BERLIN– The Brown Box Theater Project returns to Main Street, presenting William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy “Macbeth” on Saturday, Sept. 6, at 7:30 p.m.
Berlin native Kyler Taustin founded Brown Box in 2010, basing the nonprofit organization in Worcester County, but utilizing talent from Boston.
“We have two homes,” he said. “We are dedicated to touring from Boston to Delmarva, and our mission is based in trying to bring high-quality arts to communities who have little or no access to performing arts.”
Brown Box has presented free Shakespeare in Berlin and throughout Worcester County for the last four years.
“All of our productions start in Boston,” Taustin said. “We do two-to-three weeks in Boston and then we do our tours down in Maryland.”
Set in Scotland, “Macbeth” follows the titular general who is consumed by ambition after a trio of witches prophesize that he will become king. After his wife convinces him to murder the sitting king, Macbeth assumes the throne and must commit countless acts of tyranny in order to hold onto his power.
Taustin said he chose the play because it was relatable to both his cast and his audience.
“I’m a huge fan of ‘Macbeth,’” he said. “It’s one of my personal favorites in the cannon. It is a story about ambition; it is a story about a husband and wife who, in their passion for power, are engulfed by and consumed by ambition, which I think is a very young idea.
“It’s something that I think very much connects with the people I am working with and myself in the company,” Taustin continued. “We are all relatively young professionals in the theater community, and there’s something very youthful about this idea of ambition and desire. I think it connects to our audience and it connects to our mission really in a lot of ways. Unfortunately Macbeth obviously takes it a step too far, but there is something about that idea that I think is universal and something that I think is really exciting to explore.”
A Boston-based critic for the Dorchester Reporter recently compared the production to the HBO series “Game of Thrones.”
“That was really exciting to hear,” Taustin said. “A lot of us are big fans of ‘Game of Thrones’ so we definitely took that as a compliment. I loved what he said about how Shakespeare did it first – this idea of powerful women and beheadings and witchcraft and all of these different things – he definitely tapped into something that is still entertaining to this very day, so I thought that was a very interesting and exciting parallel to modern culture.”
Taustin is firmly in the camp of people who believe Shakespeare’s work is most resonant when it is seen – not read.
“Our mission and our desire is to share Shakespeare and the help our audience to get a better grasp and really see that it’s still worth being around,” he said. “It’s still worth seeing; it’s still worth performing; it’s still very connected to modern society. It think there’s something very universal and very human about the text, and there’s always something worth exploring in there.
“A lot of young people are forced to read (Shakespeare), but this is something that is meant to be seen,” Taustin continued. “It’s something that we’re all aware of in some capacity, but haven’t necessarily experienced it the way it was meant to be done. We are really excited to be a company and a group of people who are sharing this with a community that maybe hasn’t gotten the opportunity to see these stories the way they’re meant to be seen.”
One of the first lines in the play is, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”
“Things are twisted – things are shifting constantly in this play, and what’s good is bad and what’s bad is good,” Taustin said. “I think that we – as a society – are constantly struggling with that same idea. The world is not black and white. I think ‘Macbeth’ forces us to experience that with someone who is struggling on a very bloody stage.”
Alex Marz stars as Macbeth with Marge Dunn (Lady Macbeth), Jeff Marcus (Macduff), Kyle Cherry (Malcolm), Ben Heath (Banquo), Chelsea Schmidt (Witch 1), Emma Undine Wiegand (Witch 2), Laura Menzie (Witch 3), Johnny Quinones (Lennox), Marc Pierre (Ross), Gigi Watson (Lady Macduff) and Joe Kidawski (Duncan).
The Brown Box Theatre Project is supported by the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Worcester County Arts Council, Salisbury Wicomico Arts Council, Mid-shore Community Foundation, Talbot County Arts Council, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Delaware Division of the Arts.
The company will tour “Macbeth” for more than a dozen different dates on the Eastern Shore, including Friday, Sept. 5, at Sturgis Park in Snow Hill, Sunday, Sept. 7, at Sunset Park in Ocean City, Tuesday, Sept. 9, at White Horse Park in Ocean Pines and Saturday, Sept. 20, at Northside Park in Ocean City.
All performances are free, open to the public and begin at 7:30 p.m.
For more information visit www.brownboxtheatre.org/macbeth.html.
Berlin native Kyler Taustin founded Brown Box in 2010, basing the nonprofit organization in Worcester County, but utilizing talent from Boston.
“We have two homes,” he said. “We are dedicated to touring from Boston to Delmarva, and our mission is based in trying to bring high-quality arts to communities who have little or no access to performing arts.”
Brown Box has presented free Shakespeare in Berlin and throughout Worcester County for the last four years.
“All of our productions start in Boston,” Taustin said. “We do two-to-three weeks in Boston and then we do our tours down in Maryland.”
Set in Scotland, “Macbeth” follows the titular general who is consumed by ambition after a trio of witches prophesize that he will become king. After his wife convinces him to murder the sitting king, Macbeth assumes the throne and must commit countless acts of tyranny in order to hold onto his power.
Taustin said he chose the play because it was relatable to both his cast and his audience.
“I’m a huge fan of ‘Macbeth,’” he said. “It’s one of my personal favorites in the cannon. It is a story about ambition; it is a story about a husband and wife who, in their passion for power, are engulfed by and consumed by ambition, which I think is a very young idea.
“It’s something that I think very much connects with the people I am working with and myself in the company,” Taustin continued. “We are all relatively young professionals in the theater community, and there’s something very youthful about this idea of ambition and desire. I think it connects to our audience and it connects to our mission really in a lot of ways. Unfortunately Macbeth obviously takes it a step too far, but there is something about that idea that I think is universal and something that I think is really exciting to explore.”
A Boston-based critic for the Dorchester Reporter recently compared the production to the HBO series “Game of Thrones.”
“That was really exciting to hear,” Taustin said. “A lot of us are big fans of ‘Game of Thrones’ so we definitely took that as a compliment. I loved what he said about how Shakespeare did it first – this idea of powerful women and beheadings and witchcraft and all of these different things – he definitely tapped into something that is still entertaining to this very day, so I thought that was a very interesting and exciting parallel to modern culture.”
Taustin is firmly in the camp of people who believe Shakespeare’s work is most resonant when it is seen – not read.
“Our mission and our desire is to share Shakespeare and the help our audience to get a better grasp and really see that it’s still worth being around,” he said. “It’s still worth seeing; it’s still worth performing; it’s still very connected to modern society. It think there’s something very universal and very human about the text, and there’s always something worth exploring in there.
“A lot of young people are forced to read (Shakespeare), but this is something that is meant to be seen,” Taustin continued. “It’s something that we’re all aware of in some capacity, but haven’t necessarily experienced it the way it was meant to be done. We are really excited to be a company and a group of people who are sharing this with a community that maybe hasn’t gotten the opportunity to see these stories the way they’re meant to be seen.”
One of the first lines in the play is, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”
“Things are twisted – things are shifting constantly in this play, and what’s good is bad and what’s bad is good,” Taustin said. “I think that we – as a society – are constantly struggling with that same idea. The world is not black and white. I think ‘Macbeth’ forces us to experience that with someone who is struggling on a very bloody stage.”
Alex Marz stars as Macbeth with Marge Dunn (Lady Macbeth), Jeff Marcus (Macduff), Kyle Cherry (Malcolm), Ben Heath (Banquo), Chelsea Schmidt (Witch 1), Emma Undine Wiegand (Witch 2), Laura Menzie (Witch 3), Johnny Quinones (Lennox), Marc Pierre (Ross), Gigi Watson (Lady Macduff) and Joe Kidawski (Duncan).
The Brown Box Theatre Project is supported by the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Worcester County Arts Council, Salisbury Wicomico Arts Council, Mid-shore Community Foundation, Talbot County Arts Council, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Delaware Division of the Arts.
The company will tour “Macbeth” for more than a dozen different dates on the Eastern Shore, including Friday, Sept. 5, at Sturgis Park in Snow Hill, Sunday, Sept. 7, at Sunset Park in Ocean City, Tuesday, Sept. 9, at White Horse Park in Ocean Pines and Saturday, Sept. 20, at Northside Park in Ocean City.
All performances are free, open to the public and begin at 7:30 p.m.
For more information visit www.brownboxtheatre.org/macbeth.html.