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 Port Chester, NY - The Port Chester Council for the Arts, in cooperation with the Port Chester Recreation Department, proudly presents William Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, a coming-of-age story, August 21-23 at 7 PM outdoors at Lyon Park, 60 Parkway Drive, Port Chester, N.Y.
This Lawn Chair Theatre production is directed by Tal Aviezer. Peter Green is the producer.
Tickets are $10, suggested donation. Bring your own lawn chairs and picnic blankets.
Two Gentlemen of Verona begins with the young Valentine saying goodbye to his best friend Proteus. Valentine is off to broaden his horizons in Milan while Proteus stays behind in Verona to be with Julia, the girl he loves. However, Proteus’s domineering father soon decrees that his son must follow Valentine to Milan, and the lovers Proteus and Julia are forced to bid each other a tearful farewell, exchanging rings and vowing fidelity.
Unfortunately, as soon as Proteus arrives in Milan, disaster strikes. Proteus finds Valentine in love with Silvia, the daughter of the Duke. Despite his past love for Julia, Proteus also falls for Silvia and odes everything he can to clear his own path to her. He betrays Valentine to the Duke, who wishes for Silvia to marry the wealthy boor Thurio. The Duke banishes Valentine. While wandering outside Milan, the banished Valentine runs afoul of a band of outlaws, who adopt him and ultimately make him their king. Meanwhile, Julia decides to join her lover and travels to Milan disguised as a boy named Sebastian. Once in Milan, she discovers Proteus’s betrayal and gets herself hired (still in disguise) as his servant until she can figure out what to do.
The play concludes in a tense forest confrontation between the outraged Duke, the jealous Thurio, the marauding outlaws and the four young lovers who must learn the difference between love and obsessions, selfishness and forgiveness.
The cast features Jake Adler as Launce; Alex Castleton as Outlaw 1; Simon Edmonds-Langham as Thurio; Melanie Gambino as Lucetta; Peter Green as Antonio; Alexa Greto as Speed; Laura High as Julia; Ben Hirsch as Valentine; Anna Kamensky as Outlaw 2; Taylor Quinn as Pantina; Sergio Marroquin as Outlaw 3; Sea McHale as Proteus; Elinor Reina as Silvia; and Lawrence J. Reina as the Duke of Milan.
Tal Aviezer holds a BA in Theater from Connecticut College and has studied at the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-on-Avon. He is artistic director of Red Monkey Theater Group and has served as a writer, producer and stage manager to numerous high-profile events in and around Manhattan, including New Year’s Eve in Times Square, the New York Yankees Homecoming Dinner and the Grammy’s official after-party. He co-produced, directed and performed in Fleetwood Stage’s Cabaret Nights benefit series alongside Campbell Scott, Meg Bussert, Linda Dano and others, and has given private acting classes for several years. Other directing credits include Tennessee Williams’s In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel (Fleetwood Stage Platform Series), Dark of the Moon and Agnes of God.
For more information, visit www.portchestershakespeare.org.
The Port Chester Council for the Arts was founded in 1981 and has mounted over 100 productions which have featured over 2,000 adults and children. Today, the Port Chester Council for the Arts presents children’s, youth and adult theatre productions each summer along with productions for adults and teens throughout the year. The PCCFA also runs educational arts-based programs including an after-school program and an artist-in-residence program for grades K-5 in conjunction with the Port Chester elementary schools, and presented the first National Arts in the School Day in April 2008.
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