The O'Shaughnessy to Present WOMEN OF WILL, 2/4

The O'Shaughnessy's acclaimed Women of Substance series presents WOMEN OF WILL, a masterful summation of Shakespeare & Company's Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer's 40-plus years spent investigating all things Shakespeare. The tour-de-force performance will be on The O'Shaughnessy stage for one night only Thursday, Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m.

Ace actor Nigel Gore plays the Romeo to Packer's Juliet, the Petruchio to her Kate. Together Packer and Gore's stage alchemy creates the Shakespeare experience that The New York Times called "Marvelous!" and the Associated Press hailed as "Boundless and irresistible! Packer and Gore have starred opposite each other in several productions, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (netting Gore an Elliot Norton Award for Best Actor in 2010), Antony & Cleopatra and Hamlet.

Funny, fierce, deep and accessible, Women of Will is the bonus content to Shakespeare's plays where Packer deconstructs and conjures William Shakespeare's most famous female characters. A combination of riveting scenes and trenchant analysis, Women of Will explores themes of love, loss, freedom, control, violence and power through the heroines of Shakespeare's text. Using performance and discussion, Packer traces the women's chronological evolution, and examines Shakespeare's own journey and growth as a writer.

"When I began work on this piece 12 years ago through a Guggenheim grant," said Packer, "I knew it was an unusual journey and a hybrid, as far as theatrical performance is concerned - it is a performance, but it's also a discussion, a debate (as are all Shakespeare's plays, in essence). The dramatic tension in the piece comes from the social and political influences in Shakespeare's life, coupled with my desire to show how powerful and distinct the women in his plays are."

Tickets are $14-$34 with discounts for students, seniors, military, MPR, TPT and groups. For more information and tickets, contact The O'Shaughnessy Ticket Office at 651-690-6700; open Mon.-Fri. 12-4 p.m. (12-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat., beginning Feb. 1). The ticket office is located on the main campus of St. Catherine University at 2004 Randolph Ave., St. Paul. Tickets can be purchased online at oshag.stkate.edu.