AS YOU LIKE IT & MACBETH to Tour Free Parks Performances for Hip to Hip's 20th Season
Directors Jason Marr, Joy Marr, and Joel Leffert bring Shakespeare to Queens, Staten Island, and beyond.
Classic theatre will break free from indoor stages as Hip to Hip Theatre Company marks its landmark 20th anniversary season with a summer tour presenting Shakespeare's As You Like It (co-directed by Jason Marr and Joy Marr) and Macbeth (directed by Joel Leffert) in repertory.
Audiences can experience two contrasting theatrical masterpieces performed by the same cast in local public parks throughout Queens, Staten Island, Jersey City and Southampton. As You Like It offers a joyful, music-filled escape into the Forest of Arden, while Macbeth delivers a fast-paced descent into ambition and madness. The repertory format showcases the actors' versatility across comedy and tragedy.
Thirty minutes before each performance, Hip to Hip offers Kids & the Classics, an interactive workshop that gives children a chance to interact with the text by previewing the story and by creating links between the text and their own lives through theatre games and close reading.
Broadway veteran and longtime Hip to Hip collaborator Joel Leffert returns to direct Macbeth. Speaking about the play, Leffert says, 'It continues to fascinate audiences. The shortest of Shakespeare's tragedies, it practically races through wars and bloody violence to its cautionary conclusion. Yet we have plenty of time to sympathize with Macbeth despite his horrible actions. Perhaps it is the gorgeous language and clarity of thought he shares with us, or the battle he wages between ambition and conscience that strikes a chord.' Leffert went on to note the play's striking contemporary relevance: ''Fair is foul and foul is fair,' Shakespeare tells us. The state of the world is undone, turned upside-down. 'Nothing is but what is not.' Sound familiar?'
The anniversary tour kicks off on July 28th on the quad of Queens College and will travel to nine other neighborhoods through August 22nd. All performances are completely free to the public. No tickets or reservations are required. Attendees are encouraged to bring blankets or low chairs and picnics.
The repertory cast includes: Anneke Angstadt, Brianna Cabrera*, Bishal Dahal, Haley Kofuku Henson, Salim Ishimwe, Sam Kebede*, Joel Leffert*, Bree Marr, Jason Marr*, Joy Marr*, Ren Ragsdale, Diana Rendon, and Kelechi Udenkwo (*appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association).
The production team includes: Costume Designers: Nancy Nichols and Madeline Rostmeyer; Production Stage Manager: Faith Bruschini; Assistant Director: Tatyana DelPreore; Sound Designer: Terry Chun; Production Assistants: Skye Quidone and Leslie Diaz.
As You Like It
Tuesday, July 28 @ 7:30 pm
Queens College, on the Quad (65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing)
Macbeth
Wednesday, July 29 @ 7:30 pm
Sunnyside Gardens Park (48-21 39th Ave, Sunnyside)
As You Like It
Thursday, July 30 @ 7:30 pm
Crocheron Park (35th Avenue, across from Golden Pond)
Macbeth
Friday, July 31 @ 7:30 pm
Voelker Orth Museum (149-19 38th Ave, Flushing)
As You Like It
Saturday, August 1 @ 2:30 pm
Alice Austen House (2 Hylan Blvd, Staten Island)
Macbeth
Sunday, August 2 @ 5:00 pm
Socrates Sculpture Park (32-01 Vernon Blvd, Astoria)
Macbeth
Wednesday, August 5 @ 7:30 pm
Crocheron Park (35th Avenue, across from Golden Pond)
As You Like It
Thursday, August 6 @ 7:30 pm
Cunningham Park (Union Turnpike & 196th St, Fresh Meadows)
As You Like It
Saturday, August 8 @ 7:30 pm
Gantry Plaza State Park (4-09 47th Rd, Long Island City)
Macbeth
Tuesday, August 11 @ 7:30 pm
Queens College, on the Quad (65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing)
As You Like It
Wednesday, August 12 @ 7:30 pm (Rain date: August 18)
Newport on the Green (14th St & River Drive S., Jersey City)
Macbeth
Thursday, August 13 @ 7:30 pm
Cunningham Park (Union Turnpike & 196th St, Fresh Meadows)
As You Like It
Friday, August 14 @ 7:30 pm
Voelker Orth Museum (149-19 38th Ave, Flushing)
Macbeth
Saturday, August 15 @ 7:30 pm
Gantry Plaza State Park (4-09 47th Rd, Long Island City)
As You Like It
Sunday, August 16 @ 5:00 pm
Socrates Sculpture Park (32-01 Vernon Blvd, Astoria)
As You Like It
Wednesday, August 19 @ 7:30 pm
Sunnyside Gardens Park (48-21 39th Ave, Sunnyside)
Macbeth
Friday, August 21 @ 7:30 pm
Agawam Park (25 Pond Lane, Southampton)
As You Like It
Saturday, August 22 @ 7:30 pm
Agawam Park (25 Pond Lane, Southampton)
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