Staged Reading - The Comedy of Errors

By William Shakespeare

A staged Reading

Directed by Eileen Tull

Tuesday - May 1st, 2012 8 p.m.

ONE NIGHT ONLY

The Comedy of Errors is considered one of Shakespeare's earliest plays, possibly his first comedy and certainly his shortest play. The primary source of the play is the Menaechmi of Plautus, but Shakespeare also borrowed from Plautus's Amphitruo.

The plot revolves around "errors," or mistaken identity, involving identical twin brothers, the twin masters Andropholus and twin servants Dromio. Unusual for Shakespeare, the play satisfies the classical unities, the action occurring over a single day in a single place, the Greek city of Ephesus, a center of early Christianity. Madcap plot twists include near-seductions, mistaken beatings, exorcism, and the machinations of various merchants, goldsmiths, courtesans - and an Abbess! Though the humor appears farcical, lurking just underneath are serious issues of power dynamics between genders, classes, and the dichotomy of slave and free.

2012 Spring Staged Reading Series

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

By William Shakespeare

A staged reading, Directed by Eileen Tull

ONE NIGHT ONLY - Tuesday, May 1st, 2012, 8 p.m.

Eileen Tull (Director) is a director, playwright, performer, and Chicago transplant, and is excited to work with Actors Ensemble for the first time. In the Bay Area, she has directed with Subterranean Shakespeare, Boxcar Theatre, SF Theater Pub, Seascape Beach Resort, and the Fringe of Marin. She is currently stage managing The Odyssey on Angel Island with We Players. Eileen will be performing her original solo piece, Jesus, Do You Like Me? Please Mark Yes or No. at the San Francisco Fringe Festival in September.

Cast

Nathan Bogner - Antipholus of Ephesus, Antipholus of Syracuse

Barry Eitel - Dromio of Ephesus, Dromio of Syracuse

Eileen Fisher – Adriana

Lindsay Styler – Luciana

Heather Cherry - First Merchant

Chelsea Camp - Second Merchant

Vicki Siegel - Duchess Solinus

Shubra Prakash - Balthasar

Wayne Wong – Angelo

Louis Knox- Gaoler, Officer, Servant

Sarah Asarnow – Courtesan

Sukanya Sarkar- Dr. Pinch

Don Hardwick - Aegeon

Terry Guillory - Aemilia

Presented by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley ONE NIGHT ONLY, Tuesday, May 1st, 8 p.m., at Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck Avenue (at Berryman) in north Berkeley. Tickets $5-$10 sliding scale, cash or check only at the door. (No one will be turned away for lack of funds)