Macbeth

Theatre Company of Saugus brought its production of Macbeth, the tragedy by William Shakespeare, to the 2014 EMACT Festival. Organized by the Eastern Massachusetts Association of Community Theatres, five groups brought shows to the festival, held at Tewksbury Memorial High School on Saturday & Sunday 28 & 29 June.

At the festival we presented a cutting of the show, as each group is limited to 60 minutes. The adjudicators admired the show; they were fascinated by the director’s concept. We also heard many nice comments from the audience.

TCS won the Adjudicator’s Special Award for Excellence in Risk Taking. This award is given in recognition of notable theatrical risk taking.

Although that was the only award we won, TCS did garner nominations for seven other awards:

Lexi Deschene for Best Supporting Actress, as Banquo
William Fafard, Jr. for Best Supporting Actor, as Fleance and Macduff’s Child
Amanda Allen and Nicholas Meunier for Outstanding Costume Design
Larry Segel for Outstanding Lighting Design
Amanda Allen, Nicholas Meunier, and Larry Segel for Outstanding Scenery Design
Nicholas Meunier for Best Actor, as Macbeth
The company for Best Ensemble

Here is the link to the photos taken of the cutting of the show presented at the EMACT Festival. Photography by Rik Pierce.

Here is a link to a review of the show by Neil Zolot of the Saugus Advertiser.

Here is a link to a review of the show by Rich Tenorio of The Daily Item.

Our spring 2014 show was Macbeth, the tragedy by William Shakespeare.

We will take a cutting of the show to the competition at the EMACT Festival, to be held June 28-29, 2014, at Tewksbury High School. Cast members will continue rehearsals of the show in May and June. Our performance at the festival will be on Saturday, June 28 at 1:00 PM.

Inspired by the lyrics and persona of Kanye West, this production examined how the title character is overwhelmed by outside demands on his life, and ultimately by his own power, leading him to disastrous choices.

The touchstone of the production was Macbeth’s own words “I am in blood stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er,” and how those words resonate in our current climate of instant gratification and shallow analysis.

The performance dates of Macbeth were May 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 2014. Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 PM. With Sunday matinees at 3:00 PM (not 2:00 PM).

Tickets were $15 for adults, or $12 for seniors, students, and children. Please see our Tickets page for sales and reservations.

The director was Nicholas Meunier. He directed our Summer 2012 production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and our Winter 2014 musical [title of show]. Naomi Black was the stage manager. Christopher Wiley was the fight choreographer. Nancy Welch was the producer.

The location of auditions, rehearsals, and performances was the home of the Theatre Company of Saugus at East Saugus United Methodist Church (ESUMC) / 85 Chestnut Street / Saugus, Massachusetts 01906. See our Directions page. Rehearsals were on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.

Although ESUMC is under renovation, we are grateful to the church leadership for allowing us to perform Macbeth there. We are sharing our space with church activities, so we had to restore the space to the church configuration after each performance. This means rearranging chairs, tables, furniture, etc. This went really quickly since everyone pitched in to help.

We thank all the talented people who auditioned. We are pleased to announce the cast:

Macbeth … Nicholas Meunier
Lady Macbeth … Beth Sousa Perocchi
Duncan … Larry Segel
Malcom … Brendan O’Connor
Porter … Britt Mitchell
Seyton … Janie Donohue
Doctor … Stacey Wilson
Banquo … Amanda Collins
Fleance … William Fafard Jr.
Macduff … Frank Brennan
Lady Macduff … Greta DiGiorgio
Macduff’s Daughter … Emma Sullivan
Lennox … Daniel Hanlon
Ross … Stephen Russo
Young Ross … Anthony Turilli
First Witch … Brittany Daley
Second Witch … Abigail Dickson
Third Witch … Meaghen Cronin

William Fafard Jr. understudied the role of Macduff’s Child at some performances, with Anthony Turilli as the other child. At the EMACT Festival, the role of Banquo was played by Lexi Deschene; Amanda Collins and Emma Sullivan were not available for the festival.

Click here to download a Macbeth flyer.