A Note from Brian Richardson, “What You Will” Cast Member

Every time I leave the theater, even if it’s just for our 10 minute break in rehearsal, I find myself looking to my right at the river. I sometimes see birds on blocks of ice floating down the river. This is one thing I’ll always remember about Bristol.

 

I am starting to feel quite at home here. I think it’s taken a while because I’ve been back to New York a few times since coming to Bristol, but I have gotten used to the rhythm.

I’m looking forward to opening so that I can use the days to explore.

 

As always happens, you’re going along rehearsing and suddenly it’s almost time to go into the week when we add lights, sound, costumes and real props. That’s when you remember what a temporary thing it all is, and you better start savoring it.

A Note on What You Will from Floyd Groh, our Company and House Manager

In December 2008  “ What you Will” started for me with a cast list of names and email addresses.    After several e-mails and phone calls to arrange transportation and housing for this group of very talented artists, it finally comes together with a putting face to name meeting as they arrive to begin work on this World Premiere event.  We trade backgrounds, thoughts and good humoring words about this and that. Work for them is just beginning.    For me to watch the likes of such talented, well-known men as Mr. Keith Baker and Donald Byrd put hip hop, Shakespeare and this cast together is totally amazing and very fascinating to say the least.  I watch them daily and sometimes just stare in awe as they all put this wonderful event together.   I see everything from cast members in the lobby and backstage learning lines and moves, to directors, musicians, stage managers, lighting and stage crews working hard and long hours to make it all happen. I am very proud and thrilled to be a part of it all. I must mention all the behind the scenes staff from the head office folks who keep us all going strong and happy,(and laughing) to the promotion and box office group who bring us the audiences and special deals. I am anxiously looking forward to this opening nights performance, to see the reactions from the audience, volunteers, cast, crew and the satisfaction from the directors. For me that’s what this is all about. A Job well Done by all….“What you Will” is what it is.

Our Special Valentine’s Day Package!

BRT and Anthony's on the Delaware team up!

BRT and Anthony's on the Delaware team up!

Rehearsal Shots of “What You Will”!

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What would your one question be?

If you could ask a BRT actor, director, or designer one question, what would it be?

Description of “What You Will”

Life is one big soap opera in Illyria – a country where everyone is very much in earnest, but also a little insane. The social center of Illyria, Club 12^th Night, marks the boundary between games and masquerades and the business of the workaday world, a place where pranks and disguises, playful games and folly rule.

A shipwrecked woman enters the fantastic Club 12^th Night, beginning a chain of events that lead to an astonishing conclusion.  Mistaken identities, intrigue, music, a beautiful heiress, merry drunken revelers, and a spiteful servant merge with a hip–hop rhythm in Shakespeare’s enchanting tale of revelry and love. Hopeless romantics will be captivated and pranksters will discover the ultimate joke. 

 

Directed by BRT’s Artistic Director, Keith Baker and Donald Byrd, acclaimed Broadway choreographer (The Color Purple) and Artistic Director of Seattle’s Spectrum Dance Theater. Original hip-hop score by Justin Ellington. Set and costumes designed by Hiroshi Iwasaki, lighting design by Ryan O’Gara.

The Cast of “What You Will!”

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For more information about the process of creating “What You Will”, visit www.howwewill.org!

What You Will

Hello everyone!

Welcome to Bristol Riverside Theatre’s Blog!  We are now up and running and anxious to talk to you all about our upcoming world-premiere production of What You Will. 

Over the next few weeks, various actors, designers, technicians, directors, and administrators will be posting their thoughts and relating their experiences in putting together this unique production.  We would love to hear your thoughts, so please comment on our posts and let us know what you think!

If you want more information about the project, you can visit our microsite, www.howwewill.org,  dedicated to keeping you in the loop on how we are creating What You Will. 

Please also visit our facebook and myspace pages to learn more about the project and the rest of our exciting season:

www.myspace.com/brtstage

We look forward to talking to you!  Happy New Year!