Skylight Theatre Co. PLAY ON SHAKESPEARE Takes On THE WINTER'S TALE In April

Skylight Theatre Company premieres Tracy Young's modern verse translation of William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale opening at Skylight Theatre on Thursday, April 24 at 8:00pm (with previews on April 18, 19, and 23) running through Saturday, June 14, 2025.

In the Los Angeles debut of Play On Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale has been reimagined in an accessible, 90-minute modern English translation adapted by Young and Lisa Volpe. This vibrant retelling of a story about love, loss, and rebirth is helmed and directed by Young whose innovative and award-winning work has been seen in productions at Actor's Gang, Cornerstone Theater Company, and the celebrated Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Set in the present day, Young's music-infused translation of The Winter's Tale tells the story of Leontes, a tyrannical ruler consumed by delusion who defies the law of Apollo and plunges his kingdom into darkness. Amidst the terror that ensues, a princess emerges, wielding extraordinary power to heal the land and its people. “It is required you do awake your faith!” cries Paulina, the witch, as the dead return to life in this magical tale of hope and forgiveness.

Skylight's production of The Winter's Tale is forging the first collaboration between Skylight Theatre Company and Play On Shakespeare, a non-profit organization that began as part of Oregon Shakespeare Festival's initiative to examine plays through the lens of the English we speak today, which was launched in 2015 under Bill Rauch.

"I was first drawn by Play On Shakespeare's commitment to commissioning dozens of contemporary playwrights and translations made by playwrights who embodied many different lived experiences and share a deep love and curiosity about language," says Armando Huipe, Skylight's Executive Director. "They were all tasked with matching Shakespeare's linguistic rigor as they approach the text and structure," Huipe adds, "in order to make Shakespeare's plays engaging and accessible to today's audiences."

“Right now, the picture is bleak, and it's growing bleaker every day. The Winter's Tale offers up a story where people find hope, forgiveness, and music in the face of tyranny. It reminds us how things that die in the winter are reborn in the spring,” said Gary Grossman, Skylight Producing Artistic Director.

Play On Shakespeare translations aim to follow the same rigor and pressure as the original, which means honoring the meter, rhyme, rhetoric, image, metaphor, character, action and theme. The work must be structured in iambic pentameter. Within this context productions of the translations can still go through the same creative process that all classics go through: the director's vision and creative interpretation. The Oxford Dictionary definition of translate is "to carry on." The Play On Shakespeare series is intended to "carry on" the successful communication between actor and audience. 

Joining Tracy Young, Skylight and Play On Shakespeare in their inaugural association are scenic designer Christopher Scott Murillo (Princess Grace Foundation Award); Brandon Baruch, lighting design; C. Yuri Son, Costume Design; Celina Lee Surniak, Intimacy & Fight Coordination; and Benjamin Pryor as Dramaturge. Casting is by Victoria Hoffman and includes a diverse array of artists including Trans actors who help shape the world that Young has imagined. The acting ensemble is comprised of Audrey Cirzan, Shaan Dasani, Israel Erron Ford, Victoria Hoffman, Spencer Jamison, Iman Nazemzadeh, Misha Osherovich, Miguel Perez, Quest Sapp, KT Vogt, and Daniel Deyoung.

The Winter's Tale will run most Thursdays at 8:00pm, 8:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and 3:00pm on Sundays, schedule adjusts in May so please check online. Skylight Theatre is located at 1816 ½ N. Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Opening night tickets are priced at $48+.

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