Photos: Connecticut Repertory Theatre Presents AS YOU LIKE IT

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) ends its 2017-18 season with William Shakespeare's "As You Like It". Kristin Wold will direct. Performances will be held in the Harriet S. Jorgenson Theatre from April 19th through April 29th, 2018. For tickets and information please visit crt.uconn.edu or call (860) 486-2113.

Are we out of the woods, yet? In this popular Shakespeare comedy, two worlds collide in a beguiling game as usurped thrones and wealth, family feuds, love triangles and disguises fuse. On one side, Duke Frederick's pompous and corrupt court, usurped from his brother the Duke Senior. On the other, Oliver, who denies his brother Orlando his right to the family wealth and plots to have him killed. Stuck in the middle are two friends: Rosalind, Duke Senior's daughter, and Celia, Duke Frederick's daughter, who escape the court life in favor of the forest of Arden. Disguises and secrets get in the way of love and result in hilarious love triangles that only a 'magical transformation' can fix.

The Saturday, April 28th, 2:00pm performance will be ASL interpreted as CRT partners with UConn's Center for Students with Disabilities to provide interpretation services. Managing Director Matthew J. Pugliese says, "We are very happy that we can offer the ASL interpreted performance for Shakespeare. We want all the members of our community to be able enjoy the theatre. This is a step to make that possible."

Director Kristin Wold (CRT's "Sense and Sensibility", "Punk Rock"), is a company member at the Tony Award-winning theatre Shakespeare & Company, and brought in two other members of the Lenox, MA theatre to join the cast. Actors Jonathan Croy as Duke Frederick and Duke Senior and John Hadden as Jacques.

Jonathan Croy* (Duke Frederick / Duke Senior ) has spent thirty-one years working at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts as an actor, director and teacher, and in administrative positions ranging from Company Manager to Artistic Director. As an actor, he has appeared in over seventy plays, including "God of Carnage" (Michael Novak), "King Lear" (Gloucester), "Richard II" (John of Gaunt), "t's a Wonderful Life" (Potter, Uncle Billy), "Henry V" (Pistol) and "The Tempest" (Caliban). He has directed over thirty more, including "The Two Gentlemen of Verona", "Richard III", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The 39 Steps", "Julius Caesar", "Hamlet", "Romeo & Juliet", "Twelfth Night", "Macbeth", and "Scapin."

John Hadden* (Jacques) has been a director/teacher/actor/writer for 35 years, playing mostly with Shakespeare and original work. He is a founding member of Shakespeare & Co, founded and ran other companies; over 100 projects in Berlin, Cologne, Leningrad, New York, regional theaters, TV, radio, independent films, schools and universities. His own plays and a short film have won awards and have been seen at PS 122, LaMama, EST, the Wharton Salon and the Boston International Film Festival, etc. His writing has appeared in literary journals, he is a New England States Touring Artist, and a Vermont Teaching Artist.

Photos by Gerry Goodstein.