Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA Programs to Present TWELFTH NIGHT, 11/1-3

The Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA Programs proudly presents one of Shakespeare's most masterful comedies, Twelfth Night; or, What You Will, directed by Dan Rogers (Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs '15). Full of gender-bending disguises, Twelfth Night; or, What You Will takes you on a rollercoaster of unexpected turns and confirms that love is so much more than meets the eye. Performances run Friday, November 1 at 7:30PM, Saturday, November 2 at 2:00PM and 7:30PM, and Sunday, November 3 at 2:00PM in the Pell Chafee Performance Center, 87 Empire Street, Providence. General admission $10, and $5 for students and seniors. Tickets are on-sale now at the Trinity Rep box office, by phone (401) 351-4242, and online at www.trinityrep.com.

Shipwrecked and separated from her twin brother, Viola (Sophie Netanel) must disguise herself as a man to survive. Just when she thinks things can't get any worse, she falls for her new boss, the Duke, played by Ralph Adriel Johnson. Meanwhile, the Duke pines for Olivia (Marina Shay), who has sworn off men - until she meet Viola's male alter-ego, "Cesario." This lover's knot gets more tangled when Viola's twin brother, Sebastian (Michael Jennings Mahoney), arrives in Illyria and is mistaken for "Cesario."

Meanwhile, the locals in Illyria are enraptured in the drunken debauchery of the Twelfth Night festival. Olivia's hard-drinking uncle, Sir Toby Belch (Ian McNeely), carouses with Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Max Wolkowitz), Maria (Whitney White), the clown Feste (Andrew Polec) and Fabian (Elise Hudson), much to the chagrin of Olivia's uptight butler, Malvolio (Billy Finn). Rounding out the cast of characters are Antonio (Uche Elueze),Valentine (Shelley Fort), the Captain (Devon Caraway), and the Priest (Britt Faulker). Spurned suitors, servants with delusions of grandeur, and cross dressing confusion - it's a hot mess that's likely to put someone in the madhouse. The show stars members of the Brown/Trinity class of 2015.

"I want to get away from the notion that Twelfth Night is something that happened a long time ago that we go to the theater to learn about," explains Dan Rogers. "We crave love and we kill love; nothing makes us happier and nothing makes us more depressed." Keeping his design elements simple, Rogers focuses on the language and musicality of the script, incorporating original scoring with Shakespeare's classic lyrics, "Shakespeare's words are extreme acts of poetry, and we're here to make the case that poetry belongs in everyone's life."

Dan Rogers is a cofounder of AntiMatter, a Brooklyn-based theater collective dedicated to making "badass theater that you will enjoy." His directing credits include Bus Stop (Brown/Trinity Rep), sixsixsix (Magic Futurebox, Brooklyn), DEATH VALLEY (Bushwick Star) and At the Hawk's Well (Mohawk Arts Collective, Maine). His radio play version of sixsixsix is forthcoming from n+1 Magazine. In New York he served as General Manager of the Obie Award winning Vampire Cowboys Theater Company.

The Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA Programs provides a three-year professional training program for eighteen students under the auspices of an Ivy League University and Rhode Island's Tony Award-winning theater company. Brown University's Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance is internationally recognized for the quality of its faculty and instruction. Trinity Rep, with its deep tradition of resident artists, provides powerful artistic assets and creates a firm foundation for a new generation of theater artists.

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