By John Moore
CultureWest.Org is endeavoring to make short films out of all 154 of Shakespeare’s sonnets, each featuring actors with Colorado connections. The artistic intent is primarily to further CultureWest’s mission to spotlight the local theatre community and their current or upcoming productions. It’s also an attempt to promote Shakespeare education in a fun way. This is an entirely volunteer project with a proud budget of … zero dollars.
We intend to roll out one Sonnet video a week for … zoinks! … 154 weeks. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist that hosts the series.
Our third episode features married actors Lyndsay and Jeremy Palmer, who will play brothers (!) in the handicapped Phamaly Theatre Company’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” opening July 10 and running through Aug. 10 at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. Tickets go on sale (303-365-0005) later this month. Jeremy is also the director of “Dislabed,” the annual all-original comedic series that pokes fun at all manner of things disabled … and abled. This year’s third installment, titled “Dislabled: Disorderly Conduct,” takes place in a courtroom following an incident involving protestors who are disparate, disgruntled … and disabled. “Is justice as blind as some members of the cast?” Jeremy asks? (Insert your own rimshot.) It plays April 25-27 at the Dairy Center for the Performing Arts. For more information, call 303-444-7328, or click here.
The Palmers take a modern approach to Sonnet 136. Shakespeare’s solution to wooing a woman in love with a man named Will? Simple: “Call me Will!” he tells her. The Palmers turn the sonnet into a dialogue between flirters that takes place, as they so often do these days, entirely via text messaging. That allows for a nice little turn of events at the sonnet’s end.
The Denver Sonnets Project is a volunteer collaboration, with limited eligibility requirements for participation. For information on how to register, email your interest to culturewestjohn@gmail.com.
Completed episodes to date (in numeric order:
Sonnet 23: Gabra Zackman, “As an unperfect actor on a stage …”
Sonnet 36: Rachel Fowler, “I may not evermore acknowledge thee …”
Sonnet 136: Lyndsay and Jeremy Palmer, “Make but my name thy love …”
Look here for a new sonnet every Monday. For more information on The Denver Sonnets Project, please email culturewestjohn@gmail.com.
Please consider supporting the Denver Actors Fund at www.DenverActorsFund.Org
