Ramiz Monsef News

The throw-everything-against-the-wall-and-pray-for-laughs approach to low comedy is a staple of live theater, and certainly, of William Shakespeare's plays. None play would seem to invite a shtick-fest - beg for one even - than the hugely ridiculous THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. At the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, alas, Kent Gash's free-for-all staging of Errors exposes the play's lameness rather than celebrates its lunacy. For ninety non-breezy minutes, every actor on that stage is mugging (or frugging) his or her collective buns off. Some of the players are quite deft and, indeed, the production has its share of laughs. Too often, though, the jokes don't land, the pace slows and the endeavor is dead in the water.

The Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2014 preview performances begin tonight, February 14, and the season will open Friday night, February 21 in the Angus Bowmer Theatre with Shakespeare's The Tempest (director, Tony Taccone). On Saturday, Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (Juliette Carrillo) takes the stage, as does the classic Marx Brothers musical The Cocoanuts (David Ivers), and Sunday afternoon Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors (Kent Gash) opens in the Thomas Theatre.

The Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2014 preview performances begin February 14, and the season will open Friday night, February 21 in the Angus Bowmer Theatre with Shakespeare's The Tempest (director, Tony Taccone). On Saturday, Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (Juliette Carrillo) takes the stage, as does the classic Marx Brothers musical The Cocoanuts (David Ivers), and Sunday afternoon Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors (Kent Gash) opens in the Thomas Theatre.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival opens its flagship theatre the weekend of June 14-16 with two Shakespeare productions, Cymbeline and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a rollicking U.S. premiere of David Farr's The Heart of Robin Hood.

The Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2013 preview performances begin February 15, and the season will open Friday night, February 22 with Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, directed by David Ivers. On Saturday, August Wilson's Two Trains Running, directed by Lou Bellamy, takes the stage, as does Lerner and Loewe's classic American musical My Fair Lady, directed by Amanda Dehnert. Sunday afternoon in the Thomas Theatre, Shakespeare's King Lear opens, directed by OSF Artistic Director Bill Rauch.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will open Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, directed by Rob Melrose, at 8 pm. Saturday, March 31 in the New Theatre. The play will run through November 4. Troilus and Cressida joins Chekhov's Seagull, adapted and directed by Libby Appel, also playing in the New Theatre, and Romeo and Juliet, Animal Crackers and The White Snake, which run in the Angus Bowmer Theatre.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will open Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, directed by Rob Melrose, at 8 pm. Saturday, March 31 in the New Theatre. The play will run through November 4. Troilus and Cressida joins Chekhov's Seagull, adapted and directed by Libby Appel, also playing in the New Theatre, and Romeo and Juliet, Animal Crackers and The White Snake, which run in the Angus Bowmer Theatre.

Artistic Director Bill Rauch announced the 2013 playbill to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival company today.

Drama Desk Award-winner Everett Quinton (Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company), Michael Winther (33 Variations, Damn Yankees, 1776, and Mamma Mia! on Broadway), and Marlon Sherman (Mary Poppins, Beauty and the Beast on Broadway) are set to star in Max Understood, running at the 45th Street Theatre in the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival. Marlon Sherman will be playing the title role of Max.

Nancy Carlin and Michael Rasbury's musical "Max Understood" is quite unlike most musical theatre fare: an imagined trip into the mind of an autistic child, through new-age music and sampled sounds.

Drama Desk Award-winner Everett Quinton (Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company), Michael Winther (33 Variations, Damn Yankees, 1776, and Mamma Mia! on Broadway), and Marlon Sherman (Mary Poppins, Beauty and the Beast on Broadway) are set to star in Max Understood, running at the 45th Street Theatre in the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival. Marlon Sherman will be playing the title role of Max.

Drama Desk Award-winner Everett Quinton (Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company), Michael Winther (33 Variations, Damn Yankees, 1776, and Mamma Mia! on Broadway), and Marlon Sherman (Mary Poppins, Beauty and the Beast on Broadway) are set to star in Max Understood, running at the 45th Street Theatre in the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival. Marlon Sherman will be playing the title role of Max.

Due to record-breaking box office demand, Lookingglass Theatre Company extends The Arabian Nights for a second time. The smash hit production must close August 30, 2009. The Lookingglass Original, adapted and directed by Ensemble Member Mary Zimmerman, is now playing at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson.

Due to record-breaking box office demand, Lookingglass Theatre Company extends The Arabian Nights through August 9, 2009. The Lookingglass Original, adapted and directed by Ensemble Member Mary Zimmerman, is now playing at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson.

Due to record-breaking box office demand, Lookingglass Theatre Company extends The Arabian Nights for a second time. The smash hit production must close August 30, 2009. The Lookingglass Original, adapted and directed by Ensemble Member Mary Zimmerman, is now playing at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson.

Due to record-breaking box office demand, Lookingglass Theatre Company extends The Arabian Nights through August 9, 2009. The Lookingglass Original, adapted and directed by Ensemble Member Mary Zimmerman, is now playing at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson.

Lookingglass Theatre Company presents The Arabian Nights, adapted and directed by Ensemble Member Mary Zimmerman. This Lookingglass Original completes its tour in Chicago following sold-out runs at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Kansas City Repertory Theatre. The production is scheduled to run May 20 - July 12, 2009, at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson. The press opening is Saturday, May 30, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.

Lookingglass Theatre Company presents The Arabian Nights, adapted and directed by Ensemble Member Mary Zimmerman. This Lookingglass Original completes its tour in Chicago following sold-out runs at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Kansas City Repertory Theatre. The production is scheduled to run May 20 ? July 12, 2009, at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago?s historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson.