Portland Shakespeare Project's TWELFTH NIGHT Begins Tonight

Portland Shakespeare Project (PSP) brings William Shakespeare's romantic comedy Twelfth Night to summer season audiences directed by internationally-acclaimed actress and director Lisa Harrow. This delightful comedic caper features Artists Rep's former Artistic Director Allen Nause in the role of Feste and PSP Artistic Director Michael Mendelson as Orsino, along with a cast of familiar Portland actors. Playing on the Alder Stage at Artists Rep, Portland Shakes' Twelfth Night runs tonight, July 8 through August 2, 2015.

Giant storms sending the unsuspecting to an island, separated twins, absurd disguises, mistaken identities, baffling madness and a love triangle make Twelfth Night one of Shakespeare's most-loved plays. Twelfth Night follows the journey of Viola and Sebastian, twins separated by a shipwreck, as they encounter loss and love in their new homeland - the mythical, magical island of Illyria.

Portland Shakes is pleased to have Lisa Harrow return for their expanded fifth season as an Artist in Residence to direct this enchanting play. Last year, Harrow taught a widely-popular Portland Shakespeare Project Master Class and will teach two Master Classes again this season.

"What has struck me most is how many times the word "love" is spoken in Twelfth Night - 87 times," said Harrow about directing the play. "So to me, love in all its complications is the overriding theme. There's Orsino's, Malvolio's and Olivia's obsessive love; Antonio's, Maria's, Viola's and Aguecheek's hopeless love; and Sebastian's amazed love. The Christian festival of Twelfth Night is the night where the opposite rules, and so the whirlygig of time swirls them all into a spiral of misunderstanding and despair until the truth is finally revealed."

Portland Shakes' production of Twelfth Night will feature a Shakespeare-adept cast including: Luke Armstrong, Robert Bell, Dave Bodin, Orion Bradshaw, Jim Butterfield, Jacob Camp, John Corr, Heath Koerschgen, Kayla Lian, Crystal Munoz and Ithica Tell, as well as Allen Nause and Michael Mendelson.

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