By Cristal Perriello

Looking for a cultural awakening this summer? Look no further than the Redfeather Theatre Company and their fifth annual Worcester Shakespeare Festival at the Memorial Grove Amphitheatre in Green Hill Park.

“We are making Shakespeare accessible ~ in every sense of that term ~ to the people of Central Massachusetts,” said Edward Isser, Director of the Redfeather production A Midsummer Night’s Dream and professor and Chair of the theatre department at the College of the Holy Cross.

The Company operates under the auspices of Holy Cross and is dedicated to bringing Shakespeare to Worcester. This year’s plays are A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night. Both shows are playing Wednesday through Thursday at 7 p.m. from now until August 17.
According to Isser, the lineup for the 2008 Festival is a real crowd pleaser.

“People who are familiar with Shakespeare adore A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night and for folks who have never seen the plays of Shakespeare performed, they are two great introductory pieces,” he said.

Both plays explore the hilarious insanity that occurs when people are madly in love. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a group of frustrated young people run away to seek love and find themselves in a magical forest filled with mischievous fairies. Twelfth Night tells the tale of a young woman who causes comical mayhem when she disguises herself as a man.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream is extremely funny, the language is beautiful and we’re doing fun things with the script that include adding singing and dancing,” said Isser. “We’ve assembled an extraordinary group of actors and a first-rate production team.”

The production crew is made up of college students.

“The Redfeather Theatre Company provides a unique experience for Holy Cross undergraduates who serve as company interns and apprentices,” says Isser.

Students are involved both on and off the stage and are able to make connections in the New England theatre community and augment their professional portfolios. The interns and apprentices serve in every capacity as actors, designers, managers and technicians.

Isser, a faculty member at Holy Cross since 1995, had his humble beginnings.

“I never set foot upon a stage until I went to college and even then I didn’t audition for my first role,” he said. “I looked extremely young when I started school and that first semester they were doing a play that required a 12-year-old boy. Someone came up and asked me, begged me, to help them out. So I did it and got hooked.”

Think Shakespeare is only for the well-to-do and well educated? Isser feels otherwise.

“The works of Shakespeare have the capacity to transform us as individuals on a profound level,” he said. “They enrich our lives, give meaning to our existence and in performance become shared communal experiences.”

The primary goal of the Redfeather Theatre Company is to bring Shakespeare to the community.

“We are conveying the works of Shakespeare to the widest possible audience and bringing people together from a wide range of backgrounds,” said Isser.

Need another reason to hit the park? The company welcomes Mel Cobb as their new Artistic Director ~ a great talent with almost 40 years of knowledge and experience.

“Having Mel Cobb join the company is an extraordinary development that bodes well for this summer and the long-term future of the enterprise,” said Isser.

Cobb will direct Twelfth Night and play the leading role in Isser’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Joan Townsend, who performed in last year’s Redfeather production of Richard III, will take the role of Managing Director.

“Shakespeare wrote for the popular culture ~ comedy, violence, history, romance … he had it all,” said Townsend.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for senior citizens and $5 for students. There are also tickets distributed to needy constituencies.

Visit www.redfeatherco.org for a list of performance dates and more information.

Pics:

 Redfeather Theatre Company – As You Like It (2007) Actress Emily Holmes

 Redfeather Theatre Company – Richard III (2007) Actors (L-R) Bill Taylor and Jason Frank