By Gen Louise Mangiaratti, Vermont Country Magazine.
MANCHESTER — When Jess Slaght saw a call for a director of a sapphic — an umbrella term for attraction or relationships between women — version of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” to be performed at an outdoor theater in Southern Vermont, the New York City resident thought, “I am the person. Sign me me up.”
“As a queer person, I really appreciate that this company is making space for these stories to be central and making that a priority with casting and how we’re putting this stuff together,” Slaght said. “The ethos here is that we’re making a story that wants to sit in the now, and wants to be reactive to current trends and things that we’re witnessing. So, it feels like an exciting amalgamation of who’s all here and what we’re all trying to comment on.”
Indeed, this is what Shakespeare in the Woods founding artistic director Katharine Maness intended when they started the theater company in their home state in 2019 — and, “hopefully, also, undo some of the traumatic, sophomore, ‘we’re reading Hamlet in English class, and I hate it, because this is how I’m being introduced to Shakespeare'” among theatergoers.
This summer season, the company’s fourth (like many organizations, there was an unplanned break during the COVID pandemic), will feature modern productions of “Macbeth” and “Twelfth Night, Or, What You Will,” performed in repertory from Aug. 21 to Sept. 8 (preview performances Aug. 17 and 18), on the Taconic Lawn at The Equinox Resort & Spa, 3567 Main St., Manchester.
Maness, of New York City, grew up in nearby Pawlet, and said Shakespeare in the Woods was born out of wanting to incorporate their love for theater with their love of their hometown and home state, and the belief that quality art and theater should not be restricted based on geographic location. As for their focus on Shakespeare, they said the Bard’s writings, despite being centuries old, have always resonated.
“The themes and the dynamics and the humanity in all of the plays are so relevant and so accessible to a queer, Jewish, nonbinary person from Vermont,” Maness said. “And I was like, ‘Well, if it hits me this way, there’s a throughline there to connect with every demographic.'”
Slaght will direct “Macbeth,” and returning for a second summer is the company’s collaborating producer, Roberto Di Donato, to direct “Twelfth Night, Or, What You Will.” What keeps Di Donato coming back is the freedom to experiment away from some of the Puritan sensibilities while holding true to the narratives.
“I want people who maybe have never seen a Shakespeare show, maybe traveling through Vermont, to stop in and be like, ‘Oh, this show’s funny,’ or like, ‘Wow, I’ve never knew that,'” Di Donato said.
Di Donato, of Ohio, is from the Southern states, and his family is from South America. Growing up in a multilingual home, he developed a love for poetic language, and the act of understanding became a priority. This desire for understanding, Di Donato said, drove him toward Shakespeare.
“The thing that I like about Shakespeare in the Woods is, it’s actually true that you can reimagine the show,” Di Donato said.
What makes Shakespeare in the Woods different from many theater companies, Maness said, is that the productions are informed by the identities and lived experiences of the artists involved. As a result, the plays become “an expression of life through many different lenses and experiences, through Shakespeare.”
“I feel like that is something that is still kind of shied away (from) in doing Shakespeare. And definitely, in Vermont and New England, I think there’s a real opportunity, with our mix on it, to bring something new and urgent and relatable to audiences who aren’t necessarily familiar with Shakespeare,” Maness said.
During the first season, in 2019, Maness learned that the company’s interpretation of “Taming of the Shrew” inspired a conversation about misogyny and patriarchy — then in the wake of the #MeToo movement — among a mother and teens on their car ride home.
“The fact that a little Shakespeare play fueled that, is like, is why we do what we do,” Maness said. “That is when the language pulls you in. That’s when the poetry and the incredible beauty of Shakespeare’s writing really gets you.”
This season, “Macbeth” and “Twelfth Night, Or, What You Will,” relate to a theme of “dichotomy and opposition,” Maness said. “They have so much in common while being sort of shadow selves of each other,” with “Macbeth” a tragic tale of political ambition and “Twelfth Night” a romantic comedy.
“It just lives up here,” Maness said of the latter, gesturing upward, “and ‘Macbeth’ is moodier and darker. But they have this throughline that I’m really excited for us to explore and see the conversation, between alternating each night. And, hopefully, folks are coming to see both shows and and they’re like, ‘Oh, I see; I see the conversation that we’re having.'”
If you go …
“Macbeth” and “Twelfth Night, Or, What You Will,” are performed in repertory from Aug. 21 to Sept. 8 (preview performances Aug. 17 and 18), on the Taconic Lawn at The Equinox Resort & Spa, 3567 Main St., Manchester. Evening performances occur Wednesdays through Sundays at 7:30 p.m.
All performances are outdoors, rain or shine, and seating is provided. In the event of extreme weather, Shakespeare in the Woods will provide time-sensitive updates.
Tickets are available on sliding scale, at tiered pricing. For a full schedule and ticket information, visit shakespeareinthewoods.org/2024-season.
Why in the woods?
On why the theater company stages its Shakespeare productions outdoors, Katharine Maness says:
“I wanted it that way from the get-go. It is just part of knowing that I wanted to do it in Vermont. I mean, we are so ridiculously spoiled by the natural world of the state.
“My intro to theater and Shakespeare, when I was 11 years old, was doing a summer camp in Dorset, outdoors. We were doing ‘As You Like It.’ And it just, it’s a layer that makes sense. I think that Shakespeare — I think any theater thrives outdoors, but I think Shakespeare, especially, it just comes alive in a whole new way, especially because of the visuals in the language.
“There’s really truly nothing like talking about nature in the text, because he uses a lot of natural references, and like, you’re actually standing under the moonlit sky, or there’s an incredible sunset happening. They just very effortlessly go together and complement each other so beautifully.
“And I am obsessed with spending as much time in nature and appreciating it as much as possible. I really look at it and really invite everyone coming into a season to look at the outdoors as another character, another collaborator, in the art that we’re making. It’s just the best — I mean, why wouldn’t you want to make theater outdoors, if you could? That’s my philosophy.”
Gen Louise Mangiaratti, is editor of Vermont Country magazine and is arts & entertainment editor for Vermont News & Media. She lives in Brattleboro with her cat, Theodora, and welcomes your post-idyllic holiday music recommendations at gmangiaratti@reformer.com.
