URI Theatre Department presents Shakespeare’s ‘Measure for Measure’

Troupe tells modernized, black comedy tale of crime, corruption and sex

Cast photo
Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” beginning Feb. 22, starring (from left) Catia, Emily MacLean, Daniel F. Greene, and Jake Edward Clarke. Photo by Randy Osga

KINGSTON, R.I. – Feb. 13, 2018 — The University of Rhode Island Department of Theatre will open its modern take on Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” beginning Feb. 22.

Shakespeare’s blackest comedy is set against a modern American city where crime, corruption and sex work run rampant. The city’s ruler has installed Angelo, a “tough-on-crime” deputy who resurrects dormant laws to curb the sexually permissive culture erupting throughout the city. When a pious nun begs mercy from Angelo for her condemned brother, he makes her a perverse bargain: surrender her body to him, or her brother to the gallows. Funny, audacious, and shockingly modern, “Measure for Measure” is a tale of political corruption, religious hypocrisy and the surprising measures a society must take to rebuild.

Performances of “Measure for Measure” will run Feb. 22 through Feb. 24 and March 1 through March 3 at 7:30 p.m. in J Studio of the Fine Arts Center at 105 Upper College Road on the Kingston Campus, with additional showings Feb. 25 and March 4 at 2 p.m.

General admission is $20, and $15 for students, URI faculty and staff, and seniors. To purchase tickets, visit web.uri.edu/theatre, or call (401) 874-5843.

Rachel Walshe, a Rhodes Scholar and lecturer in the Honors Program and the Department of Theatre, will direct; set design is by Renee Surprenant, a URI alumna and visiting lecturer from Brown University; costume design is by URI Theatre majors Abigail Dufresne and Jennifer Stavrakas; lighting design is by guest artist Kathleen Giebler; and sound design is by guest artist Michael Hyde.

CAST

Actors, Character, Hometown
Catia, Mistress Overdone, Providence
Jake Edward Clarke, Pompey, Narragansett
Madison Cook-Hines, Provost, Coventry
John Thomas Cunha, Lucio, Middletown
Daniel F. Greene, Angelo, Easton, Mass.
Lorraine Guerra, Juliet and Francisca, Cranston
Artemis Kassabian, Mariana, Ensemble, Wakefield
Emily MacLean, Isabella, Chariho
Cassidy McCartan, Escalus, Stewartville, Minn.
Daria Montaguila, Elbow/Barnadine, Ensemble, Providence
Nicole Pelletier, Ensemble, Newport
Arturo Puentes, Claudio, Pawtucket
Josh Raymo, Fr. Thomas, Froth, Ensemble, Portsmouth
David Richards, First Gentlemen, Servant and Messenger, Abhorson, Newport
Vincent Taylor, Ensemble, Providence
Katharine Templeton, Duke Vincentio, Providence