“Mystery, Murder, and Mayhem” is the jaunty theme for the Durango Arts Center’s summer fare.
Opening Friday, Paul Rudnick’s comedy “I Hate Hamlet” stirs the pot and runs through July 28. Directed by Monica DiBiasio, the play is a lighthearted homage to live theater and a belly-laughing spoof of stage, film and television capers.
“Rudnick’s play is a love letter to the theater,” DiBiasio said. “It celebrates the difference between being on stage and holding the audience in your hand and acting for film or television. On stage, we can create a spectacle and draw energy from the audience.”
If you go
WHAT: “I Hate Hamlet,” a comedy by Paul Rudnick, presented by the Durango Arts Repertory Theatre, directed by Monica DiBiasio.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, July 12-27; 2 p.m. Sundays, July 14, 21, 28.
WHERE: Durango Arts Center, 802 East Second Ave.
TICKETS: $20, $15 for students.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.durangoarts.org/theatre or call 259-2606.
A year ago, DiBiasio joined the DAC team. She came from Los Angeles where she operated a theater company for 10 years until a lease ran out on The Complex Hollywood. A visit to Durango sealed the next chapter of her life, DiBiasio said, and she quickly connected with DAC.
Last spring as the new theater managing director, she produced “Hand To God” as well as revamping the 10-minute play festival. Promoting a summer-into-fall thematic season, DiBiasio pitched “I Hate Hamlet” for July, followed by a substantial musical for August, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” directed by Jenny Fitts Reynolds. For September, Wendy Ludgewait will direct “Wait Until Dark.”
Rudnick’s comic classic centers on television actor Andrew Rally (Holden Grace) who is about to jump coasts to Shakespeare in the Park and play the Bard’s most demanding role – Hamlet. The problem is, Rally is reluctant and hates Hamlet. In his confusion, the ghost of John Barrymore, America’s most famous Hamlet (Jason Lythgoe), comes to the rescue. Rally’s girlfriend, Deirdre McDavey (Abby Kubicek) pressures him to act and become a romantic hero. Rally’s television agent Gary Lefkowitz (Brian Devine) pressures the young actor to return to Los Angeles and a far more lucrative enterprise. Therein lies the dilemma.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
