Gamut Theatre's Stage Door Series to Present HEAR THE VOICE, BE THE VERSE, 12/11-15

Gamut Theatre Group is proud to announce the first production of its 2015-2016 Stage Door Series: HEAR THE VOICE, BE THE VERSE, an original adaptation of classical verse poetry. HEAR THE VOICE, BE THE VERSE will be performed on December 11, 12, 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the new Gamut Classic Theatre, 15 N. 4th St., Harrisburg.

HEAR THE VOICE, BE THE VERSE includes works by William Blake, Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Shakespeare, Emily Bronte, Rudyard Kipling, and many others. The piece is adapted by Frank Henley, who has been seen on stage in Harrisburg Shakespeare Company performances of MACBETH, KING JOHN, THE LION IN WINTER and as the title role in OTHELLO. One of Henley's goals for Hear the Voice is that the inherent connection between poetry and the human voice is illuminated through this production.

"In my very early teens, theatre and poetry became the vehicles of self-expression that opened up the wider world to me," Henley explains. "I remember watching a documentary on PBS about the career of Sir John Geilgud. In this film, Sir John was standing on a bare stage reciting Shakespeare's sonnets. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard in my life, and ever since, I have always felt that there is an unbreakable bond between theatre and poetry. That poetry should be recited first, read second. That poetry is at its best when it is transmitted through the human voice rather than through the static page."

Henley also hopes that audiences feel the relevance that these pieces still carry in modern times.

"This production highlights not only the timelessness of these works of literature, but their universality," Henley says. "That these poems are strands in the invisible threads of the human condition that began when our earliest ancestors that recited poems to each other around the nightly fire unto this very day."

The Stage Door Series complements and builds upon Gamut's Mainstage season, through the presentation of engaging and educational workshop productions that highlight the essential elements of theatre: the text, the story, and the action. In keeping with its motto, "come as you are, pay what you will," all Stage Door Series performances are Bring Your Own Price, where any size donation buys admission.

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