THEATRE + COMEDY

Encore Players, KVPAC's community theatre group, presents Twelfth Night, opens at KVPAC on January 13, 2012 and will run for two consecutive weekends.

Like many of William Shakespeare's comedies, this one centers on mistaken identity. The leading character, Viola, masquerades as her presumed dead brother, in order to secure work from a man, who is in love with a woman, who falls in love with Viola, because she thinks Viola is a man. Throw in a wicked storm, a shipwreck, practical jokes, sword fights, and menacing servants, and this play truly has something for everybody.

When asked why Shakespeare is still relevant material for today’s audiences, Gregory Magyar, Executive Artistic Director at Katy Visual & Performing Arts Center (KVPAC),  explained, “Shakespeare is the greatest playwright of all time. His plays have all the elements of good story: mystery, drama, life, death, and romance. When students take the time to read and thoroughly digest Shakespeare, they are making connections, not only to literature and language but also history, drama and philosophy. This story is more than a witty comedy about mistaken identity. Twelfth Night has layers and layers of meaning and complexity.” Middle and high school students who are currently reading, or have read Shakespeare, will benefit from seeing the words come to life on stage.

At age 14, Magyar was asked to participate in scene-work from Romeo and Juliet, he’s been hooked on Shakespeare ever since. Magyar, who attended Cypress Creek High School, has embraced the craft of theatre as his life’s work. He studied at Santa Fe’s Greer Garson Theatre Center, earning a BFA in Acting. In 1995 Magyar went west to Seattle, where he developed an acting résumé with credits from Shakespeare to Pinter, and performed in musicals, film and radio.

As a director in the Seattle area, his credits include Gigi, The Glass Menagerie, Jane Eyre, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Proof, Driving Miss Daisy, and Private Lives. Although he was involved in many ground breaking theatrical projects, he found the west coast Shakespearean productions to have a very different approach from what he had grown up with. “Things got a little weird in Seattle,” Magyar stated, “when I was asked to do Macbeth nude – that’s when I drew the line” he said with a chuckle.

Eventually he came back to his roots and accepted the position of Executive Artistic Director at KVPAC. One of his first executive decisions was to add a taste of Shakespeare to the center’s theatrical lineup. For Encore Players, KVPAC’s adult community theatre, Magyar chose Twelfth Night, a classic comedy about love and mistaken identity. Magyar considered several directors for the work, finally settling on Greg Scurria, who will drive all the way from Lake Jackson to direct the play. Magyar said that for actors and directors, landing a role in a Shakespeare production is like having a gold star on their résumé – after 400 years, this is still the crème de la crème of theatre gigs.

Magyar went on to talk about how some people are hesitant to attend a Shakespeare play because they think they won’t understand the language. He said they need to give that up and just go with the flow, “It’s not about understanding every word; when watching Shakespeare you should just let the verse guide you. The audience may only understand 30% of the language the first time and that’s okay; they will still understand the action and the story. That’s why people go again and again–each time they get more out of it.” Think of it as a ‘total Shakespearean immersion program’.

Shakespeare was instrumental in the development of the English Language, inventing over 1700 words alone. He was the one who originally coined the words … advertisement, bedroom, fashionable, and zany, to name just a few. Phrases such as ‘it's Greek to me’, ‘vanished into thin air’, ‘tongue-tied’, and ‘good riddance’ can all be attributed to William Shakespeare, written over four centuries ago.

His influence has shaped our culture in many other ways as well. The Internet Movie Database lists over 600 films that are adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays. Movies such as Ten Things I Hate About You (a remake of The Taming of the Shrew) set in a contemporary high school and starring Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles and A Midsummer Night's Dream with Kevin Kline and Calista Flockhart, are examples.