Attention all Bard lovers, it’s time to put the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre the 2015 season lineup in your calendars.
You may have been putting it off, thinking it was too far in the future. Wrong. If Tokyo is already training an army of interpreters for the 2020 Olympics, you certainly can jot a few things into your summer datebook.
The Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre’s ninth season comprises the Bard’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and “The Merchant of Venice,” the famous “Fiddler on the Roof,” as well as an adaptation of “As You Like It” for young audiences, which were all chosen based around the theme of identity.
“All of the plays have characters at their center who are struggling with issues of who they are,” Producing Artistic Director Rebekah Scallet said on their website. “Tevye in ‘Fiddler’ must come to terms with what it means to be a traditional man in an increasingly modern world, Shylock in ‘Merchant’ must navigate his Jewish identity in a world that is hostile to his religion, Falstaff in ‘Merry Wives’ views himself as a romantic lover while the rest of the world sees him only as a buffoon and Rosalind in ‘As You Like It’ disguises herself as a boy and better understands her true nature and the nature of love in the process.”
Performances will take place at a variety of venues, including the Donald W. Reynolds Performance Hall at UCA and The Village at Hendrix, as well as outdoors in the Argenta Arts District in North Little Rock.
Now comes the part where you actually mark your calendars. These performances will hit the stage June 4-28. For details, visit their website or call (501) 852-0702.