Youth Shakespeare To Stage Two Productions Over Weekend

Scotts Valley Performing Arts Association’s Youth Shakespeare program will stage two distinctly different productions throughout the weekend.

The first, Shakespeare’s classic, The Tempest, will get an infusion of Japanese culture in the Youth Shakespeare adaptation.

The Tempest: Revisited will be set in Medieval Japan and will feature Japanese dance, Japanese music by local harpist Alexandra Romanoff and a performance by Watsonville Taiko Drums.

Youth Shakespeare director and local writer, Trish Melehan, adapted the script to “create a memorable theater experience.”

“I decided I wanted to change it up a bit, so I modified it to take place in Japan,” Melehan said. “The names of the characters have even been changed to Japanese names.”

Shakespeare’s original characters will morph into “Japanese lords, kami spirits, samurai vassals, barbarian natives, crusty mariners, and wise, worldly goddesses.”

The cast is made up of 33 people, mostly children ranging in age from 5 to 16 years old, and a few adults.

“This show has a lot for everyone, and it really is a family affair,” Melehan said.

The second production, Journey Fantastique: Art and Poetry in Motion, is a multi-media performance that is a collaboration of art, poetry and music.

The artwork of well-known Santa Cruz artist James Carl Aschbacher will be on display, while stories written by Melehan are told in verse. Local pianist, Samantha Allott, will accompany the show with the ragtime music of Scott Joplin.

Melehan said she turned several of her poems into stories about Aschbacher’s artwork with various voices that will be performed by the Youth Shakespeare kids.

“Poetry is storytelling,” Melehan said. “[The kids] will make his paintings come alive and tell a story.”

The Tempest: Revisited will run Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Journey Fantastique: Art and Poetry in Motion will run Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 6:30 p.m. All shows are at the Bethany University Theater, 800 Bethany Dr., Scotts Valley.

Tickets are $15 general admission; $12 seniors and students; and $10 children under 10. Tickets may be purchased at svpaa.org or at the door.