International Shakespeare Center Santa Fe Announces Venues for Upcoming Season

The International Shakespeare Center Santa Fe has announced the venues for their inaugural Summer Rep Season featuring Ducdame Ensemble. TWELFTH NIGHT, OR WHAT YOU WILL, will take place in Meow Wolf's immersive, permanent art installation, the House of Eternal Return.

It is the first full-length play to be presented in the acclaimed Meow Wolf venue. Accenting the commitments of both Ducdame Ensemble and the ISC to theatrical education, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE will be performed at the Performing Arts Center at Santa Fe High School. The two Shakespeare classics will be presented in rotating repertory August 22 nd through September 3rd, 2016.

Ducdame Ensemble's production of TWELFTH NIGHT, OR WHAT YOU WILL, will explore the performance of gender and the politics of love. Director Ariana Karp stated, "We are honored and thrilled to be selected as the first play to be performed in the House of Eternal Return." She affirmed that Meow Wolf's venue is the perfect place to set the play, as "narrative hides around every corner and possibility behind ever door. It's a Utopia, both a paradise and a nowhere land, and the perfect place for love." Meow Wolf's Chadney Everett agreed: "I have been putting the bug into other Meow Wolfer's ears since starting this project that our venue would be a great space for theater. I've always loved seeing theater in non-traditional settings. There's something about being removed from the expected that gives impact and immediacy to a performance. The Meow Wolf exhibit most certainly offers that!"

Tickets for TWELFTH NIGHT include admission to Meow Wolf to explore the House of Eternal Return prior to the start of the play.

Directed by Alexander Kirby and featuring Sean Boyd as "Shylock," THE MERCHANT OF VENICE will be staged at the state-of- the-art Performing Arts Center at Santa Fe High School. Ducdame Ensemble's staging of the often-controversial Shakespeare play will be presented in the traditional aesthetic of the company-fast-paced, stripped-back, ensemble-driven storytelling. The production will highlight the current struggles and social pressures involving privilege, class, and religion.

ISC cofounder Dr. Robin Williams stated, "THE MERCHANT OF VENICE is a play that morphs into something we call our own in each new era. The ambiguities, complexities, richness of expression, the various possibilities of what to play up or play down, all provide remarkable potential for new insights into our own world." Members of Ducdame Ensemble held educational workshops in Santa Fe with the International Shakespeare Center earlier this year. Kirby acknowledged that performing in an educational venue is "on point with Ducdame and the ISC'sjoint goals of instilling a passion for theater in young people and making Shakespeare clear and accessible to everyone."

Ducdame Ensemble was founded by graduates of the Masters Degree in Classical Acting program from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). The company's inaugural USA production, a new adaptation of Lope de Vega's FUENTE OVEJUNA, was presented in the NY International Fringe Festival last August. The production was named a "Best Bet" of the festival and awarded a 2015 FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award. Their previous collaboration with the ISC, DAMES OF THRONES: THE WOMEN OF SHAKESPEARE' HISTORIES, played a sold-out run at Santa Fe's Adobe Rose Theater in February.

Ducdame Ensemble, known for productions that draw attention to currently relevant themes in classic texts, uses a tight ensemble of eight of the company's founding members to take on Shakespeare's timeless tales.

Tickets are now on sale for the International Shakespeare Center's SUMMER REP SEASON, and can be purchased via the ISC's website. Meow Wolf's House of Eternal Return is located at 1352 Rufina Circle in Santa Fe. The Performing Arts Center of SFHS is at 2100 Yucca Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico. More information about the season, including specific performance dates for each production, can be found at www.internationalshakespeare.center.

Ducdame Ensemble is online at www.ducdameensemble.com and on social media via @DucdameEnsemble.