Title

The Merchant of Venice

Authors

Office of Arts + Cultural Programming
PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

Date(s) of Performance

9/19/2017 - 10/1/2017

Company

Compagnia de’ Colombari

Directed by

Karin Coonrod

Performers/Artists

Actors: Dietrice A. Bolden, Lynda Gravatt, Toussaint Jeanlouis, Abigail Killeen, Chris McLinden, Linda Powell, Frank Rodriguez, Michael Rogers, Steve Skybell, Paul Spera, Karim Sulayman, Francesca Sarah Toich, Titus Tompkins, Michelle Uranowitz, Sorab Wadia

Summary

Karin Coonrod “looks for the flash in the actors’ eyes and listens for the music of the audience.” Now this internationally acclaimed director brings her groundbreaking production of Shakespeare’s most controversial play, The Merchant of Venice, to the US. Coonrod first staged this thorny masterpiece in 2016 in its original setting, the Jewish ghetto of Venice, to mark the 500th anniversary of its creation. Five actors of different races, creeds, nationalities, and genders play Shylock, the iconic Jewish moneylender at the center of the play. According to Coonrod, “these five actors, all of them very different, open up the play in a way that is both Jewish and universal.”

Disciplines

Theatre and Performance Studies

Files

Additional Information

colombari.org;

karincoonrod.com;

VIDEO: Compagnia de’ Colombari stages Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” in the Venice Ghetto - Interview