Shakespeare's MACBETH Announced This Fall At Orlando Shakes

William Shakespeare's Macbeth, produced by Orlando Shakes in partnership with UCF, runs from October 9 - November 24, 2019. Tickets (starting at $30) are available now by phone (407) 447-1700 ext. 1, online at orlandoshakes.org, or in person at the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center (812 East Rollins Street).

"Something wicked this way comes." Experience a visually striking production of Shakespeare's Scottish play in an intimate setting. Blind ambition and twisted prophesy lead Macbeth to murder the Scottish king and seize the throne. An impulse for destruction and a loose grip on sanity define Lord and Lady Macbeth's foothold on power that can only end in tragedy.

"I love the way a subtly different performance of one gesture can radically change the meaning of the text it accompanies and I like the puzzle of inventing the movement vocabulary that is necessary to cast a spell or conjures ghosts. Dance can convey the passage of time, the temperature of fear, and the havoc of the heart in the moment of first attraction," says Choreographer Christina McCarthy. "Because our work is based in an ephemeral staging style that relies only on the actor and the text with minimal support from abstract scenery and costuming, we use a lot of physically embodied images that tell the audience where we are, what time of day it is, and finish the story with layers of content that are normally addressed by externalities. We do this through the actors' bodies to help us see the whole world being created on stage."

Orlando Shakes' Macbeth features:

· Christian Ryan* as Macbeth & Ensemble. Ryan returns to Orlando Shakes where he has played Berowne in Love's Labour's Lost, Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, and Lucentio in The Taming of the Shrew. Theater credits include: Will Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love at Capital Rep; The Chekhov Dreams on Theater Row; Twelfth Night at Westport Playhouse; The Great Gatsby, The Taming of the Shrew, and Timon of Athens at Alabama Shakes; NC Shakes, Kentucky Shakes; The Flea; Drama League. Ryan also has a longstanding collaboration with British playwright Ross Howard and together they won the 2013 Samuel French Play Fest with Frisky and the Panda Man. Other New York productions with Ross Howard include: Picture Ourselves in Latvia (Access Theater), No One Loves Us Here (Urban Stages), and Our Walk Through the World. Film: Dementia 13 from NBC/Universal. He studied acting with William Esper.

· Lucy Lavely* as Lady Macbeth & Ensemble. Favorite credits include: Possessing Harriet (Elizabeth Cady Stanton, world premiere, Syracuse Stage) The Jedi Handbook (Adirondack Theatre Fest), Macbeth (Theatre at Monmouth), The White Snake (Baltimore Center Stage), Other Desert Cities, Grapes of Wrath, Romeo & Juliet (Asolo Repertory Theatre), One Man Two Guvnors (Pioneer Theatre Co.), The Taming (Shakespeare & Co.), Showpony (reading, Capital Rep). Featured on the L'Oreal Paradise Mascara National Campaign 2019. Lavely is a New York City based artist and a member of AEA & SAG/AFTRA. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame (BA) & FSU/Asolo Conservatory (MFA), Lavely is the Producing Artistic Director of the Night Shift Theatre Company, host of Drunken Shakespeare, and licensed NYC tour guide.

The cast also features Kenny Babel* as Duncan & Ensemble, Walter Kmiec as Banquo & Ensemble, Adam Reilly as Malcolm & Ensemble, Suzanne O'Donnell as Ross & Ensemble, Lorena Cohea as Lady Macduff & Ensemble, Johnathan Arvelo as Lennox & Ensemble, and Cameron Gray as First Murderer & Ensemble.

Director Irwin Appel is Professor and Chair of the Department of Theater and Dance at UC Santa Barbara. As a professional director, Equity actor and composer/sound designer, he has worked with Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Shakespeare Festival/LA, the New York, Oregon, Utah, New Jersey and Colorado Shakespeare Festivals, The Acting Company, Theatre For a New Audience, Hartford Stage, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, PCPA, both The National Theatre Conservatory and Colorado New Play Summit at the Denver Center of the Performing Arts, the Bread Load Acting Ensemble, and other prominent regional theaters. . Most recently, he acted the role of Pandarus in Troilus and Cressida in the Czech Republic with the Prague Shakespeare Company at the renowned Estates Theatre where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni in 1787. He is the founder of Naked Shakes producing Shakespeare's plays at UCSB and on tour since 2006. He has also has led workshops and lectured about Naked Shakes in China, Greece, Switzerland, Poland, and Czech Republic. He is a graduate of Princeton University and the Juilliard School.

The artistic team also includes Choreographer Christina McCarthy, Scenic Designer & Costume Designer Ann Sheffield, Lighting Designer Kevin Griffin**, and Stage Manager George Hamrah. Sound design by Irwin Appel, with additional sound design by George Hamrah.

*Member of Actors' Equity Association
**Member of United Scenic Artists

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION AND RELATED EVENTS

Preview Dates: October 9 &10 at 7:30 p.m.

Opening Date: October 11 at 7:30 p.m.

Senior Matinees: October 16, 23, & 30 and November 6 & 13 at 2:00 p.m.

Talk Back Performance: October 27 at 2:00 p.m.

Opening Night Party & Pre-Show Chat - Friday, October 11

Arrive at 6:15 p.m. to enjoy free light appetizers, followed by a brief, informative discussion about the creative process with the director and members of the creative team. Free to all opening night ticket holders. No RSVP necessary.

If it were a movie, Macbeth would be rated "PG-13". Children under 5 will not be admitted to the theater. For the complete content advisory, please visit: orlandoshakes.org/content-advisories/