Engaged Theatre Tour

Shakespearean Summer Tour

This year's Summer Tour of JULIUS CAESAR will be

Wenesday, July 7, 6:30 pm, Seward Park, Amphitheatre, 5898 Lake Washington Blvd. S., Seattle

Saturday, July 10, 8:00 pm,  Broadway Performance Hall, 1625 Broadway, Seattle

Sunday, July 11, 5:00 pm, Broadway Performance Hall, 1625 Broadway, Seattle

Tickets:  Pay What You Can

We keep coming back to Shakespeare because his characters are complex, conflicted, contradictory human beings, in worlds that are every bit as challenging as our own. Our audiences tell us that watching the tragic struggles of Shakespeare’s characters makes them feel less alienated from society; less the sum of their mistakes and more respected as complex human beings.

A number of Seattle’s most talented theatre professionals return year after year to participate with us in Freehold's Engaged Theatre tour. They can’t match the experience of performing for individuals living through such extraordinary circumstances. They all talk about the experience of finding a deeper understanding and respect for the humanity of the characters they create, and performing with more truth and generosity because of the interaction with these unique audiences. Actor Reginald Andre Jackson, who will be returning as Brutus in this year’s production of Julius Caesar and a veteran of Engaged Theatre with five past productions under his belt says,

 “People who ask me about Freehold’s Engaged Theatre Program always extol the work we do, while often expressing a strong reluctance to enter the environments we visit. The truth is there is no better audience. While playing an unethical character, a Shakespearean villain absorbed in the contemplation of a dark and dastardly act, an entire audience vocally inserted themselves into the piece with shouts of, “Don’t do it!”, “Seven years.”, “You don’t want to end up in that ward!” This was not the assault of angry hecklers, or bored and unruly school children. This was a group of incarcerated men desperately advising someone to make a better choice. It all took place in a matter of seconds and came from a place of true compassion. In the end, it is they who engage us.”

When asked why she chose JULIUS CAESAR for this year's tour, director Robin Lynn Smith responded:

I want to use Julius Caesar to open dialogue within these communities, to use this complex story of idealism and disillusion, betrayal, use and misuse of power, survival and sacrifice to ask some difficult questions:  How do we love and face fear - terror really - of loss and grief and death, and love anyway?  How do we take responsibility for our own capacity for violence and cruelty and deal with the guilt of survival - of what we've done to survive?

In Julius Caesar, the main characters struggle with the duties they are called upon to perform in their public lives that are in conflict with how they live their private lives.  The convention f the roles they must adopt as warriors or revolutionaries ultimately eclipse all other aspects of their humanity and they must struggle to reclaim the whole of themselves.  In previous Engaged Theatre productions, our audiences have shared with us how the Shakespeare themes speak directly and very personally to them.  I believe that Julius Caesar and the questions it unlocks will be deeply resonant with our attendees, many of whom have talked to us about their feelings of being confined in roles that do not acknowledge their full humanity.

Cast across gender and race (reflecting the communities we reach) the play will demand everything our professional company can bring, every time, to put the living, breathing story up there so that each performance creates a connection that has a powerful impact on performer and audience.

Freehold’s Engaged Theatre tour: JULIUS CAESAR

Julius Caesar
by William Shakespeare

Director: Robin Lynn Smith
Set, Costume, and Lighting Design: Roberta Russell, K.D. Schill
Fight Choreography: Jesse Sherfey-Hinds
Score composed by: Gino Yevdjevich
Co-conspirator:  Ladan Yalzadeh
Cast:  Eva Abram, Kjerstine Anderson, Shawn Belyea, Susanna Burney, Kevin Cavanah, Luisa Figueira de Paula Collova, Sarah Harlett, Trina Harris, Reginald Andre Jackson, Sylvester Kamara, David Brown King, Kevin McKeon, Kirsten McCory, Lisa Norman, Kate Parker, Lori Evans Pugh, Hal Ryder
Butoh:  Vanessa Skantze, Jacob Squirrel, Lin Lucas
Musicians:  Beth Fleenor and Whitney Lyman

Poster Images by: Annya Uslontseva, www.auadesign.com

Past Tour Productions
2009 -  Othello
2007 -  Cymbeline
2006 -  Merchant of Venice
2005 -  The Winter's Tale
2004 -  Veronika Falling
2003 - The Tempest

Othello, directed by Robin Lynn Smith, Cast: CT Doescher, Laura Fager, Jose J. Gonzales, Sarah Harlett, Reginald Andre Jackson, Sylvester Kamara, David Kubiczky, Carter Rodriguez, Annette Toutonghi, Kathryn Van Meter and music with Reshard Radford and Gino Yevdjevich, Movement Director: George Lewis.

Cymbeline, directed by Robin Lynn Smith, Cast:  Norah Benezra, Precious Butiu, Lauren Herrick, Richard Hesik, Reggie Jackson, Marya Sea Kaminski, Lara Lihiya, Kevin Moore, Gabe Smith, Lance Spencer, Katt Tait, Beverly Ann Thompson, Amy Thone, Gino Yevdjevich (music).

Mechant of Venice, directed by Robin Lynn Smith, Cast: David Friedt, Derek Kavan, Trina Harris, Robert Dale Walker, Demone Gore, Scott Maddock, Don Carter, Ben Cournoyer, Tony Pasqualini, Precious Butiu, Sarah Rucker Thiessen, Amber Cutlip, Alexandra Scott, Lori Stein, Kirsten McCory, Shamar Larkin, Michelle Kamberger, Music: Gino Yevdjevich, Ambrose Norness, Matty Noble, Felicia Loud, Kate Ryan

Veronika Falling, directed by Robin Lynn Smith. Adaptation of Veronika Decides to Die by Amy Wheeler.  Cast included: Marie Broderick, Dave Elvin, Reginald Andre Jackson, Jodie Knowles, George Lewis, Nicole Pearson, Danielle Slavick, Gabe Smith, Dani Suder, Elissa Walstead, Kate Wisniewski, Amber Zipperer, Music: Gino Yevdjevich, Dani Suder, Joy Brooke Fairfield, Danielle Slavick.