Shakespeare Unplugged at Powerhouse Fest!!

“Shakespeare: Unplugged features Scotty Arnold’s musical adaptations of Shakespeare's All’s Well That Ends Well and Twelfth Night. In All’s Well That Ends Well, low-born Helen pursues the love of high-born Bertram. But even if she can overcome her station, can she get Bertram to love her back? Twelfth Night tells the story of Viola and Sebastian, twins who are separated in a shipwreck. How will these two survive on their own in a strange land, will they find their way back to each other, and might they find love of another kind along the way?”

I was right in the middle of my first 9-5 IT job when my friend Scotty reached out about this fantastic new show idea he was workshopping… His goal was to adapt selections from a book called Tales from Shakespeare by Mary and Charles Lamb published back in 1831. The book was intended “for the use of young persons” and such the tales were told in simpler ways. Scotty wanted to harness that energy and transfer the simplicity into hour-long actor-musician based shows. I was totally game for it, and eager to work with the team from the Hudson Valley Performing Arts Lab.

The twins embarking on their naval adventure during the opening number of Twelfth Night.

We were instructed to bring whatever instruments we could play with us, so I packed my guitar, cajon, tin whistle, and harmonica, and headed for Vassar College from Portland, Maine! We had around a week to pull together two separate 60 minute shows: Twelfth Night, and Alls Well That Ends Well. I was cast as ORSINO and PAROLES, respectively.