Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew at Belvedere Castle Central Park NYC

July 7, 2009 - PRLog -- Visionary director Jeremy X. Halpern tames this four-hundred year old diatribe on male-female relationships. TimeSpace's Producing Artistic Director, Paul Casali will star as "Petruchio", and Lance Windish (formerly of Cirque du Soleil) will be featured as his manservant Grumio. This production proudly introduces Anna Lewis as the fiery hellion Kate, and also stars company memeber Maria Alegre as her sultry younger sister Bianca. Mr. Halpern is using techniques combined from the work of Anne Bogart and Jerzy Grotowski to create a radically new ensemble-based approach to this legendary romantic work of theatre.    

Shakespeare's immortal comedy pits the plucky but honorable Petruchio against the wild and merciless Kate, and, as Petruchio predicts, "where two raging fires meet together, they do consume the thing that feeds their fury". Kate's younger sister Bianca is forbidden by their father to marry any of her many suitors until her shrewish older sister Katherine is married. And only Petruchio is willing to take on that challenge. With the aid of his occasionally trusty servant Grumio, Petruchio guides "Kate the Cursed" into a true loving partnership of trust and passion.

The production will be performed in Central Park at majestic Belvedere Castle (near the Delacorte Theatre and Shakespeare Garden, entrance at West 79th Street.).  Admission: Donations    

Jeremy X. Halpern is the sole proprietor of 1-800-Weirdos, and founder the multimedia performance group Verge. At 1-800-Weirdos he performs live on www.weirdos.tv every night at midnight and mixes random callers to the 800 number into the show while traveling rapidly into the future. As an actor, he has worked with such notables as Anne Bogart, Jerzy Grotowski, and Eugenio Barba, and performed recently at P.S. 122 in the NTUSA's acclaimed show, "Chautauqua!". He also performed for many years at Belvedere Castle as Caliban in the Faux-Real Theatre Company's annual production of "William Shakespeare's Haunted House." As a director with Verge, he has masterminded such bizarre epics as "Speak of the Devil (A Satanic Cabaret)" and "Battle of the Dead Celebs" (A comic dance of historical significance).

TimeSpace Theatre Company was founded by Paul Casali with a mission to present sociopolitical theatrical works which are relevant to our society with a focus on the human story, inhabiting time and space with many facets and perspectives of humanity. Past productions include Iphegenia at Aulis, Love Letters, Dessert with Durang, and The False Servant.

Where: Belvedere Castle in Central Park
entrance at West 79th Street

When: Friday, July 31 @ 6pm; Saturday, August 1 @ 4pm; Sunday, August 2 @ 4pm.

Admission: Donations

Subway: B, C to 81st Street