THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

OCTOBER 2015, directed by William Wolfgang, Ryan Szwaja, Rachel Ream, and Jeff Gilbert

In October 2015 one of Shakespeare's most popular plays, complete with witches, ghosts, prophecies, omens and murders came to The Barn at Tall Fir Acres.  This eerie production clearly displayed why Macbeth has served as an icon for the supernatural for over 400 years. 

MACBETH IN DOVER: A COLLABORATIVE MULTI-GENERATIONAL COMMUNITY EFFORT

There are moments in life that come full circle. This production, led by Ryan Szwaja, Jeff Gilbert, Rachel Ream, and myself was certainly one of those times. Our Macbeth exemplifies the nature of community theatre, and then takes it one step further to focus on the group itself, allowing the direction to come from all participants involved. The collaborative blending of perspectives and past experience created an extremely high quality product from our pre-production meetings to our auditions to our nightly rehearsals.              

For years the only theatre in the Dover community came from Dover High School and the drama program directed by Jaci Keagy, our Black Witch.  Many of us in this cast were her students at one point, and greatly benefited from the program.  In 2008, when this organization formed it was thrilling to take the strong legacy of theatre out into the community with OrangeMite’s first production In The Globe.  

Now over seven years later, many of us are acting in the Scottish Play with the teacher who first introduced it to us in 12th grade English class, Cassi Ney.  Barbara Lomenzo also impacted many of us with the reading of the Julius Caesar in her class (don’t miss our production in May, 2016).  Layer all of this with the atmosphere of The Barn and Mary’s stunning period costumes, along with the fact that we all are working alongside many great community actors.  One such example is Bill Jones, yet another teacher in the cast, who first wowed OrangeMite audiences with his stirring rendition of Shylock in our 2011 production of The Merchant of Venice.  

Shakespeare’s legacy is ubiquitous in modern culture, but here in Dover we have taken a part of that and made it our own.  We have learned so much from our teachers, and we now learn with them, and they from us.  As the collaborative team of Ryan, Rachel, Jeff, and myself put this show together, through the many, many hours spent scouring the script, we do not often step back and think about this legacy.  But, nevertheless, it is here and it is stronger than ever.  As OrangeMite wraps up its twenty-third production, I look forward to the continued involvement of the many talented individuals who have become an integral part of the arts in our community.

- William Wolfgang, Artistic Director