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Please come to see Taming of the Shrew
So I've been costuming this play for a brand new, exciting theatre company, which has consumed large chunks of my time and mental head space (because when I costume a play, I spend a lot of time thinking about what I'm going to do and how I'm going to do it). I've also sat in on a number of rehearsals.
And it's coming together brilliantly. I'm really happy with how the costumes look, and I laugh out loud when I go to rehearsals. This cast is super and the pictures I've seen of the set pieces look wonderful, and I love the director's vision of the show.
Please come out to see the play, and my awesome costumes, sometime in July. The preview performance is next Tuesday, and the performances run July 8-10, 15-17, and 22-24.
You can buy tickets here. Tickets are $18 (preview night is half price). If you don't do PayPal, contact me directly with the date you'd like to see the show and cash and I'll get it to the box office guy.
So come out, because this much awesomeness deserves as many eyes as possible.
New Theatre Company Cannot Be Tamed
Elmira, ON – This July, director Anita Kilgour and her new theatre
company TenBareToes Entertainment bring Shakespeare’s classic battle
of the sexes, Taming of the Shrew, to the Elmira Theatre Company.
After many years in community theatre, with sold out productions as
both director and producer, Anita Kilgour realised she was looking for
a company that dedicated itself to enjoying creating theatre while
fostering a professional approach. TenBareToes is her attempt to
achieve that goal: that community theatre should be about the sheer
joy of doing theatre to entertain an audience.
“It can be simple and easy,” Kilgour says, “Take talented people,
provide them an environment where people can work, but without the
stress that can go with it – and let them give audiences something fun
to enjoy and cherish.” This philosophy seems to be working, attracting
cast and crew from several local theatre companies to her banner.
So why choose Taming of the Shrew as the company’s inaugural
production? Viewing the story through the cracked mirror of a
historical romance novel, Kilgour presents a fanciful twist by
bringing the story forward slightly to the age of the privateer. When
asked why this choice, she responded, “Petruchio (Nicholas Oddson)
doesn’t entirely follow society’s rules and niceties. He knows what
he wants, knows what he needs to do and follows that course. He isn’t
a classic polite gentleman – he’s a scoundrel. Leaving him in the
original period didn’t feel right, but the modern day didn’t feel
right either. The best time for the appealing scoundrel is that
wonderfully mythic time that every historical romance novel gets
wrapped in.”
Kate (Polly Edwards) has also undergone some change by Kilgour. “Kate
has been played in the past as everything from the incredibly loud,
cranky witch through to the modern emancipated woman. What I wanted
to highlight was Kate’s utter lack of adulthood and manners. Kate is
a spoiled brat.”
Given the headstrong nature of both characters, Anita offers this
comment to address the question of Kate & Petruchio’s reconciliation
at the end of the play. “Kate doesn’t ‘give in’ to Petruchio. He
doesn’t ‘tame’ her; so much as he forces her to look square in the
face of her behaviour by mirroring it. She has to address the fact
that she doesn’t think of others when she demands what she wants. She
realises that she can be every bit the strong woman that she is
without having to squish everyone else around her to prove it. Kate
isn’t tamed. Kate is shown how being an adult is every bit as
rewarding as being a brat – by someone who can be as much of either of
those as she is.”
Performances are July 8-10, 15-17, 22-24 all at 8pm, with a special
preview performance July 6 at the Elmira Theatre Company, 76 Howard
Ave, Elmira. Tickets are $18 ($9 for the preview) and can be ordered
from the company website http://www.tenbaretoes.com/shrew.
And it's coming together brilliantly. I'm really happy with how the costumes look, and I laugh out loud when I go to rehearsals. This cast is super and the pictures I've seen of the set pieces look wonderful, and I love the director's vision of the show.
Please come out to see the play, and my awesome costumes, sometime in July. The preview performance is next Tuesday, and the performances run July 8-10, 15-17, and 22-24.
You can buy tickets here. Tickets are $18 (preview night is half price). If you don't do PayPal, contact me directly with the date you'd like to see the show and cash and I'll get it to the box office guy.
So come out, because this much awesomeness deserves as many eyes as possible.
New Theatre Company Cannot Be Tamed
Elmira, ON – This July, director Anita Kilgour and her new theatre
company TenBareToes Entertainment bring Shakespeare’s classic battle
of the sexes, Taming of the Shrew, to the Elmira Theatre Company.
After many years in community theatre, with sold out productions as
both director and producer, Anita Kilgour realised she was looking for
a company that dedicated itself to enjoying creating theatre while
fostering a professional approach. TenBareToes is her attempt to
achieve that goal: that community theatre should be about the sheer
joy of doing theatre to entertain an audience.
“It can be simple and easy,” Kilgour says, “Take talented people,
provide them an environment where people can work, but without the
stress that can go with it – and let them give audiences something fun
to enjoy and cherish.” This philosophy seems to be working, attracting
cast and crew from several local theatre companies to her banner.
So why choose Taming of the Shrew as the company’s inaugural
production? Viewing the story through the cracked mirror of a
historical romance novel, Kilgour presents a fanciful twist by
bringing the story forward slightly to the age of the privateer. When
asked why this choice, she responded, “Petruchio (Nicholas Oddson)
doesn’t entirely follow society’s rules and niceties. He knows what
he wants, knows what he needs to do and follows that course. He isn’t
a classic polite gentleman – he’s a scoundrel. Leaving him in the
original period didn’t feel right, but the modern day didn’t feel
right either. The best time for the appealing scoundrel is that
wonderfully mythic time that every historical romance novel gets
wrapped in.”
Kate (Polly Edwards) has also undergone some change by Kilgour. “Kate
has been played in the past as everything from the incredibly loud,
cranky witch through to the modern emancipated woman. What I wanted
to highlight was Kate’s utter lack of adulthood and manners. Kate is
a spoiled brat.”
Given the headstrong nature of both characters, Anita offers this
comment to address the question of Kate & Petruchio’s reconciliation
at the end of the play. “Kate doesn’t ‘give in’ to Petruchio. He
doesn’t ‘tame’ her; so much as he forces her to look square in the
face of her behaviour by mirroring it. She has to address the fact
that she doesn’t think of others when she demands what she wants. She
realises that she can be every bit the strong woman that she is
without having to squish everyone else around her to prove it. Kate
isn’t tamed. Kate is shown how being an adult is every bit as
rewarding as being a brat – by someone who can be as much of either of
those as she is.”
Performances are July 8-10, 15-17, 22-24 all at 8pm, with a special
preview performance July 6 at the Elmira Theatre Company, 76 Howard
Ave, Elmira. Tickets are $18 ($9 for the preview) and can be ordered
from the company website http://www.tenbaretoes.com/shrew.