For the week of August 14 - 20, 2002

Shakespeare comedy staged in Ketchum

Or a really big shrew

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By DANA DUGAN
Express Staff Writer

There are at least 10 things we love about the Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival. We love that it’s outside, that it’s summertime, and we love the Bard.

"Taming of the Shrew" will be performed Aug. 17-19, Aug. 22-26 and Aug. 29-Sept. 1 at the Forest Service Park in Ketchum.

This intimate park lends itself nicely to the Shakespearean productions the town has been treated to for the last few years by the Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival.

Besides the pleasures of Shakespeare al fresco, the audience gets elaborate plots, quotable lines, memorable characters, exotic settings and life’s mysteries delved into, if not actually solved.

But the best aspects about Shakespeare in the park is that it’s here, it’s ours and it’s good.

The play will be staged nightly at 6 p.m. Monday nights are designated "Pay as you Can."

To kick things off, there is an opening night fund-raising gala—with a roast lamb, salmon or chicken dinner catered by Apple’s—from 4 to 6 p.m., followed by the show. The cost is $100 a ticket.

The folks behind the Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival—Kimberly White and Peter Wittrock—have long been associated with the renowned Shakespeare & Co. in Massachusetts. They are co-directing this production.

This is the third year the festival has graced the valley. Artistic Director White performed in "Twelfth Night" two years ago, and Wittrock was Oberon in last year’s production of "A Midsummer Night’s Dream."

White, who is from Seattle, was the co-director of the Young Shakespeare Workshop in Seattle, and for three years its co-artistic director. She teaches Voice and Shakespeare at the University of Washington, and has worked with the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival and with Tina Packer, the founder and artistic director of Shakespeare & Co. on "Richard III" at the Loeb Drama Center near Harvard.

Her commitment to the Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival is key to its survival and the quality of the productions. "I think there is so much potential here. It’s a mecca for artists. We’re filling a void culturally," White said.

"What’s so special is we’re collaborating. We bring in highly trained professionals to teach, coach and act, especially with the new education program. It’s a real blend of local professionals and professionals from outside."

Wittrock and White met at Shakespeare & Co. 20 years ago, and have worked together on and off since then.

Currently a Los Angeles resident, Wittrock teaches Voice and Speech at UCLA. He is the artistic director of the Celtic Arts Center, a not-for-profit theater, His two sons, Fin, 17, and Dylan, 13, are also in "The Taming of the Shrew."

"Inadvertently, I raised my sons to follow in my footsteps," he laughed.

Together, White and Wittrock mapped out the feel of this production, in pre-production talks, mostly over the phone, before coming to the valley this year.

The inspiration for the play’s setting and look comes from the Commedia dell’arte, said White. Characters are identified by costume, masks and even props.

Masks play an important part here as well. The actors are creating their own under White’s tutelage. "Disguise to me is one of the most important themes," said Wittrock, who also plays the prospective groom and shrew tamer, Petruchio.

"What’s real and what’s not? There’s a carnivale feeling to it. A changing of status, a servant becomes his master, the master the servant."

In fact, Petruchio tames the shrew, Kate, played by Atlanta actress Diane Wagner, because he mirrors her behavior. She sees herself in him as he takes on her behavior, he said.

White added, "I like to think of her as a woman who gets a sense of humor. She relaxes into the conventions of the day."

Valley thespians appearing in the production are Toby Wilson, Scott Creighton, Jess Gelet, Larry Kelly, Tim Tracy, JD Ryan, Dean Cerutti and Frannie Cheston. In addition to Wittrock’s sons, there are several other young actors in the play, including Kyla Harrison, Alison Rust and Chyna Karterman.

Musician Erika Lynt plays the recorder and flute.

In the second week of the show’s run, there will be a "Lunatics, Lovers & Poets Night." The public is invited to "find a favorite Shakespearean love scene and read it aloud with one of the actors," said White. The date for this event will be announced later.

Tickets for "Taming of the Shrew" are available at the gate the night of the performance and at Chapter One Bookstore in Ketchum. For more information, call 726-7138.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.