HIGH SCHOOL TOURING PRODUCTION OF "MACBETH"

Acorn Productions offers high schools in Southern Maine a one-hour touring version of the classic play, directed by Acorn's Producing Director Michael Levine and featuring company members Karen Ball and Paul Haley, with original live music by Denis Nye. During the course of the performance, the actors take on multiple roles in the production, which includes all the most famous text passages as well as nearly complete versions of the scenes between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth.

Although most other scenes have been shortened in order to make the performance fit into a standard high school class schedule, Acorn's version of the classic play still tells the entire story by compressing intervening scenes into a short narrative by another character in the play. The edited version of the text focuses on the essential journey of Macbeth's journey from war hero to tyrant and examines the causes of his downward spiral.

The production has student participation built into the performance, and addresses several key issues that can be discussed in the classroom (a list of some questions is available on this page). Acorn's touring production is designed to be presented in a school auditorium, though it is extremely flexible and can fit into most any classroom or gymnasium.

Interested schools can book "Macbeth" for dates up to May 2008. The cost for one performance is $300 and includes a question and answer session. Total running time including the Q&A is approximately 75 minutes. Two performances on the same day in the same location cost $500.

PRODUCTION STAFF

Karen Ball is a recent graduate of University of Southern Maine with a B.A. in theatre where her acting credits include The Cop in The Laramie Project, Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and Lady Macbeth. She has worked with Two Lights Theatre Ensemble as Zoe in Purple Breasts, Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus as Tamora, as well as Don Arias in Corneille’s El Cid. As a member of Acorn Productions’ "Naked Shakespeare Ensemble," she’s had the opportunity to play such characters as Lady Macbeth, Portia, Titania, and Miranda. In addition to short films, she has three feature length film credits which are Catherine in The Same Side of Rejection Street, Erin in Winging It , and Delia in Such.

In addition to working in the productions, scene presentations and staged readings of the Acorn Shakespeare Ensemble, Paul Haley has performed in Twelfth Night with The Stage at Spring Point and Macbeth with Lucid Productions. He has worked in the Maine Short Play Festival, in productions with the American Irish Repertory Ensemble in Portland and the recently established Lanyard Theater Company in Bath.

Michael Levine is the co-founder of Oak Street Theatre and Acorn Productions. He has directed many productions for Acorn, including The Cocktail Hour, Measure for Measure, Burn This, Buried Child, and Much Ado About Nothing. He taught acting classes for adults at the Acorn School for the Performing Arts and for teenage and middle school students at Sacopee Valley High School in Hiram. Mike is a graduate of M.I.T., where he studied playwrighting with A.R. Gurney, and acting with Kristen Linklater, and Shakespeare and Company. He has worked at Portland Stage Company and the New Repertory Theatre and is currently an English teacher at Gorham High School.

Denis Nye received a B.A. from the University of Chicago in composition and theory.  He has created and performed music for many theatres, including New Crime Theatre in Chicago and Moxie Lab in Portland.  Denis was award a Jeff Award in Chicago for Music for an Independent Theatre Company.  His compositions has been heard in Chicago, Minneapolis, Eau Claire, New York and Portland.  Locally, he has been a regular performer at the annual “Sacred and Profane” festival on Peaks Island, as well as being a regular with Naked Shakespeare for the past two years.