'COMPLEAT FEMALE STAGE BEAUTY' OPENS NMU THEATER SEASON

Wednesday 5, 2011
            MARQUETTE, Mich.— Northern Michigan University’s Forest Roberts Theatre will present Compleat Female Stage Beauty by Jeffery Hatcher. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, through Saturday, Oct. 15, with an additional 1 p.m. matinee on Saturday.

            Compleat Female Stage Beauty will be directed by Shelley Russell. The play is set in 1660s London, where women cannot perform on stage. Actor Edward Kynaston is noted for portraying Shakespeare’s women, especially Desdemona. When a rival theater illegally puts a woman onstage as Desdemona, his livelihood is endangered. The final blow comes when it officially becomes legal for women to act. Kynaston must struggle to rediscover his identity—what it means to be a man, what beauty is and what it means to be himself. This show is rated R.

            Patrick Bradley of Ishpeming will play Kynaston and Taylor Kulju of Ishpeming will play the part of Margaret.

            Remaining cast members and their roles are (Michigan hometowns unless otherwise indicated): Rusty Bowers of Marquette, as Sedley; Jacob Barbot of Big Rapids, as Samuel Pepys; Jahmila Pettis of Cincinnati, Ohio, as Miss Frayne; James Porras II of Menominee, as Thomas Betterton and Mistress Revels; Dana Mehlhorn of Shawano, Wis., as Nell Gwynn; Leah Blanchard of Engadine, as Maria; Shane Vincent of Ovid-Elsie, as Ruffian 4 and Lelly; Jenna Madeley of Lake Forest, Ill., as Lady Meresvale; Ryan White of Gwinn, as Ruffian 1 and Hyde; Hentry Rojas of Mount Pleasant, as Villiars and Duke of Buckingham; Aaron Sarka of Seward, Alaska, as Charles II; Rory Tricker of Bolingbrook Ill., as Ruffian 2 and Male Emilia; and Mike Cardosi of Grosse Pointe Woods, as Ruffian 3 and stage manager.

            The production will feature set design by Victor Holiday, light design and flight direction by Kimberly Hegmegee, costumes by Ansley Valentine and Andrea Knoll, sound design by Jalina Olgren, properties design by Stephanie Baugher and stage management by Diamond Allen, Courtney Brown and Meghan Marquardt.

            Tickets are $8 for NMU students and $12 for the general public. They can be purchased at all NMU EZ Ticket outlets.

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