NORWAY — Norway Memorial Library will host a one-hour performance of Shakespeare’s tragedy, “Macbeth,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 14, at the library. Actors from Acorn Productions of Westbrook will perform the abridged version of the classic play.
Shakespeare ensemble members, Karen Ball, Paul Haley, Johnny Speckman and Nate Speckman, will perform under the direction of Acorn Producing Director Michael Levine. During the course of the performance, the actors will take on multiple roles in the production, which includes all the most famous text passages as well as nearly complete versions of the scenes between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth.
Although most other scenes have been shortened, Acorn’s version still tells the story by compressing intervening scenes into a short narrative by another character in the play. The edited version of the text focuses on the essential journey of Macbeth’s journey from war hero to tyrant and examines the causes of his downward spiral. The production encourages audience participation built into the performance.
Ball is a recent graduate of University of Southern Maine with a BA in theater. As a member of Acorn Productions’ “Naked Shakespeare Ensemble,” she’s had the opportunity to play such characters as Lady Macbeth, Portia, Titania and Miranda.
In addition to working in the productions, scene presentations and staged readings of the Acorn Shakespeare Ensemble, Haley has performed in “Twelfth Night” with the Stage at Spring Point and “Macbeth” with Lucid Productions. The Speckmans are 2008/2009 apprentices with Acorn.
Levine is the co-founder of Oak Street Theatre and Acorn Productions. He has directed many productions for Acorn, including “The Cocktail Hour,” “Measure for Measure,” “Burn This” and “Much Ado About Nothing.” Levine is a graduate of MIT, where he studied playwriting with A.R. Gurney and acting with Kristen Linklater and Shakespeare and Company. He has worked at Portland Stage Company and the New Repertory Theatre and is an English teacher at Gorham High School.
The program is free and open to the public. Call the library at 743-5309 for more information, stop by the library’s information desk or visit www.norway.lib.me.us.
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- Karen Ball and Paul Haley will be among the performers staging "Macbeth" at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 14, at Norway Memorial Library.
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