Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog: Shakespeare’s spellbinding vision of ambition, treachery, mystery, and magic will be conjured up this September in a five week tour that will take the play from Boston’s Fort Point Channel to a dozen locations throughout the Delmarva Peninsula. In these free outdoor performances, theatre newcomers and Shakespeare devotees alike will witness the rise and fall of Macbeth, the renowned war hero who murders and usurps his rightful king after a fateful encounter with a trio of infernal witches.
Brown Box Theatre‘s mission is to bring high-quality theatre to communities that otherwise lack access to the performing arts. The constant goal in all our programming is to bring down barriers that separate potential audiences from live theatre and to introduce the performing arts to the widest audience possible.
Brown Box Theatre Project was founded in 2009 by Kyler Taustin to fill a void in the fine arts landscape of his home region, the Eastern Shore of Maryland. While Ocean City and surrounding areas had no lack of tourist attractions, there were no sources for professional theatre anywhere on the Delmarva Peninsula.
Taustin, a graduate of Emerson College’s theatre directing program, decided to change that. In 2011, Taustin sought to mount a free production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in Ocean City. A handful of excited donors, along with a dedicated cast and crew of theatre artists, signed on to Taustin’s vision of a free outdoor production, staged on the beach, intended to capture the attention of locals and tourists alike. The success of Twelfth Night vindicated Taustin’s founding belief that a local audience for theatre would emerge once obstacles like cost and geography were brought down.
Twelfth Night was followed in 2012 by Romeo & Juliet, and in 2013 by A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Each year the production grew in size and reach, and now Brown Box’s free Shakespeare tour is an annual event that extends far beyond Ocean City into communities and schools throughout the Eastern Shore. The project, which was once funded by a Kickstarter and a prayer, has grown with generous assistance from local arts councils, community foundations, businesses, and municipal government.
Performance made possible by funding from Talbot County Arts Council, with Town of Easton and Talbot County Council support.
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