And we're off!

We made it into the Free Press on August 17th! Also, Matt and I were on Breakfast Television this morning at 7:25am (had to be up at 5:30am. After these past few weeks getting this show together, my sleeping pattern is COMPLETELY screwed up). Hopefully we continue to attract a crowd!

Here's the article:

Shakespeare troupe opts for snappy debut Thu Aug 17 2006 By Kevin Prokosh

THE Comedy of Errors is believed to be William Shakespeare's first comedy, a knockabout bit of slapstick from the Bard's apprentice years. For a young band of twenty-something apprentice actors -- all University of Winnipeg recent graduates or current senior students -- starting out with one of the plays Shakespeare started out with seemed a perfect fit for its inaugural summer. Theatre by the River makes its official debut al fresco at 7 tonight with a performance of Shakespeare's shortest and snappiest play in Assiniboine Park.

"You can definitely see a young writer at work," says director Matthew TenBruggencate who also serves as co-artistic director of the fledgling troupe with partner Mel Marginet. "When he was starting out, the plays were still pretty basic. He was still doing the broad comedy that was bringing the crowds out then." Like many novice dramatists who find it easier to adapt an established work, Shakespeare borrowed the basic plot line for his farce from the Roman playwright Plautus' (254-184 BC) script Menaechmi. In turn, Stephen Sondheim fashioned A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum from the same material, as did Rodgers and Hart with The Boys From Syracuse.

The theatrical fun centres around two sets of twin brothers who are separated at birth and 20 years later end up in the same town where their friends, family and lovers repeatedly mistake one for the other. The classic set-up sets the stage for some vintage comic gags that seem not to have gone out of style through the centuries of sitcoms. "I watched Road to Morocco, the Big Crosby-Bob Hope road movie, while I was reading the play and was struck by the similarities of the characters on a journey," says TenBruggencate, who graduated last spring from U of W's honours theatre program. "These two guys show up in this foreign town on the way home and encounter all this trouble. "So we set it in the 1920s with a vaudeville style. I found out that the Royal Shakespeare Company has also set it in the '20s. After seeing this idea had establishment approval, I felt more comfortable going ahead." Amidst the 90 minutes of tomfoolery, Shakespeare attempts to examine the serious idea of two selves made whole. TenBruggencate, 23, says he has created a central image in a scene where all the characters as well as pieces of the set are running in circles, never quite catching each other.

"So we set it in the 1920s with a vaudeville style. I found out that the Royal Shakespeare Company has also set it in the '20s. After seeing this idea had establishment approval, I felt more comfortable going ahead."

Amidst the 90 minutes of tomfoolery, Shakespeare attempts to examine the serious idea of two selves made whole. TenBruggencate, 23, says he has created a central image in a scene where all the characters as well as pieces of the set are running in circles, never quite catching each other. "It's like our lives, running in circles, trying to find ourselves," he says. With The Comedy of Errors, the 13 cast members are also trying to find themselves as full-time actors in this non-Equity production. They are creating their own work and while they are presenting a free show, they will be passing the hat for donations. Nobody is being paid. All the money will go to a future production, probably to be staged next summer. Although Theatre by the River bowed with the well-received kids' folk tale The Elfin Knight last month at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, the troupe purposely opted to perform a bawdy Bard laugher outdoors as an introductory presentation.

"We want to create accessible theatre," says Marginet, 23, who plays Dromio, the servant of Antipholus. "Performing in the park allows us to tap into an audience that normally wouldn't go. There's always a crowd when you do Shakespeare. We chose that location so the foot traffic going by will see a play going on and come and sit down."

The Comedy of Errors is performed on the northwest side of the footbridge in Assiniboine Park, Thursday through Sunday at 7 p.m. through Sept. 10. The audience can sit on the grass of a natural amphitheatre, so blankets and cushions are appropriate while lawn chairs are not.

Opening went great, over 50 people!! Wow! Hopefully we have a good sized crowed at our shows this weekend, as the forcast for next weekend is rain (but who can tell this far ahead anyway?!)

We had a bit of a snag when one of our set pieces wouldn't go into its socket, requiring some last minute (seriously, last minute as in mid-performance) blocking changes. But, c'est la vie!

If you'd like to volunteer to work the "door", please let me know!