Hercules and the Shakes in the Park

What are you talking about? Okay, I invited Tara Bradway at the Adirondack Shakespeare Company, aka ADK Shakes, to do a guest blog post about this summer’s production and schedule. Here’s her piece:

Adirondack Shakespeare Company brings fantastical children’s programming to the Schroon Lake Region

ADK Shakes (as the company is fondly known) is currently preparing for its second year of children’s programming. After a successful run of Theseus and the Minotaur, the company is thrilled to introduce the most famous of Greek’s legendary heroes in The Twelve Labors of Hercules. This production boasts a tightly-knit cast of five professional actors playing the heroes, monsters, gods and goddesses of Ancient Greece.

Says Artistic Director Tara Bradway, “Our process is rather unusual. The cast comes in fully memorized, and we put the show up with very limited rehearsal time — usually about twelve hours.” The cast will work together seamlessly to produce masks for some of their characters, learn to manipulate the monsters (several of which are hand-made puppets), and work their scenes over the course of two days’ rehearsal. This lends an incredible energy to the performances and brings the audience in as part of the creative and imaginative process. To see more about the mask and puppet-making processes, visit Tara’s blog My words fly up at drshakes.blogspot.com

The Twelve Labors of Hercules will open on Wednesday, July 11 at the Boathouse Theater in Schroon Lake Village at 11:00 a.m. and begin an intensive tour throughout the Adirondacks, including stops in Lake Placid, Bolton Landing, Indian Lake, North Creek, and Saratoga Springs. The Company is also excited to be a part of the Ticonderoga Arts Week with a performance on Thursday, July 26 at 4:00 p.m. graciously sponsored by the Ticonderoga Arts Guild.

Several performances will be held in outdoor parks throughout the region. At the parks, the company will perform selected scenes from the show every half hour. Bring a picnic, some sunscreen, and hang out with the cast in Saratoga Springs, Lake Placid, or Bolton Landing all day long!

See the full schedule for The Twelve Labors of Hercules below, or log on to www.adkshakes.org. Advance tickets may be reserved at adkshakes.ticketleap.com. ADK Shakes is also performing a main stage season of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Hamlet, and Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. If your children love theater, take them to see Twelfth Night or Hamlet too! Families with children as young as four have attended ADK Shakes’s productions of Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Merchant of Venice and been amazed at how engaged the children are, how well they understand the stories, and how enamored they become of the characters.

For more information, visit the company’s website: www.adkshakes.org, email [email protected], or call their office at 518-803-4162. Tickets may be reserved directly through adkshakes.ticketleap.com

Wednesday, July 11th, 2012, 11:00AM-12:00PM

Boathouse Theater, Dock Street

Schroon Lake, NY 12870

Now, tell us about the summer theatre production you’re looking forward to seeing, or let us know if you’re affiliated with a theatre company and include a link to your performance schedule.

Check out Connie Meng’s recent reviews of regional theatre productions here.

Tags: adirondack shakespeare company, adirondacks, arts, connie meng, hercules, theatre productions