Open reading of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - Main Street Stage is pleased to announce a free, open reading of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night to be held on Sunday, March 1st at 1pm at Main Street Stage, 57 Main Street, North Adams. A skeleton cast of actors will read the script, and audience members are invited to listen and to participate in a post-show discussion and activities.Main Street Stage has been dedicated to including the local community in the artistic process. Last year, we literally opened our doors to the rehearsal process, inviting the community to come and watch rehearsals for the production of Romeo & Juliet. This year, we wanted to get the audience involved even earlier in the process. At this stage in artistic discovery, directors, producers, and designers are reading and rereading the script to consider the various themes, images and interpretations to set the tone for this summer's production, currently scheduled to open in mid-July. To this end, community members are invited to attend this open reading and offer their own insights and observations of the text, story and characters.
After the reading, audience members and actors alike will be invited to the lobby to complete activities at any or all of the "creation stations." There will be a station for "Building the World" in which a line of text from the play is drawn from a hat and the participant will create a three-dimensional piece of artwork to represent this line. Another station is "Words about Words," in which participants draw words and phrases from a hat and use them to create an original poem representative of themes or ideas that struck them during the reading. Additionally, there will be a station for creating paintings and/or drawings of scenes, abstract images evoking emotions or themes, or character renderings based on their impressions of the play. These creations will be considered by the directors and design team as they plan this summer's production and all participants will be recognized in the program for their input.
The event will be run by Alexia Trova Trainor, Executive Director for Main Street Stage, and Melissa Quirk, director of this summer's Shakespeare production.
There is no charge for admission to this event. For more information, please call 663-3240 or visit www.mainstreetstage.org.
