Elements Theatre Company presents Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

Contact: Sharon Tingley
Tel: 774-722-9569
sharont@gdaf.org
www.elementstheatre.org

Elements Theatre Company presents Shakespeare’s celebrated and notorious The Merchant of Venice

Elements Theatre Company offers an unusual invitation to hope, love, and reconciliation through one of Shakespeare’s most renowned and provoking plays, The Merchant of Venice. In the midst of Advent and Hanukkah—both seasons of light—Elements invites audiences to journey beneath the sparkling façade to the darker side of Venice to encounter Antonio the merchant, and Shylock the Jewish moneylender, Bassanio the eager lover, and Portia the wealthy prize, and witness the bloody collision of their worlds.

Questions of hate and love, justice and mercy, prejudice and tolerance, pervade a story that is at once both nightmare and fairy tale. With the gifts of these characters, Shakespeare faces us with questions that challenge our own dark sides of unforgiveness, revenge, and lust for power, but he also provides us with a chance for change, a time for resolution, and an opportunity to reflect on the light of the future.

In the words of Director Danielle Dwyer, CJ, “This story is part of what we are and who we are, and is a cautionary tale of what happens when human nature and the desire for revenge is released.”

Location, Times, and Tickets

The Merchant of Venice will take place December 4–5, & 11–12 at 7:30 pm, and December 6 & 13, at 3:00 pm at Paraclete House, located at the Community of Jesus at Rock Harbor in Orleans, Massachusetts (5 Bay View Drive). A Pre-show lunch at Bethany Guest House, overlooking Rock Harbor, is available at 1:00 pm on December 6 & 13.

Guests are invited to attend a panel discussion following the Sunday matinee performances on December 6 & 13.

Guest Panelists include:

• Tina Packer - Founding Artistic Director of Shakespeare & Co, Lenox MA
• Jeff Robbins - Former United States Delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland
• Danielle Dwyer, C.J. - Artistic Director, Elements Theatre Company
• Rabbi Mark Elber - Temple Beth El, Fall River MA
• Sidney Friedman, PhD - BU College of Fine Arts - Adjunct Professor in Theatre
• Lee Mikeska Gardner - Artistic Director of The Nora Theater Co. Cambridge MA
• Robert O. Trestan - ADL New England Regional Director
• Dr. Gregory Sorensen - Former President and CEO of Siemens Healthcare North America

Ticket prices:

Show only: $35 ($30 Seniors, Free for students and youth ages 18 & under)
Lunch and Show: $65 ($60 Seniors)

For reservations please call 508-240-2400 or go to www.elementstheatre.org. Reservations are required for the pre-show lunch.

About Elements Theatre Company

Elements Theatre Company is a non-profit, professional theatre ensemble of 16 artists in-residence who perform both classical and classically rooted modern works year-round in Orleans, Massachusetts. Founded in 1992, Elements has performed and studied at home and abroad, touring in North America, Europe, and South Africa. Performance highlights of the past decade include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Cherry Orchard, Pillars of the Community, A Christmas Carol, God of Carnage, The Dining Room, Rumors, Lion in Winter, Lady Windermere’s Fan, and Julius Caesar. Last February Elements toured New York and Chicago where they held panel discussions, workshops, and performances centered around Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. This summer, Elements performed three of Alan Bennett’s award-winning Talking Heads monologues.

The company maintains an active, ongoing training program, with intensive professional studies in London, New York, Chicago and at home. Past teachers include Patsy Rodenberg, Joanna Weir-Ouston, Glynn MacDonald, Sue Lefton, Louis Colaianni, Jane Nichols, Lenard Petit, Daniela Varon, Christine Adaire, Patrice Eggleston, Kestutis Nakas, Nick Sandys-Pullin and Rachel Slavick.

About Elements’ Artistic Director, Danielle Dwyer, CJ

A founding member of Elements Theatre Company, Sr. Danielle Dwyer has either directed or performed in nearly seventy productions since the company’s inception. Classically trained but also skilled in contemporary drama, Sr. Danielle earned her Master of Arts Degree from England’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the University of London. She also studied voice, acting, and writing with Joanna Weir at Central School of Speech and Drama (London, England); David Male of Cambridge University (Cambridge, England); and Shakespeare & Company (Lenox, MA); and studied Shakespeare at the Stella Adler Studio in New York City.