Photo credit: Kyle Cassidy (www.kylecassidy.com)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2010): Ryan Walter (Bottom), Victoria Frings (Titania)
The Comedy of Errors
The Bard shines indoors as rain pours outside
by Howard Shapiro
The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 31, 2009
At rush hour, the rain began to pound the region, and Wednesday's opening of the annual Shakespeare in Clark Park appeared, as the Bard might write, doom'd. Well, doomed outdoors, at the popular West Philadelphia park where the theater company was to launch its fourth Shakespeare production in as many years. But Curio Theatre, which operates in Calvary Center on Baltimore Avenue, five blocks away, was coming to the rescue, and the idea of Shakespeare in a park shifted indoors... Read more >
The Comedy of Errors
by Alaina Mabaso
EDGE Philadelphia , August 5, 2009
"I to the world am like a drop of water/That in the ocean seeks another drop," laments Antipholus of Syracuse, searching for a long-lost family. Drowning in a midsummer bout of Philadelphia’s steamiest, stormiest days, Clark Park patrons may be especially able to appreciate the many watery metaphors of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, running through August 2nd. Some vigorous, thundery downpours actually drove this year’s Clark Park opening a few blocks west to the Curio Theatre for an unexpected indoor opening. But the cast, on just a few hours’ notice, mounted a seamless, sprightly performance in a space that couldn’t have been more different than their intended setting... Read more >
Editor's Pick: The Comedy of Errors
By J. Cooper Robb
The Philadelphia Weekly, July 29, 2009
It’s an impressive achievement for any theater company to last four years. It’s even more impressive when you consider the unique troupe Shakespeare in Clark Park has never charged so much as a penny for their performances. This week the company returns to its bucolic “bowl” in West Philly’s Clark Park for its new production of the Bard’s freewheeling farce The Comedy of Errors. One of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies, Errors is a story of mistaken identity involving two pairs of identical brothers. Set in a colorful harbor town, director Alex Torra’s production doesn’t attempt to reinvent the play. Instead the show embraces the play’s natural theatricality while composer Andrew Nelson adds an original score fashioned on century-old wooden organ pipes. A zippy, playful work about pursuing your dreams and desires, Errors would seem the perfect entertainment for a warm summer eve.
Romeo and Juliet
Star-Crossed Lovers Play Under The Stars
by Adam Paul
The Bulletin, August 1, 2007
Flanked by children gleefully running around a playscape and a few men playing football, a young man leans upon a rusty metal drum, looks up at a young lady and claims lovingly, "and Juliet is the sun." Attired in blue athletic shorts and a yellow T-shirt (not his formal costume), our Romeo took the outdoor stage in Clark Park Monday night for a rehearsal of this summer's production of Shakespeare in Clark Park... Read more >
Editor's Pick: Romeo and Juliet
by J. Cooper Robb
The Philadelphia Weekly, August 1, 2007
Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet is typically thought of as the tale of two "star cross'd lovers." But in the new production from fledgling company Shakespeare in Clark Park, the focus won't be as much on the doomed couple as on a community divided. Director Tom Reing explains that while the production isn't set in any particular era, the rampant violence besetting the lovers' hometown of Verona is not unlike the hostilities currently plaguing Philadelphia. The profound civil unrest is reflected in Jacob Walton's scenic design, which depicts Verona as cancerous concrete, dirt and corroded steel, an image echoed in Kelly Cobb's oxidized costumes. Juxtaposed with the decay is the pastoral beauty of the park where the teen lovers seek refuge from their feuding families. Trimmed down from its usual three hours to approximately 100 minutes, SCP's Romeo and Juliet follows up the company's successful debut production last summer of the Bard's Twelfth Night, which attracted more than 2,000 spectators to the West Philly park. The company has upgraded its sound system to accommodate a larger audience, so wherever you spread your blanket, you won't miss a word of Shakespeare's eloquent prose.
Arts Picks: Romeo and Juliet
by David Anthony Fox
The City Paper, July 25, 2007
Pity poor Romeo and Juliet, so many times dissed. First, of course, by their wacko families, resulting in one of literature's most tragic love affairs. More recent rejections have come from generations of eye-rolling middle school students, whose only exposure to Shakespeare has been from this play, which they dismiss, often unread, as soppy. How wrong they are. R&J is one of Shakespeare's greatest, and it's also (teens, take note) the founding document for shows like The O.C. , One Tree Hill and others. If you think R&J is soppy, pay more attention. It's thrilling, scary, muscular - and of course, very, very sad. And happily, the play is having a renaissance. This year, there have been several local productions (as well as one by the New York Public Theater). But I can't think of a better way to savor R&J than live in Clark Park, where the intimacy, and the landscape, should suit it perfectly. And it's free! It seems that the doomed lovers will have their day in the sun - better yet, their evening in the moonlight - after all.
IN THE MEDIA
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Parks and Recreation: Shakespeare In Clark Park’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
by Leah Franqui
Staged, August 5, 2010
As a deeply sarcastic person, I’m always a little concerned about literalists. For one thing, they never seem to get my sense of humor, and for another, I grow concerned about them injuring themselves in some way and me being in some way responsible. But this summer, much to my chagrin, everyone seems to be going literal. First it was Pig Iron which their announcement that they will be spending the next four years exploring A Midsummer Night’s Dream, some of which I can only assume we will be witnessing this September at the Live Arts Festival in Cankerblossom. Then I found out that Maukingbird Theatre Company will be presenting a gender-bending anti-red state production of the Bard’s summertime romp at the end of this month. And just this past weekend, I found myself lounging on a beach chair, clasping a plastic cup filled with wine in one hand and observing Shakespeare in Clark Park’s... Read more >
Shakespeare in Clark Park
by Mark Cofta
City Paper, July 27, 2010
Devising a concept for a Shakespeare play can be tricky, but for Shakespeare in Clark Park's fifth annual summer production, all director Maria Moller did was look around. Her ideas for A Midsummer Night's Dream "grew out of the bike-heavy culture of Clark Park ... and out of the way a bicycle transforms your movement and lets you fly." Since this romantic comedy is also Shakespeare's most fantastical play, designer Erica Hoelscher's costumes are, Moller explains, "a melange of Japanese cosplay, Burning Man and Vivienne Westwood — all extreme fashions ... that humans engage in to bring themselves closer to a 'magical' world." Stephen Hungerford's set uses aluminum trees "inspired by bicycle-based kinetic sculpture," while composer Andrew Nelson's live music employs everything from "regular old drums to bits of metal hanging off a bike frame." Most magical of all is the price: As always, SCP's performances are free.
Philadelphia Weekly: Arts and Culture Calendar: July 28 - Aug. 3, 2010
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Fairies and ass-headed weavers will frolic in West Philly this week as Clark Park’s Shakespearean players unfurl the Bard’s dizzy, donkey-loving comedy in an urban fairyland just off the 13 trolley line. With more love polygons than a romantic comedy and enough slapstick to keep the ankle-biters entertained, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is old Will at his light-hearted best. Bring lawn chairs and blankets and settle back to watch as a rascally elf brews love potions, a quartet of young lovers duel and hop beds and a ragtag band of actors try their hands at Greek tragedy… at a wedding reception. Those actors might be in over their (donkey) heads with Ovid, but the Clark Park company knows its way around Shakespeare. -Lauren Smith
As You Like It
Editor's Pick: As You Like It
by John Steele
Philadelphia Weekly, July 30, 2008
Shakespeare in Clark Park is one of the best ways to add a little gas to ol’ Billy’s witty pastoral comedy—this one most famously the source of the line “All the world’s a stage.” Besides, who wants to be in some poorly ventilated theater surrounded by crushed velvet and sticky floors on a nice evening? Shakespeare in Clark Park imagines the production in the year 1895, the year the park was established by the City of Philadelphia. It also works because of the Forest of Arden setting. Many Shakespeare scholars disagree about whether the forest represents a real place or a fantastical world where pastoral characters can jump into urban settings with ease. And there’s no better way to jump between the rural and the urban than in Clark Park. Take a deep whiff of exhaust, smush your toes into the grass and enjoy the show.
Philadelphia Spotlight
by J. Cooper Robb
TheaterMania.com, July, 2008
The terrific young company Shakespeare in Clark Park returns for a third summer with a free outdoor production of the Bard's pastoral comedy As You Like It (July 30-August 3) at Clark Park in West Philadelphia. The twisting tale follows the exploits of young Rosalind who after finding herself banished from court by an evil uncle discovers romance in the untamed wilderness of the Forest of Arden.
Park Yourself for Some Shakespeare
by Bruce Walsh
The Philadelphia Metro, July 30, 2008
Three years ago, Marla Burkholder and Maria Möller found themselves complaining about the lack of an outdoor Shakespeare company in Philadelphia. Now in their third year --- and third production --- Shakespeare in Clark Park has learned a few things about dealing with --- and utilizing --- the elements in West Philly's favourite nine acres... Read more >
Interview with Director Maria Möller, Music Director Andrew Nelson, and actor Justin Jain on WRTI’s “Creatively Speaking”
Twelfth Night
Shakespeare in Clark Park a Summer Treat
by Toby Zinman
The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 5, 2006
The Twelfth Night presented in Clark Park by a small troupe of theatrical pros is a remarkable combination of excellent classical acting and disconcertingly contemporary naturalness. Director Tom Reing has found some lovely and funny place where Shakespeare's world and ours meet under a half-moon on a hot summer's night. Bring a blanket and picnic dinner, bring the kids, the dogs, the bicycle, bug spray, a beach chair, whatever - but don't miss this one... Read more >
All Clark Park's a stage for Bard's “Twelfth Night”
by Tanya Barrientos
The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 3, 2006
When you picture Shakespeare in the park, you think warm, breezy nights, black, starry skies, and gentle waves of the Bard's lyrical verse. Not 11 struggling actors competing with 22 unyielding soccer players, a dozen loose dogs, and a steady stream of neighborhood joggers for a patch of green at Clark Park in West Philly. But that's how rehearsals have been for a small band of professional actors hoping to revive the local tradition of Shakespeare under the stars with little more than a handful of inexpensive props and sheer determination... Read more >
Midsummer Madness: The brand-new Shakespeare in Clark Park takes it outside
by Rachel Frankford
The City Paper, August 3, 2006
Last summer, while waiting out a downpour in the Franklin Mills Mall, actors Maria Möller and Marla Burkholder started talking about what they missed in Philly's summer theater scene. A year later, the result of that conversation is four nights of free theater from the first truly Philadelphian Shakespeare in the Park company, founded by Burkholder, Möller, director Tom Reing and managing director Whitney Estrin... Read more >
A-List: Twelfth Night
by J. Cooper Robb
The Philadelphia Weekly, August 2, 2006
Rather than provide answers, Shakespeare’s plays were the playwright’s efforts to understand the world around him. And one of the most baffling topics he tackled is love. In his intricate comedy Twelfth Night, Shakespeare employs cross-dressing, mistaken identity, jealousy, drunkenness and exciting duels in a vain attempt to make sense of the madness love inspires. This is the first production from the aptly named Shakespeare in Clark Park company. The show takes place in the “bowl” section of the park, and director Tom Reing plans to incorporate both the pastoral setting and the surrounding neighborhood into the fabric of the production. Transporting the play’s characters to the present day, the park represents the fantastical world of Illyria, while the heroine Viola is portrayed as a young Penn freshman. Reing has emerged as oneof the city’s most creative directors, and with a strong cast performing a taut, edited version of the play, the show provides a rare opportunity to see the best of professional Philadelphia theater free of charge.
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QUESTIONS?
Give us a call at 215-462-2115 or e-mail us at info@shakespeareinclarkpark.org.
PRESS RELEASES
14 April 2011: A West Philly Comedy of Manners - Shakespeare in Clark Park Presents Much Ado About Nothing (PDF)