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King Lear


JUNE 2006
FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK

By William Shakespeare
Directed by J. Clark Nicholson

CREW

Melissa Nicholson

  Executive Director, House Manager
Allen D. Marshall   Set Designer, Technical Director
Jen Kilander   Costume Designer
Mike Banks   Music/Sound Designer
Karen M. Gasser   Light Designer
Dan Burke   Fight Choreographer
Noel Sloboda   Dramaturg

CAST

Sherman Hawkins
King Lear

Sean Adams
Edgar

Robert Campbell
Kent

Greg Davies
France/Curan/Gentleman

Alexis Dow
Cordelia

Melissa Dunphy
Fool

Jeffrey Gunn
Albany

Mik Jacobs
Gloucester

Ian Potter
Cornwall/Doctor

Jon Rooney
Burgundy/Oswald

Patrick Siler
Edmund

Amber E. Wagner
Goneril

Jacquie Williams
Regan

Jud "Pop" Nicholson   Scenic Painter
Jamie Tyrrell   Assistant Director, Stage Manager
Teresa Campbell   Properties Manager
Tracy Lambdin   Head Costumer
Lydia Graeff   Assistant Stage Manager
Joe Gualtier   Sound Assistant
Phillip Mann   Lighting Assistant
Ashley Gross   Costume Assistant
Robinson Smith   HSF Artwork/Logos
Matthew Dunphy   Program Design
    ...more credits below
     
  Anthony Topper, Rick Zentmeyer, Louis McKinney, Sr   Photographers
  Jennie Kelley   Office Manager
  Sara Ross   Assistant Producer
  Michelle Camilli   Volunteer Coordinator
  Mary-Kate Lee, Mary Braasch,
Sara Ross, Mike Ross
  Production Assistants
  Tim Parsons, Dick Ross, Karen Ruch, Ron Rash, Kent McNeillie   Technical Assistants
  Melissa Dunphy, Alexis Dow   Costume Shop Liaisons
 

The story of Lear, already a legend in Shakespeare's time, is that of an aged king who divides his kingdom between his three daughters. While the eldest two flatter their father with false promises, Cordelia, his youngest and most loving daughter, is banished for her honesty. This sets in motion a disastrous chain of events in which the kingdom is engulfed in war and the king descends into madness.

Our production embraced the Celtic and Gaelic roots of the traditional Lear fable, with costumes taken from pre-Christian Europe and a set dominated by standing stone monuments similar to those found at Stonehenge. Filling the title role was renown Shakespeare scholar Sherman Hawkins, long-time collaborator with HSF. Undaunted by the intense physical demands of the role, Sherman delivered a powerful performance. Filled with disturbing (and often violent) imagery and powerful symbolism, the play, complete with a graphic staging of Gloucester's blinding and a climactic, four-sword duel between Edgar and Edmund, gathered momentum as it sped on to its heart-rending conclusion.
 
 
 

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