By MELISSA BEVERIDGE
After being unable to perform last year due to Hurricane Sandy’s destruction, the Bradley Beach Arts Council will return to the Bradley Beach boardwalk with its popular production, “Shakespeare at the Beach.”
The free event will be held the weekend of Friday, July 25 and Saturday, July 26 at 7 p.m. with a rain date scheduled for Sunday, July 27.
In honor of the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth, the cast will perform a compilation of scenes from Shakespeare’s plays including “The Winter’s Tale,” “The Taming of the Shrew,” “Richard III,” “Romeo and Juliet” and “Much Ado About Nothing.”
“We’re giving a sampling of the different kinds of scenes that Shakespeare wrote,” said Julia Rand, chairman of the arts council.
She said the performance will contain scenes from various plays including comedy, tragedy, and history.
“It’s fun to do a sampling of work,” she said.
Rand has been acting since becoming a member of Uta Hagen’s professional acting class in 1973. She is also a playwright.
Returning from past BBAC performances will be Peter Caporal, a NYC actor and BFA graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts; Lloyd Fitzsimmons who made his acting debut as Mr. Van Daan in BBAC’s May performance of The Diary of Ann Frank; Ruben Nagy, the Supervisor for Monmouth Christian Academy; Juliana Stanford, the Director of Arts Education at the Algonquin Arts Theater in Manasquan; and Ellpetha Tsivicos, a BFA graduate from the Tisch School and a singer.
Making his BBAC debut will be Camilo Quiroz-Vasquez, a BFA graduate of the Tisch School and the co-creator of the original web series This is Me Trying. Local resident, Rachel Warnet, a 7th grader at the Bradley Beach Elementary School will also be making her acting debut as the performance’s storyteller. Warnet who has been studying acting at the Algonquin Arts Theater School will be concluding the performance with Puck’s speech from A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream.
The performance will be accompanied by musical pieces that were inspired by Shakespeare’s works including Winter’s Tale by John Harbison, which will be opening the program. Musical Director and BBAC chair, Jacklyn Schneider, spent hours selecting the accompanying music.
The performance will also feature dancers from Anne Beckert’s A Chance to Dance in West Belmar. Dancers will be joining the actors during a scene from “Much Ado About Nothing.”
Despite the lack of a gazebo, the performance will occur in its place, the 5th Avenue boardwalk.
“Next year, we will hopefully have a gazebo,” said Rand, who noted that they will be using the current space by setting up staging areas with tents and a professional surround sound system.
For more information about BBAC or Shakespeare at the Beach, visit artsatthebeach.org.