Naked Shakespeare Offers Peaks Island Summer Performance Series, Begins 7/12

Acorn Productions, presenters of the popular "Naked Shakespeare" series, presents a series of 6 dinner theater performances at the Inn on Peaks Island beginning in July. The performance series, titled "Midsummer Merriment," begins at 6 p.m. with a menu of food drawn from the Inn's pub-style menu, re-titled with Shakespearean names. While patrons are choosing their food and waiting for it to arrive, members of the Acorn Shakespeare Ensemble will entertain diners with a shortened version of their popular "Sonnets and Soliloquies" show, consisting of speeches from Shakespeare's plays cued by audience members with contemporary-worded cue cards. At 7 p.m., the troupe performs an 80-minute collection of short comic scenes from a variety of the bard's works. Admission to "Midsummer Merriment" is $10 ($5 for kids 12 and under), and audience members may attend without purchasing dinner, which is not included in the ticket price. The bar will be open during all performances. Mainlanders wishing to attend the performance should plan on taking the 5:35 boat on Casco Bay Lines from Portland, returning on the 8:40 or later from Peaks.

Naked Shakespeare's "Midsummer Merriment" is the product of a new partnership between Acorn Productions and the Inn on Peaks Island that began two years ago with a performance of Richard II at the Inn and continued this winter when the company mounted its Fools for Love scene night at the island hotspot. This new performance series takes place under a large tent erected on the grounds of the Inn for wedding receptions, allowing for a more spacious playing area for the actors and more comfortable seating for the audience members who are seated around the playing area at large community tables. Unlike traditional theater venues, audience members are free to enter and leave the performance area at any time during the show, creating a more casual environment that is particularly well-suited to younger audience members, who are welcome to attend the series. In fact, parents are encouraged to bring children, as Acorn has found they have been easily engaged at the troupe's previous performances.

"Midsummer Merriment" features 3 different line-ups of scenes, each of which will be performed twice. Schedule A, to be performed on July 12th and 19th, features scenes from All's Well That Ends Well, Henry IV, part one, A Midsummer's Night Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, and Twelfth Night. Schedule B, to be performed on August 9th and 18th, includes scenes from As You Like It, Henry IV, part one, A Midsummer's Night Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, and Twelfth Night. Schedule C, closing the series on August 25th and September 8th, consists of excerpted selections from All's Well That Ends Well, As You Like It , Henry IV, part one, A Midsummer's Night Dream, Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, and Twelfth Night. Each schedule will also include a rotating repertory of speeches delivered by the 7 company members performing in the scenes.

The Acorn Shakespeare Ensemble was founded by Michael Levine and Michael Howard in the fall of 2004 in order to provide an opportunity for local professional actors to forge a long-term working relationship designed to deepen their ability to interpret classical text. The company's mission to is to educate its audience about the meaning behind Shakespeare's text by using acting to simply demonstrate the broad range of intricate emotion, theme and language. The company offers a series of "Naked Shakespeare" performances at venues throughout Greater Portland not typically used as performance space for live theater, creating the world of the play in the imagination of the audience by minimizing the use of sets, lights and costumes. These productions feature environmentally-staged events that break the "fourth wall" between the actors and audience, allowing for a more intimate and casual connection that serves to make the text more accessible to the listeners.

Call Acorn Productions at 854-0065 or visit www.nakedshakespeare.org for more information about Naked Shakespeare or any other programs offered by Acorn Productions.

Photo: Michael Howard performing at the Inn on Peaks Island - photo by Arthur Fink