HERE YE! HERE YE! SOUTHEAST CELEBRATES SHAKESPEARE

From Julius Caesar to the Taming of the Shrew to Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's classic tales will come to life this semester at Southeast Missouri State University.

The university theater department will be celebrating a semester-long Shakespeare Festival, beginning with the theater department's own interpretation of "Bits of the Bard: Shakespeare's Ladies."

The production, showing Feb. 20-23 in the Lab Theatre, will focus on Shakespeare's female characters, many of whom are strong and supportive, said Ellen Seyer, director of the play.

"Many of Shakespeare's most known characters are men Hamlet, Macbeth, Henry VIII but behind each one of those men there are strong women's roles," Seyer said. "Very often, the women are being very supportive, which is reflective of the time period."

"Bits of the Bard," adapted by Dennis C. Seyer, assistant professor of speech communication and theater at Southeast, will include readings and musical presentations of some of the most cherished lines in theater.

The first act of the play features readings from "Twelfth Night," "Henry VIII," "Richard III," and Othello," among others. The second act of the play contains musical selections from "West Side Story," "Kiss Me Kate," "The Boys From Syracuse" and the finale number "Brush Up Your Shakespeare."

Seyer said the seven actors and actresses in the company and Daniel Stevens, who plays Shakespeare, have challenging parts to play.

"The actor or actress not only has to act in a Shakespeare-type setting," she said, "but he or she also has to be able to sing and dance and entertain."

Stevens, a non-traditional student who is in his 40s, offers a unique dimension to the play, Seyer said.

The other seven players act out a total of 23 characters during the course of the production, a feat Seyer said is difficult to master.

"You're asking them to establish a character and hold it for three minutes, and then become somebody else," she said. "They have to be very versatile."

Only Stevens holds his character throughout the entire production, she said.

The company is made up of Shannon Curtis, Dawn Hilpert, Leslie Stevens, Kara Weber, J. Christopher Dick, Dante Scaife and Colleen Powderly.

Dr. Dan Cotner, a local dentist and a longtime member of the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band, will accompany the players.

"Bits of the Bard" will be shown at 8 p.m. each night in the Lab Theatre in the Grauel Building, Room 104.

Tickets go on sale Feb. 11 at the university box office, and are $4 for non-students and $3 for students, senior citizens, faculty and staff members.

Other scheduled Shakespeare Festival activities include two plays on film, "Romeo and Juliet" on Feb. 8 and "Westside Story" on March 22. Both films are free and will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Forrest H. Rose Theatre on campus.

Also on March 22, Dr. Robert Dillon, assistant professor of speech and theater, will present a workshop called "Elizabethan Swordplay: A Primer."

On April 12 and 13, and 17-20, the theatre department will present its own production of Shakespeare's classic love story, "Romeo and Juliet," on the stage of Rose Theatre.