As You Like Itby William Shakespeare
Produced by Montford Park Players at the Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre
Show Dates:
May 6-June 4
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays @ 7:30pm
May 6-June 4
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays @ 7:30pm
Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre
92 Gay St. Asheville, NC
92 Gay St. Asheville, NC
Montford Park Players, an Asheville theatrical tradition, is proud to announce both their 50th Season and their upcoming production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. All performances will be held at the Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre at 92 Gay Street in the heart of Asheville’s historic Montford District, from May 6th through June 4th on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at 7:30pm. In order to keep things safe in the wake of Covid, only those with tickets will be allowed at each performance. Tickets are available at montfordparkplayers.org and are, as always, FREE.
The plot of As You Like It is typical of a Shakespearean comedy, involving mistaken identities, angry lovers, and much, much confusion. Rosalind and her cousin Celia escape from Celia’s tyrant father into the Forest of Arden and find Orlando, Rosalind’s love, who has run away from his own tyrant brother. Disguised as a boy shepherd and calling herself Ganymede, Rosalind convinces Orlando to woo her under the guise of “curing” him of his love. Rosalind reveals she is a woman, is reunited with her banished father, and marries Orlando during a group wedding at the end of the play. The play was first performed around 1599 at the Globe Theatre and was very well received. It has since become one of The Bard’s most-performed and most beloved comedies.
Director Mandy Bean has performed in As You Like It twice before and is happy to be directing it this time around. She says, “As someone who has a deep love for MPP, I’m thrilled and honored to be directing the 50th Anniversary production of this show, which was the very first show ever performed by the company. I hope to put on a show that would make Hazel [Robinson, the company’s founder] proud.”
Bean is also having some fun with the setting of the play, starting the show with a mixture of court and forest and then adding more and more forest elements as more people “escape” into the woods.
Bean has assembled an expert cast and crew, as so many of the MPP regulars were raring to start this 50th Season off right. The cast of As You Like It includes favorites Jason Williams, Tod Leaven, Aaron Ybarra, Kai Strange, Will Storrs, David Mycoff and Ariel Robinson among many others, with many of the costumes designed by Danielle King.
As You Like It promises to be a great time for Shakespeare fans and first-time attendees alike. As the director said, “I hope [the audiences] laugh. I hope they spend a couple of hours enjoying themselves out under the stars in Shakespeare’s fantastical Forest of Arden.”
As You Like It promises to be a great time for Shakespeare fans and first-time attendees alike. As the director said, “I hope [the audiences] laugh. I hope they spend a couple of hours enjoying themselves out under the stars in Shakespeare’s fantastical Forest of Arden.”
For more information or to obtain tickets, go to montfordparkplayers.org, or call at (828) 254-5146.
