Season Calendar:
ROMEO & JULIET
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch
Starring Kurt Rhoads & Nance Williamson
“Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love.”
This most-familiar story is seen through a new lens as Director Gaye Taylor Upchurch brings us a bold take on the iconic, boisterous, poetic and above all, romantic tale of star-crossed lovers. With HVSF’s favorite longtime couple, Kurt Rhoads and Nance Williamson cast in the title roles, this revelatory age-blind production reminds us that, while youth may be only skin-deep, true beauty is a quality of the soul, and – in the end – love conquers all.
MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY
By Anne Washburn
Music by Michael Friedman
Directed by Davis McCallum
“Every story ends on a dark and raging river.”
In a not-so-distant future where the grid has failed, society has crumbled, and memories can no longer be stored on hard drives, a group of survivors come together to recreate their vanished world through the life-affirming act of telling stories under the stars. A love letter to live theater, and a hymn of survival and resilience (sung by America’s unlikeliest hero, Bart Simpson!), Mr. Burns is an exhilarating exploration of how the pop culture of one era might evolve into the mythology of another. Time Magazine calls Mr. Burns “both scary and sweet, funny but dead serious, unique and wonderfully theatrical.”
WHERE WE BELONG
By Madeline Sayet
Directed by Mei Ann Teo
Produced with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, in association with Folger Shakespeare Library
“I realize the power that comes with showing people a different way of seeing the world.”
In this intimate and exhilarating solo piece, Mohegan theater-maker Madeline Sayet travels to England to study Shakespeare, and in doing so, she traverses geographic borders, personal history, and cultural legacies, in search of a place to belong. Named one of the “great artistic achievements during the pandemic” (Broadway World), Where We Belong follows Madeline’s personal journey of self-discovery, and traces the intertwined relationship between Shakespeare and colonialism, a relationship with deep roots along the banks of the Muhheakantuck, the tidal estuary colonially known as the Hudson River.
