Photos: First Look at Independent Shakespeare Co.'s STRANGE EVENTFUL HISTORY

Independent Shakespeare Co. (ISC), presenters of the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival and recipients of the 2015 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in theater, announce a new work, STRANGE EVENTFUL HISTORY, directed by Independent Shakespeare Co.'s Joseph Culliton. STRANGE EVENTFUL HISTORY will begin previews on Thursday, October 22, will open on Saturday, October 24 at 7:30pm and will perform through Sunday, November 22 at Independent Studio in the Atwater Crossing Arts + Innovation Complex, 3191 Casitas Ave., #168 in Atwater Village.

In STRANGE EVENTFUL HISTORY, an actor (David Melville) is preparing to play Richard III in a rapidly approaching production. But his leading lady just quit and her replacement (Erika Soto) doesn't have the faintest idea what's going on. Adding to the confusion, the director is nowhere to be found and his stage manager (Sam Breen) has it in for him. As the three characters wrestle with the complicated family soap opera that is the history of England's royalty, they uncover truths about Shakespeare's kings (and queens) and bring the history plays to life. Interweaving the works of Shakespeare and Marlowe with new, scripted narrative, STRANGE EVENTFUL HISTORY is a humorous, entertaining and vivid race through 10 plays and 150 years of British war.

Comments writer and actor David Melville, "As an actor who's been lucky enough to play most of Shakespeare's kings in the history cycle, I've been thinking about devising this new work for a while. What's fascinating to me is how brilliantly Shakespeare delineates each vastly different character, although these monarchs all have the same job. And they didn't all do it well. Their stories live in history books, but because Shakespeare wrote these plays, they live much more vibrantly not only for the people of Great Britain, but for those all over the world. Their stories are not just a historical document, this is the original family soap opera."

Photos by Grettel Cortes