shrewish, the other pretty, charming and secretly already married to a romantic but poor young man. Things deteriorate when the shrew's fiancé falls for the pretty one instead and enlists his elderly uncle to assist in arranging a switch, but his uncle also falls for the younger, prettier one.

The last time Richard Clifford directed a show at Folger, it was the delightful production of All's Well That Ends Well. He solved the problems of that Shakespearian "problem play." Here he takes on a play with even more problems and they seem to resist his skill at diverting attention from weaknesses and emphasizing strengths. The weakness of the script is the ton of exposition that weighs down its first hour. While the audience waits for funny, charming and interesting things, it gets earnest discussions of the marital, social and financial standings of characters, some of whom have yet to be introduced on stage. By the time some entertaining material comes along, it is time for intermission which stifles any momentum the evening has begun to develop.

The cast has so many stellar performers - Lawrence Redmond (Saint Joan, South Pacific) Catherine Flye (The Russian National Postal Service, Sea Marks) Michael Tolaydo (Sea Marks) Aubrey Deeker (Mary's Wedding, The Cripple of Inismaan) Susan Lynskey (Proof, The Cripple of Inismaan) Ted van Griethuysen (practically everything he's done) - that the anticipation has been great while waiting for the show to open. None of them disappoint, but then again, none of them are able to overcome for long the weight of the flood of plot details each is called upon to deliver. Each has moments, however. There's Lynskey's ability to turn the simple words "you know" into a feline meow, Redmond's prancing posture and kiss-kiss gestures, Tolaydo's inhalations that seem like a snorting bull only in reverse, and practically everything van Griethuysen does from primping in a mirror to recognizing a stirring in his loins.

The play which dates to 1766 is remembered primarily because it was co-written by the memorable David Garrick whose acting style revolutionized performances on the British stage of his day, and who, as a producer and theater operator, affected the styles of theater for decades. Set designer Tony Cisek provides a pastel pastiche of the stage of Garrick's time, and Kate Turner-Walker has designed wardrobes to match which include both the sumptuous and the silly. Van Griethuysen is decked out in the most elegant garb while Tolaydo's "best suit" seems like a seventeenth century test pattern. Under Nancy Schertler's bright, warm lighting and to the sound of Tony Angelini's tinkling harpsichord music, the world of King George's London comes to life, but the play which marked the end of David Garrick's long career never does.

Written by David Garrick and George Colman. Directed by Richard Clifford. Design: Tony Cisek (set) Kate Turner-Walker (costumes) Melanie Clark (properties) Nancy Schertler (lights) Tony Angelini (sound) Carol Pratt (photography) Jess W. Speaker III (stage manager). Cast: Lindsay Allen, Ian C. Armstrong, Chris Davenport, Aubrey Deeker, Catherine Flye, Susan Lynskey, Shannon Parks, Ian Merrill Peakes, Lawrence Redmond, Jenna Sokolowski, Michael Tolaydo, Ted van Griethuysen, Jack Vernon.

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Reviewed January 22
Running time 3:05 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a fine pair of leads in an energetic, physical production
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: In Verona at the end of the sixteenth century, Romeo Montague falls in love with Juliet Capulet and they secretly marry just as their families’ feud hits its peak. Romeo is banished for killing Juliet’s cousin and Juliet is promised to another. In a ruse to avoid that fate she takes a potion that leaves her seeming to be dead but Romeo, not having received the message explaining the plan, believes she is dead and kills himself. When she awakes to find her lover dead she, too, takes her own life. The families, with grief on both sides, reconcile.

This production alternates bursts of youthful energy with the tenderest of romantic emotions underlayed with the raging hormones of puberty. The chemistry between Hamilton and Lowrance is palpable and their scenes together are marvelous. The famous balcony scene, however, belongs to Lowrance who bubbles through the discovery of requited love with all the bouncy energy of a prototypical valley girl without diminishing either the beauty of Shakespeare's language or the passion building within her budding breast. Later, when Nancy Robinette brings word of Romeo's plans for their marriage, she tops even the earlier bounciness in total inability to contain herself. Her tender moments are tender indeed as well, and Hamilton's moments with other boys his own age are filled with the macho posture of youngsters of that age in any century.

There is a very strong supporting cast as well. Craig Wallace is an elemental force as the "moved Prince who demands peace in his city, Nancy Robinette a delight as the fluttery nurse, Julie-Ann Elliot and Andrew Long make find partners as the Capulet parents, Edward Gero is a twinkle-eyed Friar Lawrence drawn into a more serious demeanor as events sour, while James Konicek adds another entry to his growing list of memorable appearances in small parts. These adults are all marvelous, but the energy driving this production is that of Michael Urie's Mercutio, Gene Gellette's Tybald and the rest of the Capulet and Montague teenagers, teaming with the vigor and vitality unique to that age.

Tony Cisek's set is primarily a scaffold over which the youths scamper both in swashbuckling sword combat and in romantic escapades. Dan Covey's lighting creates many different atmospheres on this structure although the staging of the bedroom scene for the newlyweds' only night together places them in peculiar shadows at unfortunate moments. Fabian Obispo provides a score of incidental music that is cinematic in its approach, underscoring some of the tenderest moments to heighten the impact. Usually stage blood is supplied by the properties designer and if that is the case in this production, Melanie Clark had her work cut out for her for Paparelli uses copious quantities of the stuff to very good effect, indeed.

Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by PJ Paparelli. Capulet Ball choreographed by Septime Webre. Fight direction by Paul Dennhardt. Design: Tony Cisek (set) Miranda Hoffman (costumes) Melanie Clark (properties) Dan Covey (lights) Fabian Obispo (sound and music) Carol Pratt (photography) Taryn J. Colberg (stage manager). Cast: Miles Butler, Saskia de Vries, Julie-Ann Elliott, Edward Gero, Gene Gillette, Graham Hamilton, Bobby Booth Kogan, James Konicek, Michael Leibenluft, John Lescault, Ian Lockhart, Andrew Long, Nicole Lowrance, Christopher Luggiero, Nancy Robinette, Matthew Schneck, Kate Siegelbaum, Tyee Tilghman, Michael Urie, Craig Wallace.

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Reviewed November 14
Running time 2:20 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for superb clowning
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: All may not really be fair in love. Two young men find their affection for each other strained by conflicts over affairs of the heart. All is well when each has a love of his own but when one becomes smitten with the other's and tries to win her with less than honorable tactics, deceit creates complications of its own until the ruse is revealed - can friendship survive such treachery?

Aaron Posner explores the complexities and, frankly, the inadequacies of the text of this very early piece by Shakespeare by using the clowning of the Newman-Williams/Norris/Twyford trio to isolate and energize each incident in this episodic play. This delivers the essential plot information quickly without seeming to be a digression and turns potential dull spots into comic highlights. It also serves to spotlight the human qualities of the lovers.

Ian Merrill Peakes is impressively impassioned as the less than chivalrous young man whose heart is won in an instant (with a carefully timed cue from lighting designer Dan Covey). His soliloquies, some of Shakespeare's most earnest love poetry, are cleanly delivered, while his part in the comedy of the evening is nicely played. His real-life wife Karen Peakes is the girl he jilts, preferring the golden-tressed Heidi Armbruster. Brian Hamman is the wronged friend whose allegiance is tested.

As satisfying as the two couples are, however, it is the trio of ladies playing everyone else that makes this production unique. Taking on large and small roles, they are the engine that drives the evening. Each is frequently very funny but also delivers secondary characters effectively. Newman-Williams is the Duke who wants his daughter to marry the suitor of his choice played with strutting style by Kate Eastwood Norris. Both are masked for these roles but manage to create expressions through posture and gesture. Twyford proves herself a classic clown without the use of a mask for many of her parts . . . unless you count large dog ears and tiny dog nose as a mask. (Her delivery of the single line "woof" is exquisite.) The multiple-faced masks for the trio as they play a band of six outlaws are ingenious. The success of that effect is as much a tribute to the movement design of Patty Gallagher as it is to mask designer Cromie. Voices are a bit muffled by the masks but the scene works so beautifully that no one could possibly mind.

Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Aaron Posner. Mask and movement direction by Patty Gallagher.  Design: Daniel Conway (set) Kate Turner-Walker (costumes) Aaron Cromie (masks) Linda S. Evans (properties) Dan Covey (lights) Kevin Hill (sound) Carol Pratt (photography) Jess W. Speaker, III (stage manager). Cast: Heidi Armbruster, Brian Hamman, Lucy Newman-Williams, Kate Eastwood Norris, Ian Merrill Peakes, Karen Peakes, Holly Twyford.

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April 14 - May 23, 2004
The Comedy of Errors

Reviewed April 18
Running time 2 hours 5 minutes
t A Potomac Stages Pick for just pure fun

Storyline: While set in modern day Brooklyn, this fantastically fun farce follows Shakespeare's text which was based on a Greek comedy by Plautus. A gentleman of Syracuse is condemned to die when captured but his story touches the Duke’s heart. The story is that he and his wife had identical twin sons. A pair of identical twin slaves born at the same time were assigned as servants to the boys. While on a trip the family was separated as their ship sank with one twin and his slave going with the father and the other with his slave going with the mother. The father raised his one son in Syracuse not knowing that the mother had raised the other son in Ephesus. The father has come following one pair who have gone searching for the other, not knowing that it was a capital crime for a citizen of Syracuse to enter the city of Ephesus. As the play continues, each of the sons is mistaken for the other while their slaves likewise can’t be told apart.

The storyline paragraph above is somewhat more detailed than we normally provide because the more you know of Shakespeare's original the more fun this version is. Shakespeare provided the basic information to set up the farce in an introductory scene that Banno has set around the table of an Italian restaurant as the duke - a dapper Bill Hamlin - downs a plate of spaghetti while guarded by the perfect laconic henchman, Tom Quinn. It is a perfect set up to the gags to come.

But the fun really gets going when Eric Sutton makes his entrance as the first of the two twin slaves - "Dromio of Syracuse" (you know he's the Dromio from Syracuse because he is wearing a Syracuse University tee shirt). No one in this hard working cast works half as hard as does Sutton and his energy level is contagious. He seems to be having the time of his life, especially during one exquisite scene when he takes the microphone in a standup comedy style routine and, when one gag fails to get the rise he expected, turns to the audience to demand "who penned this stuff?"

Tony Cisek's set again puts the troublesome pillars that break up Folgers' stage to good advantage as he creates a set that is part Laugh-In party wall, part Brooklyn brownstone street scene and part disco. Kathleen Geldard's costumes contain more sight gags than you can shake a stick at and Dan Covey manages to find a way to up-light a disco dance.  It is all in the spirit of fun which is the essence of this spirited romp.

Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Joe Banno. Design: Tony Cisek (set) Kathleen Geldard (costumes) Dan Covey (lights) Scott Burgess (sound) Angelica Graham (stage manager). Cast: Clinton Brandhagen, Cesar A. Guadamuz, Bill Hamlin, Cam Magee, Tracy Lynn Olivera, Marni Penning, Tom Quinn, KenYatta Rogers, Arthur Rowan, Michael Russotto, Erica Sheffer, Eric Sutton.

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Reviewed January 28
Running time 2 hours 15 minutes
t A Potomac Stages Pick for emotional
warmth and one magical performance

Storyline: Built on the basic plot of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, the play is set in the modern-day small Minnesota town of Pine City. It starts in 1970 as a barber suffers something of a breakdown, rejecting his wife and daughter. A car accident costs the wife her life and the daughter is abandoned to the tender mercies of a farmer who raises her to appreciate the wonders of the world. Eighteen years later, just as she was in Shakespeare’s version, the man’s wife is restored to him, but here it is more miraculous than in the Bard’s.

Wright takes great liberties with Shakespeare, creating what is an entirely new play, and he makes no effort to echo or mimic either iambic pentameter or blank verse, writing in a lyrical, modern voice. He places it in Pine City which is where some of his previous plays, including The Pavilion, were set. He gives us more information about this mythical place than we have had before. Now we know that it has five protestant churches, ten bars and one “nut house.” For this play, he strikes a balance somewhere between the luminous lyricism of The Pavilion and the darker, more disconcerting Orange Flower Water.

The performance that may linger in the mind the longest is that of young Kiah Victoria, who includes a Broadway stint as young Nala in The Lion King in her biography. She is on stage practically throughout the play, observing the events and giving them importance by her attention. Her poised stage presence adds a supernatural, magical feel to the evening. There are fine performances by Ian Merrill Peakes as the husband/father whose breakdown sets the story in motion, and David Marks as the free spirit who raises the abandoned daughter. Those who attend because this is the latest performance of Holly Twyford may be a bit disappointed - not because her performance is anything less than you’d expect from this two-time Helen Hayes Award winner but because her part is relatively small.

Set designer Tony Cisek has managed to create yet another fresh look for this challenging space, and lighting designer Dan Covey modifies the mood with grace. But it is the costumes of Kate Turner-Walker that really set the tone for the show. From overalls to parkas, they make the most of the opportunities in this new script.

Written by Craig Wright. Directed by Aaron Posner. Musical Direction by James Sugg. Design: Tony Cisek (set) Kate Turner-Walker (costumes) Shannon Thomas Kennedy (properties) Dan Covey (lights) James Sugg (sound) Carol Pratt (photography) Annica Graham (stage manager).  Cast: Kelly AuCoin, Miriam Liora Ganz, Dori Legg, David Marks, Ian Merrill Peakes, James Sugg, Mark Sullivan, Kyle Thomas, Holly Twyford, Kiah Victoria, Michael Willis.

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Reviewed November 13
Running time 2 hours 40 minutes
t Potomac Stages Pick

Storyline: By curing the dying King of France, the daughter of a doctor earns the right to marry the courtier of her choice, but the man of her dreams only takes her to the alter, not to his bed or his heart. He's so blind to her charms he says he'll only respect the marriage if she can bear him his heir. She follows him on a trip to Italy where he tries to seduce one of the local girls. Switching with the girl he desires, she goes to his bed, conceives his child and win's her place at his side.

Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Richard Clifford. Design: Tony Cisek (set) Kathleen Geldard (costumes) Shannon Thomas Kennedy (properties) Dan Covey (lights) Mark K. Anduss (sound) Taryn J. Colberg (stage manager). Cast: Mando Alvarado, John Dow, Ted Feldman, Catherine Flye, Rick Foucheux, Daniel Frith, James Ginty, Rick Hammerly, David Bryan Jackson, Naomi Jacobson, Dallas Darttanian Miller, Suzanne Richard, Erika Sheffer, Jason Stiles, Anne Stone, Holly Twyford.

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Reviewed March 25
Running time 2 hours 10 minutes
t Potomac Stages Pick

Storyline: In the late days of her rein of over 40 years, England’s Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, struggles with the demands of her throne and the desires of her heart.  Her favorite, the soldier Lord Essex, is as ambitious as she is but she is the one with the crown. She dispatches him to quell disturbances in Ireland but communications of the day and plots in the court led to a breach, and his impatience leads to treason. Her duty as a monarch supersedes the desires of her heart as she sends him off to the tower and waits to hear the sound of the ax fall on his neck.

Last season Richard Clifford directed the bright and light comedy She Stoops to Conquer  written in 1773.  Now he takes on a work of the absolute opposite character, an intriguing psychological history play written in 1930 but in a style of language that feels just right for events now 400 years old. Maxwell Anderson’s play is in verse but it is the blank verse of Elizabethan theater. Clifford directs his cast to put meaning before meter, resulting in a performance style that works well on the modern ear. He also draws out the humor of the debates between interests, for the court of this monarch is a place where wits are tested and wit is valued.

Set designer Tony Cizek has created a gleaming metal environment for the Court of the Queen but, unlike the rusted metallic cistern that we recently saw for the subterranean prison in Man of La Mancha, this is a highly polished brushed aluminum look, accented with brass representations of the heraldry of the court. It is a place of wealth and power. Shimmering in Dan Covey’s distinctive lighting, it sets up a sumptuous but nearly monochrome feel reinforced by the darkly opulent costumes of the courtiers. It is all a setup for Learned’s entrance in the Queen’s red velvet and bejeweled finery which literally ignites the production.

Learned’s Elizabeth is in command and she commands the attention of every eye in the house, so it is impressive that Kildare can get his characterization of Essex across. It is doubly impressive because Essex is not supposed to be any match for Elizabeth. Kildare shows Essex’s pride, petulance, ambition and impatience in revealing touches that work with, rather than against, Learned’s royal dominance. As a result, the lines of simultaneous attraction and suspicion between the two are like magnetic forces attracting and repelling at the same time. The final image of Elizabeth alone and distraught on her throne is a triumph of Learned’s accomplishment in this portrayal but it is all the more effective because the room seems so empty without Kildare’s Essex.

Written by Maxwell Anderson. Directed by Richard Clifford. Design: Tony Cisek (set) Brenda Plakans (costumes) Dan Covey (lights) Scott Burgess (music and sound) Linda S. Evans (properties) Carol Pratt (photography) Marjie Hashmall (stage manager). Cast: Michael Learned, Martin Kildare, Gary Sloan, Ann Bowles, Elliot Dash, Jeremiah Wiggins, John Lescault, Ralph Cosham, Rick Foucheux, Sam Elmore, Michael Glenn, Jason Lott, Sam McCready, Tim Getman, Jessica Cerullo.

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Reviewed May 15
Running time 2 hours 40 minutes
t Potomac Stages Pick

Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Aaron Posner. Design: Tony Cisek (set) Brenda Plakans (costumes) Jennifer Peterson (properties) Dan Covey (lights) John M. Gurski (fight choreography) Scott Burgess (music and sound). Cast: Craig Wallace, Suli Holum, Trey Lyford, Holly Twyford, Lawrence Redmond, Scot McKenzie, Dwayne Nitz, Richard Price, Thomas Ouellette, Eric Singdahlsen, Kimberly Gilbert, Scott Burgess.

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Reviewed February 27
Running time 2 hours 40 minutes
t Potomac Stages Pick

Written by Oliver Goldsmith. Directed by Richard Clifford. Design: Tony Cisek (set) Mary Ann Powell (costumes) Dan Covey (lights) Scott Burgess (music and sound.) Cast: Kate Eastwood Norris, David Fendig, Scot McKenzie, Catherine Flye, Ralph Cosham, Bruce Nelson, Kosha Engler, Danny Ladmirault, Eric Bloom, Michael Skinner, Harry Winter Diane Cooper-Gould.

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Running time 2 hours 35 minutes

Tony Cisek has provided another memorable setting for the challenging space of the Folger’s stage, with massive sliding windowed french doors altering the playing space for each scene. Don Covey lights it in a highly effective combination of cold whites and shadows and eerie greenish glow. Scott Burgess’s sound design is a bit hyperactive in the sound effects department but his guitar incidental music between scenes is evocative and completes the feel of Banno’s Louisiana setting perfectly.