The Department of Theatre at Mississippi University for Women and Blue Line Shakespeare present “The Taming of the Shrew” Thursday through Saturday, April 20-22 at 7:30 p.m. in Cromwell Theatre.
“The Taming of the Shrew” is a comedy centered around a woman whose rebellion against her family has caused her to act with shrewish behavior. When she meets her perfect match, will everything change?
“It’s really a pleasure to be back producing a show with Blue Line at our alma mater,” said co-artistic director Mary Wildsmith. “Mississippi is such a culturally rich area — the idea behind Blue line Shakespeare is to create a chance to give back, both to The W, the department that trained us and the region as a whole.
“Those of us involved feel that we received an outstanding education and a tireless professionalism from our time here. We’d like to pass that inspiration on to a continuing generation of students and artists. This really is a beautiful area, full of potential. I think we’re interested in both celebrating and developing the rich artistic heritage of Mississippi. Mississippi produces a lot of fantastic artists, but for a variety of reasons very few of them seem to stick around. Ideally we’d like to give them not only a reason to stay, but also a draw for others to join us.”
The cast includes guest artists Ty Fanning and Torey Byrne; alumni Dustin Gibson, Jack Marshall and Leah Thompson; and MUW students Kevin Barkman, Louis Codling, Abigail McCreary, Enya McDonald, Lori Purtle, London Roberts, Miriah Stacy, Courtney Thompson, Heena Timsina, Ashley Vinson, Chloe Waldrop, Elizabeth Wiggins and Robert Williams II.
The production team includes MUW theatre faculty members Lee Crouse, director and fight choreographer, and David Carter, department chair and producer; MUW theatre alumni Mary Wildsmith, production stage manager and co-artistic director; Dustin Gibson, scenic designer and co-artistic director; Casey Duke, lighting designer; and Joseph Musgrove, costume design.
In addition, Enya McDonald is assistant stage manager; Courtney Thompson is properties mistress; Abigail McCreary is assistant costume designer; Dooey Nabors is light console operator; and Winter Cochran is sound console operator.
Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the performance will begin promptly at 7:30 p.m. The show will run 1 hour 35 minutes.
Follow Blue Line Shakespeare at facebook.com/bluelineshakes/.
Cromwell Theatre is located at the corner of 10th Street and Sixth Avenue South.
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