Feature: HAMLET at Wichita Center For Performing Arts

Wichita Center for Performing Arts will be presenting Hamlet as its first fully-staged production. The show will be held Feb. 21-24 at 9112 E. Central and features a student talk-back on the last day of the show.

This production of Shakespeare's Hamlet, directed by Bill Coleman, and starring award winning local actor Quinn Warren, is a bold interpretation that foregrounds the themes of violence vs. serious play, and the isolation of women. Set in the modern day, but one meant to suggest a timeless space, the play will be minimalist in design: spare, tuned to the rapidly changing rhythms of the text, and truly exciting.

"Hamlet is set in a culture of violence, where even a dead father retains the power to charge his son to shed another's blood, a culture where women are objects to be shaped by men's words and plans, used and then forgotten," said the show's director, Bill Coleman. "This is the world Hamlet was born to, and the world that he had escaped from, even if briefly, in his time away in Wittenberg."

Set against this world of cultural and familial violence is the vital world of imagination, dramatized by the Players.

"Arthur Miller once wrote that tragedy is possible only if we see the possibility for joy," Coleman continued. "This possibility is found in the Players, who, as artists living in community, enact fit forms for extreme emotion. Their songs and scenes allow for an expression of rage and grief and longing that serves to connect people, rather than isolating or injuring them. Part of the Hamlet's tragedy is his inability to sustain a connection to that kind of serious play."

On Sunday, February 24, if students and teachers order in advance using promo code 'talkback', tickets are only $5 (with student/teacher ID shown at door). Included in the price of that ticket is a post-show discussion with the actors, designers, and director. "Our goal is to provide a space where young people can perform and acquire tools to help them achieve success," says Shelli Kadel, director of Wichita Center for Performing Arts. "This show offers a fine example of high quality theater and coupled with the talk back, supports the educational piece of our mission.

Note that Hamlet is a play that includes scenes of psychological and physical violence. This production is not intended for children under 14.

Tickets and show information can be found at www.WichitaCenter.org or call 316.201.6654.

Follow them on Facebook @WichitaCenterforPerformingArts.