The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Cast
- Antonio / Old Gobbo: Alex Hancock
- Solanio: Bryan Metrish
- Salerio: Nick Barovic-Hancock
- Bassanio: Ely Phan
- Gratiano: Patrick Reed
- Lorenzo: Bryan Royston
- Portia: Greer DuBois
- Nerissa / Launcelet: Mya Kahler
- Shylock: David Simmons
- Jessica / Morocco: Samantha Biatch
- Tubal, Duke of Venice and musician: Caryl Farkas
- Aragon/Stephano/Jailer/Servants: Hannah Klawes
- Director: Ely Phan
- Production Manager: David Simmons
- Lighting Designer: Ben Otto
- Costume Designer: Marie Schulte
- Video Editing: Nick Barovic-Hancock
These performances are dedicated to the memory of Nick Klawes 1990 – 2012.
Review from the Isthmus
Director’s Note
One final and heartfelt thank you to all who helped make our production of The Merchant of Venice a rousing success. We exceeded our expectations and drew 320 people to four performances.
We set ticket prices at only $7 to make the show accessible to a wide and diverse audience. The space we chose was purposely small so the audience would be close to the actors – we had very optimistically hoped for 70 people per night, but we exceeded that at the opening, and the crowd grew every night! It was over 100 on Sunday afternoon, August 4.
So thanks again to all who gave to our successful Kickstarter campaign – those funds really helped us stage a great show, and we could not have done it without you.
For those not able to attend a performance, I leave you with the wise words of our director Ely Phan, taken from the program notes:
This play was written at a time of great socio-economic change and its controversy has only intensified over the centuries, its nuances deepened and its themes matured. Everything but its modern relevance should be questioned. We have most deliberately avoided ornament in our staging and, in some sense, we have left the seams uncovered. Armed only with great respect for the text, great trust in one another and great devotion to the community, we have come together across barriers of age and training to frame for you those questions we find most compelling. It is our hope that our Venice moves you to laughter, to rage, to critical thought, or to some uncomfortably entertaining combination of all three. In the great tradition of Shakespeare, we have no answers or conclusions to offer you, but we aim to make you victims of Stoppard’s finest persecution: “to be kept intrigued without ever quite being enlightened.”
What next? Watch this space for an announcement about our second season!