MACBETH
By William Shakespeare

JUST ADDED! TICKETS: September 30 at Oak Hill Cemetery, Newburyport
TICKETS: September 29 & October 1 at Crane Estate, Ipswich
Presented by Theater in the Open & the Firehouse Center for the Arts
with Glass Dove Productions & Vicious Mole Theatre Collective

Join us for a night of supernatural thrills, where Macbeth's tormented conscience and the spectral forces that plague him will chill you to the bone and leave you questioning the boundary between the living and the dead. This Fall we will bring our ensemble together to create Macbeth in five days, using a “quick-raise” rehearsal process which combines original Elizabethan theatrical practices with modern ensemble-building techniques. These performances will be bare-bones, essential, utilizing a bare stage or found space, a few scraps of fabric, a drum, the voices & bodies of the actors, and the crucial ingredient of 400-year-old words that can still send a shiver down the center of your spine.

Director’s Note

Four hundred years ago, in 1623, the First Folio was published by members of William Shakespeare’s acting company, seven years after his death. It was a large book – “folio” refers to the size – which contains 36 of Shakespeare’s plays, printed together as a collection for the first time.

Many of Shakespeare’s plays had been printed previously in other formats. Thus we have several surviving versions of Hamlet which we can draw on in preparing modern editions.

But eighteen of the plays are known only from the First Folio, and all later editions were based on it, so without this collection we would not have Julius Caesar or The Tempest, for example.

And Macbeth. Without the First Folio we would know the play existed – a philandering astrologer & occultist named Simon Forman recorded his impressions of a performance in 1610 – but would be unable to read or perform this play which is now so familiar to so many of us.

We have chosen to prepare this performance using rehearsal methods drawn from or inspired by those used in the years before & after the First Folio was published. We use modern clothes with simple but evocative additions (as Shakespeare’s actors did). We use “cue scripts” that contain only our own lines and our cues, and sometimes we use them in front of an audience. We rehearse only the “fights & dances”, the difficult bits of choreography that need to be set in order to be safe.

What we have found is that using these centuries-old techniques yields a performance that is curiously modern, vital, and raw. For us it has brought a fresh understanding of the play. We hope it will bring you a fresh perspective on this familiar story of ambition and the personal & societal costs of the struggle for power.

Meet the Cast of MACBETH

macbEth

Wayne Asbury, he/his
Kansas City, Missouri, & Peterborough, New Hampshire

Wayne originally hails from Kansas City, Missouri, and currently calls Peterborough, New Hampshire home. Past roles include: George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Bernard in Arcadia, Henry in Mud, Jerry in The Zoo Story, Bradley in Buried Child, Heisenberg in Copenhagen and Claudius in Hamlet. He's thrilled to be a part of such a dynamic production.

Macduff, Lady Macduff, Fleance
Process Facilitator

Andrew Codispoti, he/they
The Open Road
Previous TITO appearances: The Crucible (John Proctor, co-Director)

Andrew Codispoti (he/they) is a traveling theatre maker. He is a founding member of The Shakespeare Ensemble and the Bridge Theatre Ensemble, and has worked extensively with Advice to the Players, Seven Stages Shakespeare Company, and The Barnstormers Theatre. He was the Artistic Director of Advice to the Players for the 2016 & 2017 seasons, and is the curator & instigator of Vicious Mole Theatre Collective.

Banquo, Old Man, Macduff's Son, Seyward

Trevor Gerard Frederick, he/him
Billerica, Massachusetts
Previous TITO appearances: Poe., Garden Music

Recent Credits: "By The Way, Meet Vera Stark", "The Piano Lesson," "Pericles." Love and light to family, friends, and our audience.

Process Facilitator

Tim Jacobs, he/him
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Previous TITO appearances: The Crucible

Tim is excited about what brings people together. This process focuses on instilling trust and sense of ensemble in a very short period of time. He is always learning more than he teaches every time he has the opportunity to work in this manner.

Lady Macbeth
Producer, Glass Dove Productions

Emily Karel, she/her
Seacoast, New Hampshire

Emily Karel is a Seacoast-based actress and producer. She has studied acting for theatre, film, and television in New York and Los Angeles, and is a graduate of the Conservatory and Winter Intensive programs at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. Emily has been a Company Member with Theatre KAPOW (Derry, NH) and a Company Artist at New Hampshire Theatre Project (Portsmouth, NH). She established her production company, Glass Dove Productions, in 2017 and has mounted five projects to date: Arcadia by Tom Stoppard (2017), Ada and the Engine by Lauren Gunderson (2019), Mary and Me by Irene Kelleher, (2020-2022), A Safe Passage by Irene Kelleher (2022), and Macbeth by William Shakespeare (2023-2024). Emily is excited to be working with Theater in the Open, Vicious Mole Theatre Collective, The Firehouse Center for the Arts, and this talented ensemble of artists on this first iteration of Macbeth! Thank you so much for your support, please come see us again at The Players' Ring Theatre in April 2024!

Malcolm, Witch 2, Murderer 2, Whey-Face

Corrie Owens-Beauchesne, she/they
Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Corrie Owens-Beauchesne is a graduate of Shakespeare & Company’s month-long intensive in Lenox, Massachusetts. She also recently graduated from Hampshire College, earning her BA in Stage Acting and Theatre Education, where she focused on applied theatre techniques, theatre of the oppressed, and children’s rights. Recent credits include Belle, Caroline, Fred’s Wife, and Mrs. Dilber in A Christmas Carol at the Player’s Ring, Jackie and Yellow Bile in Doctor Doctor by Catherine Stewart at the Player’s Ring, as well as Viola and the Girl Who Found Fear in Generations at New Hampshire Theatre Project. She hopes you enjoy the show!

Witch 3, Seyton

Bretton Reis, he/him
Dover, New Hampshire

Bretton is bubbling with excitement for this production! Recent credits include playing Nick in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Hatbox Theatre, writing/directing Stat Geek in Natick, and designing set/lights for Rock of Ages at the Firehouse Center for the Arts. Upcoming: world premiere of his new play Granite State Proud at the Players' Ring. B.A. triple-major UVM, MSc with Distinction U. of Edinburgh. Love to his friends and family; much thanks to Andrew, Emily, and Teddy! More at brettonreis.com.

Witch 1, Duncan, Murderer 1, Doctor

Edward F. Speck, he/him
Newburyport, Massachusetts
Previous TITO appearances: Many!

Edward F. Speck has a long history with Theater in the Open, having been a company member for 12 years before taking on the role of Artistic Director in 2009. His first show with Theater in the Open was 1997’s Much Ado About Nothing directed by Bonniejean Wilbur. Previous credits with Theater in the Open include Medea (Jason), The Tempest (Caliban), Antigone (Creon) and lots and lots of clowns over a decade of Pantos. He has recently been seen in Pericles with 7 Stages Shakespeare and Waiting for Godot at the Firehouse Center for the Arts. An Amesbury native, Edward now lives in Newburyport as artist-in-residence at the Maudslay Gatekeeper’s House, which allows Teddy and his wife to raise their young daughters on the edge of these magical woods.

Previous Theater in the Open credits as director include A Christmas Carol Panto! (2021), Adventures in Zoomland Panto! (2020), and A Peter Pan Panto! (2019), among many other spring and winter Pantos.

Rosse, The Porter

Jamie Steinbach, she/her
Rochester, New Hampshire
Previous TITO appearances: The Crucible

Jamie Steinbach is thrilled to rejoin her friends at TITO after last appearing in The Crucible as Ann Putnam! Other selected previous credits: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Titania/Hippolyta) with Seven Stages Shakespeare Company, A Christmas Carol (Fred, Belle, Mrs. Cratchit) at the Player's Ring, and Everybody (Everybody), wild, alone (Tamberlane), and Three Sisters (Chebutykin) all at Suffolk University. Training: The Williamstown Theatre Festival (Apprentice Program), Suffolk University (B.A. Theatre Performance 2019). Thanks to my family and friends for their endless support and for listening to my many ravings about character development and language.