Two Gentlemen of Verona

Notes from the Director

This project came about after many years of discussion about the need for more roles for women each summer, and the frustration of having to compete with other fine women for a few roles rather than working together in a supportive environment.

We hope to inspire other women and girls to create their own opportunities, to join hands and become each other's greatest allies.

The decision to use a play of Shakespeare's seemed an obvious one-his universal themes allow us to be relevant without any major textual changes, and our use of a unisex cast allows the audience to hear these classic lines from a new perspective.

Mostly, I hope that the fun we have working together is contagious and infects our audiences with great mirth and some meaning.

-Erin Merritt

Bios

• Erin Merritt (Director)
  • Erin is an East Bay native who has been acting in the area for the past 17 years, having appeared at both the Berkeley and California Shakespeare Festivals and with such local standouts as Shotgun Players and Unconditional Theatre. She has studied Shakespeare since the age of 15 with the aforementioned Shakespeare Festivals as well as at Kristen Linklater's Shakespeare and Company in Massachusetts. In 1991, Erin began teaching Shakespeare to both adults and children for such diverse groups as the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, The East Bay Center for the Arts, Theatre Positive, Taproot Theatre Company (Seattle), The Carmel Ballet Academy and both the Berkeley and Spokane Unified School Districts. Other related experience includes assistant directing one production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and serving as dramaturg on another, stage managing the long-running hit, Bar None, and producing and booking two on-going variety shows, in Portland and San Francisco. Producing and directing an all-female production of Shakespeare's work seemed a natural next step.
• Melanie Hermann (Valentine)
  • Melanie is a North Bay native who has appeared recently in leading roles at California Shakespeare Festival (Hermia in Midsummer Night's Dream, Marina in Pericles and Mariana in All's Well that Ends Well), TheatreFIRST (Lise in Anything to Declare?) and Shotgun Players (Mme de Volanges in Dangerous Liaisons). She received her MFA from De Paul University in Chicago and is also an accomplished songwriter.
• Madeline Lacques-Aranda (Launce)
  • Madeline is finally emerging after many years of training in Suzuki technique, karate and qi gong. Favorite roles include Mandrolin in Nightletter Theatre's The Hungry Tree. Hecuba in the Trojan Women at Mills College and Mom in the life of her 13-year-old son.
• Jaime Lujan (Antonio/Duke/Eglamour)
  • Jaime is a co-founder of Latina Theatre Lab and former board member of Brava! For Women in the Arts. She holds an MFA from ACT and has worked extensively in the Bay Area, both as an actor and a singer. Notable roles include Carla in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents for LTL and the title role in The Elephants Child for Word for Word. She received a Bay Area Theatre Critics Award for her portrayal of Cerezita Valle in the World Premiere of Cherrie Moraga's Heroes & Saints.
• Mary McGloin (Julia)
  • After several years of touring with the California Theatre Center, Mary has returned to grace local theatres. A North Bay native, Mary's favorite roles include Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Felicia in Santos y Santos. If you hurry, you can still catch her playing Hero at Shakespeare at the Beach.
• Jessica Meyers (Proteus)
  • Jessica has been recently seen with companies as varied as Marin Shakespeare Festival, bigtankproject, Unconditional Theatre and the Marilyn Monroe Memorial Theatre, but perhaps she is best known for Live Through This, the Joan of Arc project she recently conceived of and starred in at Impact Theatre. She also holds a BA in Music from Brown University and is a professional singer and musician.
• Lizzie Robinson (Speed)
  • Lizzie is a native of England who most recently appeared in The Real Thing at Marin Theatre Company. Other favorite projects include Skin and Bones, Flesh and Blood and last year's production of Pandemonium with Antenna Theatre Company, and the world premiere of local playwright Brighde Mullins' Topographical Eden at the Magic Theatre.
• Valerie Weak (Lucetta/Thurio)
  • Valerie is an East Bay Native and a founding member of Unconditional Theatre who most recently appeared as Sonya in Holy Theatre's production of Uncle Vanya. She also has appeared with Everyman Theatre Company and Marin Shakespeare Company and spent a year touring with California Theatre Center.
• Wendy Wilcox (Silvia/Panthino)
  • Wendy is a founding member of Unconditional Theatre who has just finished a run of their latest show, playing Anna in The Baltimore Waltz, by Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel. Last year she starred as Roma in their gender-bending production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. A North Bay native, Wendy has also appeared with Pacific Alliance Stage Company, Sonoma Valley Shakespeare and Subterranean Shakespeare.
• A Dog to be announced (Crab)
  • Yes, a real dog will play the role of Launce's troublesome dog, Crab. What's the old adage: never act with children or animals?

Multimedia

Photos

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