David Turrentine to Lead Michigan Shakepseare Festival's RICHARD III

David Turrentine, of Michigan native and staple of Chicago classical theatre, will be returning to Michigan this summer for the 2012 Season of the MSF.  He will head the cast of Richard III as the machiavellan 15^th century monarch and will also will play the majordomo, Boyet, in Love’s Labour’s Lost, and the gentlemanly Colonel Pickering in Pygmalion.

Mr. Pickering grew up in Milford and graduated at the top of his class from Milford High School where he was both an Eagle Scout and President of the National Honor Society.  He happily tells of taking his first drama class because a girl he liked signed up first, which lead to playing Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Lucentio in The Taming of the Shrew.  While in college (at EMU, Wayne State, and eventual matriculation from UofM-Flint) Mr. Turrentine did musical summer stock at the Red Barn Theatre in Saugatuck.  It was Christopher Coddington at UofM-Flint who challenged Mr. Turrentine to explore Shakespeare’s texts on a higher level which helped send him to the MFA program at U of C, San Diego. Soon after, he returned to Michigan to play Richmond in MeadowBrook’s production of Richard III.

Fast forward 20 years and Mr. Turrentine is one of the most respected classical actors working in Chicago.  His Chicago Shakespeare Theatre credits include Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 (in Chicago and at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon), Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Richard II, Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like It, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, and Elizabeth Rex.  He has also appeared at the prestigious Writers Theatre in She Loves Me, Arms and the Man, and The Seagull.  Regionally, in addition to Richard III, Mr. Turrentine performed in The Rose Tattoo at Meadowbrook, The Lion in Winter at BoarsHead, and On Vacation at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre.

Internationally, in addition to the Henrys at the RSC, he also appeared in Clytemnestra directed by Tadashi Suzuki in Togo Japan.

When asked about this upcoming season, Mr. Turrentine smiled and said with a twinkle in his eye,  “I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have this opportunity to return to my home state and embrace the most deliciously delightful villain I have ever known. “ 

The art of villainy, smart romantic comedy, and a battle of class and gender are on the bill this summer for the Michigan Shakespeare Festival’s 18th season. Richard III will anchor two plays new to the Festival: Love’s Labour’s Lost and George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion.  MSF’s professional Shakespearean company will run all three shows in rotating repertory from July 12-August 5 at the Baughman Theatre of the Potter Center, 2111 Emmons Rd., Jackson, MI. 

Tickets and more information are available at www.MichiganShakespeareFestival.com.

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