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Theatre & Box Office
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Cast
Karl Berner Kelly Bilski Mary Bird David Cox Mitch Davidhizer Mary DeBoer Allison Dranger Matt Gotzh Ed Griffith Robert Havrilla Ben Henry Joel Henry Steve Holm Jeff Jones Doc Kuhn Kat Lutze Jeff Manes Fred Margison Heather McCalment Derek McMahon Eric Michaels Greg Pachniks David Pera Robin Perry John Paul Puglisi Paul Puglisi Colleen Sellers Angie Shriner Steve Zana |
Directed by Directors' Notes: Warning! This is not your parent’s Julius Caesar! Working with one of Shakespeare’s scripts is always exciting. Reading the script offers a poetic and deceptively thorough unfolding of events and character development. Put that script in the hands of a talented performance team, and terrifically exciting life is breathed into the story. Some find Shakespeare’s words daunting, but his stories, emotions and deeds are that much more rich because of his in-depth descriptions… his words place life into an all to common story of the struggle for power, war, love, envy, ambition and passion. Shakespeare’s words performed become both music and lyric… defining myriad emotions along with the length and breadth of plot. We’ve chosen to use the futuristic film-noir style used to adapt author Philip K. Dick’s stories (Blade Runner, Minority Report, Impostor and Total Recall) to add accessibility to the words and story. We’ve made a few other changes that might surprise long-time fans of the Bard such as casting women in some male roles (Once you see Cassius and Decius played by women, you’ll wonder if Shakespeare wished for such casting options – its nearly shocking to see how these characters’ words take new meaning when spoken by a woman). We’ve also chosen to use two different scripts; you’ll notice common, modern-day language peppered throughout the show. Shakespeare used less formal language when writing for his Plebeians… we’ve taken it a step further to enforce the intended disparity between the classes. A smoke machine, lasers, rhythmically driving music, inventive use of video footage and other technical feats add to the mood and impact of this new, old story. We hope these devises allow you to fall in love with the brilliance of Shakespeare all over again… or for the first time. |
Shakespeare’s tragedy of Julius Caesar is one of the greatest political dramas ever written. At the height of its power, the Roman Empire teeters on the brink of chaos through the conspiracy of six senators to murder the most powerful man in the world. But the death of the tyrant only breeds new tyranny and creates a spiralling chain of tragic events and damnation for all those involved. Award-winning directors, Eric Brant and Donna Blanchard are proud to bring their exciting and edgy vision of the Bard’s epic play of betrayal, greed, and deception to the Chicago Street Theatre.