Prescott Summer Repertory
Through Aug. 14
Photo courtesy of facebook.com/prescottcenterforthearts.
Escape the Valley heat and take a theatrical excursion to Prescott and enjoy three plays in repertory titled Lunacy, Love and Laughter!
With a touch of the poet and couched in homespun language with down-to-earth humor, N. Richard Nash’s The Rainmaker is a magical tale of what we want and need to hear about hope and human nature. The Curry family is wilting under the dry Western heat when a traveling rainmaker with a smooth line of talk sells them a promise of renewal and refreshment in the form of rain that will end the current drought. Sure, he’s a phony, but he’s a true believer in the power of optimism to water dry souls. Lizzie, Pops, Noah and Jimmy learn that “once in your life you gotta take a chance on a conman.”
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged! Revised! is a parody of the plays of Shakespeare’s classic tales, and the entire canon is performed in comically shortened form by only three actors. The fourth wall is nonexistent as these actors speak directly to the audience where some scenes involve audience participation. There are common references to pop culture, local people and places. Each performance can be vastly different from another when this high-speed rollercoaster of a show condenses all of Shakespeare’s plays into 90 minutes.
Neil Simon began his writing career in television and established himself as a leading writer of comedy by creating a succession of Broadway hits. The Good Doctor is vintage Simon, featuring 11 vignettes, hilarious and heart-warming as they put a twist on short stories written by Russian playwright Anton Chekov. Individually, the scenes are remarkably original as the character of the Writer – who some critics believe is Neil Simon’s vision of Chekov himself – narrates and bridges the scenes and also appears in some of them.
Prescott Summer Repertory
Through Aug. 14
Prescott Center for the Arts
208 N. Marina St., Prescott
Tickets: $15; 928-445-3286