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Curtain calls
By Heidi Masek hmasek@hippopress.com
• Turning Japanese: Ghostlight Theater Co. of New England, is doing Hamlet in Japanese and English. The second installment of the alternative theater troupe’s Shakespeare series uses Japanese Noh theatrical styles, including puppets, masks, kimonos, live music and a “living set” created by the ensemble.
“This has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said director John Sefel, who created the adaptation. “I am so thankful to Ghostlight for having the bravery to do this production.”
“The story of Hamlet works so well within Japanese culture,” Melissa Groff, who plays Queen Gertrude, said. “We need New Hampshire audiences to come out and give it a shot,” Sefel said. See Hamlet at the Annicchiarico Music Theater, 1 Thompson St. in Concord, at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, June 15 and 16, with a 2 p.m. matinée Sunday, June 16. Ticket costs range from $10 to $15. Contact ghostlight_theater@yahoo.com or call 930-9536. Ghostlight’s performance of “One Flea Spare,” directed by Sefel, won Best Production at last year’s NH State Community Theatre Festival. Ghostlight’s Shakespeare series concludes with Titus Andronicus Aug. 24 and 25.
• Keene-bound: Yellow Taxi Productions presented the world premiere of Six Nights in the Black Belt: The Jonathan Daniels Story by Nashua’s Lowell Williams in May. Now Keene’s mayor, Michael E.J. Blastos, has invited YTP to bring the show to Jonathan Daniels’ hometown. The play explores the life of the Episcopalian junior priest and civil rights martyr.
• Curse words and bathrooms: Peacock Players may be for kids, but when adults and teens are cast, they can be less sanitized. Damn Yankees is their family musical — the annual family show involves alumni, family and friends of Peacock. The show is based on Douglass Wallop’s novel, The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant. A middle-aged Red Sox fan trades his soul to the devil for a chance to lead his team to victory. Damn Yankees runs July 20 through July 22 at 14 Court St. in Nashua. Young Company, which is made up of about 20 teenagers who are also Peacock summer camp counselors, presents Urinetown Aug. 3 through Aug. 5. The musical by Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann is a satirical tale of greed, corruption, love and revolution. When a water shortage leads to a government-enforced ban on private toilets, an evil company takes advantage of a monopoly on public potties.
Young Company skills will be tested in a new Peacock feature called Project X. As in IFC’s Project Greenlight, Young Company members will select, staff, produce, manage, design, build, work and perform in their own show. Peacock Artistic Director Keith Weirich supervises, and the finished product runs Aug. 17 through Aug. 19.
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