Victorious in battle, triumphant in war, chosen by the people to lead, Titus Andronicus has returned home after 10 long years defending the honor, the ethics, the very existence of the nation state she loves -- only to discover that the art of politics and the skirmishes within the halls of power are darker, crueler, and more violent than anything she has seen on the battlefield. Her nation changed beyond recognition, her leaders corrupt and venal, the rules she lives by mocked and broken, she devises a revenge for her new enemies far worse than anything she could have done at war.
From the notorious director of Bitch Macbeth and the OOBR-Award Winning Vegas-themed Antony and Cleopatra comes the first edition of DMTheatrics' new series, GRUDGE MATCH: DMT VS. SHAKESPEARE, in which the Bard's entire output will be restaged, rethought, realigned, wrecked, and regurgitated with fearless abandon for a new 21st century audience. Crammed with the high-energy, high-speed audiovisual mayhem and kinetic style that director Frank Cwiklik is known for, these shows are the perfect introduction to Shakespeare for anyone who hates Shakespeare, and just right tonic for theatergoers looking for something new, exciting, and, above all, entertaining.
This radical reinvisioning of one of Shakespeare's most controversial works boldly recasts the family Andronici as a matriarchal career military clan, with Titus as the grande dame of Roman warcraft and her sister Marta as the no-nonsense Tribune of the people. Reinvisioning this dark revenge melodrama as a conflict between matriarchs vieing for power and justice in a wartorn world, the show's themes of sacrifice, honor, vengeance, and cruelty are thrown into stark relief in a way never before quite envisioned.
This production introduces new blood to the DMT repertory players, whose alumni have spanned the worlds of downtown theater, indie film, and even television and animation. Kymberly Tuttle portrays the defiant, beleagured matriarch who gains a revenge at the cost of her soul; Sean Phillips portrays the radical, unrepentant Aaron, whose callow, cunning scheming leads him into unexpected territory and a new way of thinking; Greg Engebrecht as Lucius, who grows to manhood and a new position of strength as he sees the old world ebb away; and Ann Breitbach as the tragic, resilient Lavinia, violated but unbowed, brutalized but unbroken. Also returning to the DMT fold are Brianna Tyson, who stole the show in the recent Taking Liberties, as notorious Tamora, queen of the Goths, now Empress of Rome, grande dame of revenge and villainy; Fred Backus, who played the Rbiter in the smash hit Brick revival of Bitch Macbeth, portrays Saturninus, slick, wily Emperor of Rome, who sets into motion a chain of events beyond anyone’s control; and longtime DMT stalwart Ken Simon, from 2003’s OOBR-Award Winning DMT production of Antony and Cleopatra, as Bassianus, charismatic but outclassed and doomed along with his beloved Rome. Assisted by an able and talented cast of indie theater thespians and boosted by director Frank Cwiklik’s trademark bombast and panache, this is “one of the twenty must-see theater events of the Fall season” (L Magazine), which is sure to excite, stun, and electrify audiences.
DMTheatrics in association with The Brick presents William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus
Starring Kymberly Tuttle * Sean Phillips * Brianna Tyson * Greg Engebrecht * Ann Breitbach * Fred Backus * Ken Simon+ * Kristin Woodburn * Adam Samtur * Craig Kelton Peterson * Peter Schwartz * Peter Schuyler * Stephanie Wortel * Lydia Blaisdell * William Welles
Written by William Shakespeare * Co-Producer Michele Schlossberg
Designed, Produced and Directed by Frank Cwiklik
October 9 through 24 2009 Wed through Sun eves 8 PM The Brick, 575 Metropolitan Ave, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
+appears courtesy Actors' Equiity
