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MONMOUTH — The Theater at Monmouth is hosting the inaugural What’s Next Fest: Making Old Things New and New Things Classic, beginning Tuesday, Aug. 22, and running through Friday. Aug. 25.
The program will feature staged readings of adaptations of Shakespearean plays and poems, improv hijinks, and more at 7:30 p.m. each night, and features a variety of performances, from veteran company member Mark S. Cartier celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ ground-breaking Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, to staged readings of adaptations and translations of Shakespeare. Tickets are available for single performances, or for all four nights.
The What’s Next Fest was created to give theater-goers something to do once the performance season ends. “Every year, people from near and far drop into the box office the day after the last performance of the summer rep and ask, ‘What’s up next?'” said producing artistic director, Dawn McAndrews, “We thought it was about time to give them something.”
The theater also receives submissions of new works, adaptations of classic plays and offers to bring joy to the community through music, improv and film, and the program offers the flexibility to extend the season with some of the offerings.
Tuesday, Aug. 22: It was 50 Years Ago Today: The Making of Sgt. Pepper. Cartier takes an in-depth look at the Beatles’ risky decision to become a full-time studio band, a move that was unprecedented at the time. The risk paid off, however, as the group created a psychedelic masterpiece that is still regarded as the most influential album in recording history.
Wednesday, Aug. 23: Staged reading of Callie Kimball’s “Lucrece and the Two Janes.” Jane and Other Jane live in a nursing home for dying Roman gods. They bicker over their differing versions of an event that changed the course of history, the rape and suicide of Lucretia. They can only settle their disagreement by opening the archive and replaying once again what led up to the night when the birds were aflame and dying. Based on Shakespeare’s narrative poem “The Rape of Lucrece.”
Thursday, Aug. 24: Capital City Improv: A Night to Remember. Dennis Price’s improvisational comedy troupe uses audience suggestions to create a zany and spontaneous evening of fun. Based in Augusta, Capital City Improv has been making people laugh for years with their quick-witted, lighting-fast, short-form laugh fests.
Friday, Aug. 25: Staged reading of Lillian Groag’s “Play On!” translation of Shakespeare’s “Troilus & Cressida.” Both warriors and lovers play hard to get in this modern epic about the hot blood, hot thoughts and hot deeds of the ancient Greeks. In the 7th year of the Trojan War, Troilus, a young prince, pines for the affections of Cressida, a bright young woman who knows how to play it cool. Meanwhile, the heroes of “The Iliad” — Hector, Paris, and the kings they serve–debate whether to return the dangerously beautiful captive Helen or continue to fight without end. Nations and lovers alike do battle in this funny, piercing drama about romance and revenge in a world at war.
