items tagged with Andy Koski

As we’ve come to annually expect, there was practically no end to the highlights from this past year in area theatre.

I’ve enjoyed every Prenzie Players production I’ve seen to date, but perhaps none more so than Pericles, Prince of Tyre. That’s actually odd to say, since William Shakespeare’s tale of the world's luckiest unlucky prince – a seafarer who really should just avoid the sea altogether – wouldn’t necessarily be called “fun.” Director Andy Koski and his cast, however, manage to find the humor in the script and bring it to the forefront, embellishing it and even adding quips of their own, and elicited lots of laughs from Saturday night’s audience.

If there's anything at which the Prenzie Players excel - and the theatre group excels at quite a few things - it's the ability to convey the meaning of Shakespeare's words to those who may have trouble following the dialogue and, therefore, the plot. (I.e. me.)  And that strength is all the more important in the Prenzies' current undertaking, Troilus & Cressida.  While watching the opening-night performance, I rarely understood what exactly was going on by way of what was said. But thanks to the passion behind how it was said, I was neither bored nor disinterested.

Back in 2006, when I composed my first list of a dozen theatre "Essentials" - theatrical talents whose gifts were employed in a number of area productions - I couldn't have imagined that I'd find a dozen new names to add year after year. Well, as 2009 draws to a close, we can officially add another " ... after year" to that sentence.

Even if you didn't know that Genesius Guild's Henry the Sixth: The Contention was an amalgamation of Shakespeare's Henry VI: Parts I and II - with Part III opening on July 17 - and didn't know that the production was directed and adapted by Guild founder Don Wooten, it's likely that your first glimpse at the program would be enough to intimidate you.