The September Bard Bulletin

September will be a busy month at The Shakes Space at the Marketplace at Steamtown, starting with First Friday on September 6 featuring photography by Beverly Mizanty, followed the next Friday, September 13, with the Electric City Music Conference in collaboration with The Shakes Space, featuring ‘A Day Without Love” featuring Jay Lotus, Sleeping Colors, Frank Shannon,and The Grand Kai. The Conference will continue on Saturday, September 14, featuring Look Back Luna, Joe Lombardo, Sweet Anne Marie, 2Humble, and A Spectacular Failure. The Space will also play host from Friday, September 27-Saturday, October 5, to the Scranton Fringe Festival…Another new venture will be Chair Yoga with Megan Reed beginning on Monday, September 23, from noon to 1 p.m. and featuring four sessions for $50 through October 14. This is a modified yoga class that uses chairs for balance. 

Here’s an update from Joanne Arduino, Artistic Director of Ballet Theatre of Scranton: “What a special and happy day yesterday! Saw my former student, the talented Jamary Gil Kendricks in her Broadway debut in ‘Back to the Future”. Couldn’t be happier for this sweet and beautiful soul. She performs in the ensemble and understudies the role of Jennifer, Marty’s girlfriend. A fabulous show, the effects are incredible!”...Jamary was seen in the ensemble and a featured dancer in our SSF 10th season production of “Ragtime.”

Jamary Gil Kendricks

Luke Antony Neville, who is performing in the national tour of  “Back to the Future,” made a recent stop at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C….Gianna Porfano wrapped up her summer season playing the title role in “Always…Patsy Cline” in New Jersey….And Nicole Weitzman, a SSF alum, who normally played one of the nuns in “The Sound of Music” this summer at Theatre by the Sea had the thrill of going on in the leading role of Maria Von Trapp recently, her first lead Equity appearance… Jason Nadal, who was our Othello two years ago, is keeping busy as usual, and tells us, “It is an honor and a privilege to announce that I am understudying a lead role in Chisa Hutchinson's show called "The Bleeding Class" at 59e59 theatre.

Gianna Porfano

Brian McGurl, our ShakesSpace liaison person, just wrapped up another busy and successful summer concert season at the Bucktown Musicfest which he founded with Tom Hallinan…SSF Artistic Director Michael Bradshaw Flynn took a brief vacation break in the Dominican Republic, even while planning our 14th Scranton Shakespeare Festival for next summer, as well as lots of exciting ScrantonShakes programming during the year, including several full-length plays and our “Cinderella” Panto in December….Conor Kelly O’Brien, founder of the Scranton Fringe Festival recently flew to Stockholm, Sweden, for a conference of the World Fringe Congress…

Lizzie Gumula, SSF Education Director, has been reflecting on this season’s production of “Into the Woods,” which she directed, and she shared the following info: “Scranton Shakes is a gold mine for boundless creative advocacy and support and I am honored to create alongside the most talented people I know at this organization. My inspiration for this production was Tim Walker’s photography and tragic ballet/opera, paired with a staunch following of Stephen Sondheim’s score. I said as much and Kelly Jean Graham and Stephen Murphy made that vision come to life with the same unwavering passion. I talked to Dawn McGurl on the phone at least an hour a week for nearly a year discussing the vision for our recurring woven thread costumes and she delivered the most stunning and authentic iterations of these characters I could have imagined.” Isn’t it enlightening to get insight into all the vision and hard work that goes into our Scranton Shakes productions?