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Grassroots Shakespeare presents a one-night only completely unrehearsed chaos event that if it doesn't leave you in figurative stitches, may very well leave half the cast in literal stitches. Come watch these poor wretched thespians attempt to get their way through the script without knowing beforehand who is playing who! It will be madness, and it will be fun and did we mention their will be special opportunities to torture the actors for their poor life choices? Pay up and you can influence the show in delightfully macabre ways that the actors will never see coming.
This show is completely free with a suggested $25 donation, but we will happily take more of your money for merchandise, assorted goodies and surprise experiences
MARCH 22nd
7 PM preshow
7:30 PM show
Mad King Fellowship Theater, Salt Lake City
Located near the Cinemark Theater between Tucano's and The Bruce at the Gateway Mall, 2nd floor
The Grassroots Shakespeare Company is a 501-C3 non-profit formed in 2009. In that time we have dazzled audiences and shattered expectations about what Shakespeare is. We use grants and donations to bring performances to Utah schools and to bring our two yearly Summer Tour shows to parks absolutely free.
What does your donation do? Your donation helps us bring quality educational theater to schools all across Utah with our Educational Tour. It helps us bring free performances to parks all across Utah every Summer. It helps us keep ticket prices low for our few ticketed performances, and offer student discounts. It helps us find the highest quality talent by being able to pay our actors. It goes to helping us broaden our reach so that more people can finally understand Shakespeare and see it the way it was meant to be seen.
Even a few bucks can go a long way, so please hit that donate button and be a Bona Fide friend of the Bard!
Your donations are vital to helping us keep our company running and fulfill our mission statement! Even a little bit helps!
Grassroots Shakespeare differs from modern Shakespeare in a couple of key ways. When you see Shakespeare performed in modern times, it is much like seeing any other play-- people gather and take their seats and watch silently, perhaps occasionally clapping in-between scenes. However, this is not the way that Shakespeare was written. Shakespeare was written at a time when there was no fourth wall-- It had not been invented yet! This means that your average theater goer had no inhibitions whatsoever about telling the characters on-stage exactly what they thought about what was happening. Shakespeare knew this and actually wrote his plays with the audiences reactions in mind, even to the point that many lines which appear not to be in iambic pentameter actually are so once the audiences response is present! In Grassroots productions, our actors will speak most dialogue out to the audience, using a technique called 'direct address.' This makes the audience go from being mere spectators to active participants in the play.
Original Practice is when you remove that fourth wall, going back to the Elizabethan theater experience! While this is one of the main thrusts of the Original Practice experience, it is not the only one. Original Practice also means that their is no director. In Shakespeare's day, the play was put on collaboratively by the actors. Likewise, our casts make all of the decisions for their characters themselves-- with the help and council of their castmates. While this means you won't get a singular vision that a director might bring, it does mean that you get the best ideas to bring the text to life from many minds instead of one.
No costume designer! In Shakespeare's day, all costumes were created by the actors for their own characters. Additionally, in Elizabethan times, there was no period costuming-- actors wore whatever conveyed key elements of their characters best, with no special regard to time period or place. Likewise, you might see our 'Prince' from "Romeo and Juliet" as a bicycle cop, or 'Tybalt' as a 1950's greaser.
No set! In Shakespeare's time, there was no set, just a wooden stage adorned with only a few practical measures, like a log to sit on or perhaps a wand to lull characters to sleep.
Genderblind casting-- In Shakespeare's time, women weren't allowed on stage! That's right-- All women characters were actually played by men! In that same spirit, in a Grassroots show, women will play men, men will play women and everything in-between!
A shorter rehearsal period? That's right-- Shakespeare's troupe, The Kings Men, would memorize their lines beforehand and meet sometimes only the day before to go over fights and dances. At Grassroots, our rehearsal period is kept minimal to allow for spontaneous choices and authentic reactions. This is also an important part of the actor-audience collaboration-- every show is going to be different because the audience will be different-- there is little to be gained from hours of rehearsal if the audience is going to cause an actor to make different choices than they made in rehearsal!
Our talented cast hard at work to bring you another quality Grassroots production. Music by Gary Argyle.
William Shakespeare (Othello)
For inquiries about our upcoming events, send us a message.
We will get back to you soon!
For inquiries about our Educational Tour or to book us for your school, institution, library or event, contact: