Another Modesto arts group ready to go live again. See what play it will present
Prospect Theater Project returns to live performances with a less familiar take on Shakespeare’s “King Lear.”
The Modesto company will present the production July 23-31 after being dark for months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are thrilled to be able to invite our community back into their artistic home after being away for far too long,” Prospect Theater Project’s Artistic Director Jack Souza said in a press release.
According to the release, Shakespeare borrowed his story from Geoffrey of Monmouth and Raphael Holinshed. Prospect will present a version by Nahum Tate, which restores much of the narrative to its original telling.
“Having to cancel last season was bitterly disappointing,” Souza said in the release. “But, it led me to rereading a play my friend Joseph Curdy put in my hands a few years ago when we were working on Julius Caesar. That play was Tate’s Lear.
“Very quickly, I grew excited about the prospect of producing a play that restores a story many feel they know so well to its less familiar origins. Pretty wonderful when our tragic narratives can be made an affirmation of what is good in life.”
Prospect’s “King Lear” features actors Amber Rain Fowler, Lexi Silva, Traci Sprague, Noah Thompson, Andrew Burkum, Erin Isaacs, Adam Torrian, Krista Serpa, Teddy Snyder, Krista Way and David Narbona, with Souza starring as King Lear.
The production will be held on July 23-24 and July 30-31 at 7 p.m., July 25 and Aug. 1 at 2 p.m. at Prospect’s theater, 1214 K St., Modesto.
Audience members can stay for a cast and crew talk-back after the Aug. 1 show, which will feature Curdy, according to the release.
Tickets are $25, available at prospecttheaterproject.org or by calling 209-549-9341.
This story was originally published July 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
