TOPANGA CANYON—Will Geer’s outdoor Theatricum Botanicum has announced their schedule for summer 2019. This summer’s theatre performances will include its annual presentation of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The featured performances will include six plays that will begin starting June 1 and run until September 29. The theatre will show each play continuously throughout the summer.
William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” will be starting off the theatre’s season June 1 at 8:00 p.m. It is a comedy of twins who are separated by a shipwreck and are lost at sea. The play explores themes of unrequited love, mistaken identities, and gender bending. The play will be accompanied by original music by cellist and composer Marshall McDaniel. The last night to see “Twelfth Night” will be Saturday, September 28 at 8:00 p.m.
June 2 will feature Theatricum Botanicum’s annual performance of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Willow Geer. The popular Shakespearean comedy features themes of romance, fairies, magic, cosmic misadventures, and mistaken identities. The final showing of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will be Monday, September 2 at 6:00 p.m.
June 8 will be the opening of “Moby Dick – Rehearsed,” written by Orson Wells and directed by the theatre’s Artistic Director Ellen Geer. The play is an adaptation of Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick.” The play is about a captain’s obsession to kill the white mammoth Moby Dick. The last night to view Melville’s play adaptation will be Sunday, September 29 at 4:00 p.m.
Henrik Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People” will have its opening production June 22. An Enemy of the People is a play that explores the individual versus society. “Enemy of the People” is freely adapted and directed by Ellen Geer.
“The Skin of Our Teeth” written by Thornton Wilder, will be opening July 13 at 8:00 p.m. This Pulitzer Prize winning play explores themes of modernity and antiquity. The play uses humor, history, and mythology to describe the human will to carry on. The final performance of “The Skin of Our Teeth” will be Sunday, September 29 at 8:00 p.m.
“The Gin Game” starring Alan Blumenfeld and Katherine James, will open August 17 at 8:00 p.m. The Tony Award winning production is about two people who share a mutual love for the game of gin rummy. As they play, they begin to realize that their secrets are being used against them – a metaphor for their lives. The last showing of “The Gin Game” will be Sunday, September 29 at 8:00 p.m.
Actor and social activist Will Geer first opened the outdoor venue in 1973 near The Getty Villa in Topanga Canyon. Geer’s intention was to combine his acting and botanical careers. The idea for the theatre’s name “Theatricum Botanicum” came from the book “Theatrum Botanicum” by the English Botanist John Parkinson.
