BABBLING BROOK PLAYERS PRESENT SHAKESPEARE’S “THE TAMING OF THE SHREW”

Montebello, NY—Babbling Brook Players will present “The Taming of the Shrew” beginning next weekend.

Performances will be held at 6:30 p.m. on July 28 and 29 on the lawn at the Clark Recreation Center (59 Campbell Ave, Suffern, and August 4, 5 and 6 on the lawn at the Montebello Village Hall, 1 Montebello Rd.

In case of inclement  weather the shows will be performed at the Town of Ramapo Senior Community Center located at 319 Haverstraw Rd (corner of Route 202 and Mayer Dr), Suffern, NY 10901. Admission is free. Bring your lawn chair or a blanket. An additional show will be performed on July 30, 6:30 p.m. at the Rose Hall on the grounds of Green Meadow Waldorf School, 307 Hungry Hollow Road, Chestnut Ridge.

“The Taming of the Shrew” is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592

The play opens as the student Lucentio (Russell Holland) arrives in Padua. He hears that the merchant Baptista (Derek Tarson) has two daughters, but the younger, prettier daughter, Bianca (Gabby DeNola), cannot be married before her strong-willed sister, Katherina (Jessie Jones). On seeing Bianca, Lucentio falls in love with her and changes identities with his servant Tranio (Joe Cleary), so that Lucentio can pretend to be a teacher to Bianca, named Cambio, while Tranio, pretending to be Lucentio, can bid for Bianca’s hand with her father, Baptista.

Bianca already has two suitors, but doesn’t like either. The elderly Gremio (Bruce Pearl) hires Lucentio, disguised as Cambio, the Latin tutor, to woo Bianca on his behalf, while the other suitor, Hortensio (Michael Egan), disguises himself as a music teacher, named Licio, to get access to her.  Meanwhile Petruchio (Glenn Woertz), a young adventurer from Verona, arrives to visit his friend Hortensio. He learns about Katherina and decides to woo her, aided by both Gremio and Hortensio.

Baptista is enthusiastic about Petruchio’s suit because the feisty Katherina is a burden to him and is continually quarrelling with her sister and with him. Petruchio will not be put off as he woos Kate and he fixes their wedding day. At the church, where Kate unwillingly awaits him, Petruchio arrives in an absurd outfit and after the ceremony he leaves for Verona immediately, with his new wife.

Meanwhile, Tranio, disguised as Lucentio, has proven that’s his mother is richer than Gremio, and Baptista has given permission for Lucentio to marry Bianca, as long as Lucentio’s mother assures Baptista that she gives approval for the match.  Tranio therefore tricks an unsuspecting traveler, the Pedant (Mary Laido), into pretending that she is Lucentio’s mother to give Baptista the needed assurance.

Kate, having reached Verona, is mistreated by Petruchio and his servants, and is denied food and sleep. To teach her to obey him, Petruchio does not allow her new clothes or a hat. Eventually, worn down by her husband’s relentless eccentricity, Kate submits and accepts all his eccentricities. They set off to visit her father in Padua.

On the journey the couple meet Vincentia (Moira Box), Lucentio’s real mother, who is subjected to a strange conversation as Petruchio tests Kate’s obedience. The three reach Padua where Baptista has been tricked into believing the Pedant is Lucentio’s rich mother. No one believes that Vincentia is Lucentio’s real mother and she is about to be hauled away as a lunatic when Lucentio returns from a secret wedding with Bianca and unravels all the confusion and mistaken identities.

Baptista holds a wedding feast for both his daughters.  Hortensio, rejected by Bianca, has married a widow (Misti Tindiglia).  As the men relax after their meal Petruchio devises a competition to prove whose wife is the most obedient. Bianca and the widow fail to come to their husbands when called while Kate lectures the women on the duties of a wife.

The show also stars Kevin Masback as Grumio and Ryan Smith as Biondello

The play is directed by Derek Tarson and the artistic design team includes: producers George Bekker and Liana Bekker; stage manager, Margo Vlahinich; art designer Valerie Kharchenko Lucas; props and stage set up by Kevin Masback, Jennifer McKiever and Kristian Comer.

Babbling Brook Players was founded by George and Liana Bekker, a community theater company “with a purpose of bringing Shakespeare and other classic plays to the beautiful parks in Rockland County.”

  babbling brook players, taming of the shrew, william shakespeare