This year New Hope Academy’s theater department performed The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), a comedic arrangement of all the plays written by the late and great William Shakespeare. It effectively condenses all 37 of the bard’s plays into a 97 minute long production. The play, written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield in the early 1980s, was originally written to be performed by only three actors, however NHA’s production was performed by 12. Each actor played multiple roles throughout the production, often including playing the role of themselves.
The play opens with Ana Torres (‘26) and Chase Stoerger (‘26) explaining the premise of the show and the importance of Shakespeare’s works. Samantha Szente (‘26) is then taken from her planted seat in the audience to give a brief biography of William Shakespeare, with questionable historical accuracy.
The first play performed was Romeo and Juliet with Vanessa Sides (‘27) as Romeo and Miró Drudis Sànchez (‘26) as Juliet. This was a fiery start to the collection, as there was a fight scene, multiple deaths, and many dramatic moments. Additionally, there were many witty comments; one fan favorite joke was the “but(t) love” scene. In this spot, Juliet chases Romeo while making fun of the word choice of his confession.
The next play of the collection was Titus Andronicus. In this play, Phoenix Ferguson (‘28) played Titus, Kamryn Holahan (‘28) played Lavinia, and Mark Massam (‘28) played Demetrius. This tragic play was converted to a hilarious cooking show where Titus and Lavinia cook Demetrius into a meat pie. The most impressive part is that they did this with one hand between the two of them.
Vanessa, Ness, and Mark then briefly go over Othello, the Moor of Venice. The main gag of this rendition was that Vanessa Sides was supposed to be Othello but was misinformed by ChatGPT of what a moor is. It told her a moor was a place where boats are kept, which, while accurate, is not what the play is about. This was followed up by a correction by Ness Francis (‘27) and Mark Massam that a Moor in this context is a member of northwestern African Muslim descendance.
Next up are Shakespeare’s very original and not at all plagiarized comedies. To save time they are all condensed into one play or “lump of hilarity.” This is possible as all of the comedies include a shipwreck, set of identical twins, and a big wedding at the end. One fan favorite joke was when the Princess, played by Chase Stoerger, showed off her “sick booty.”
The ensuing play to be performed was Macbeth. This included Ness Francis as Macbeth speaking with the prefix “Mac-“ before many words. Also, after Macduff, played by Alex Stankavage (‘30), killed the traitor Macbeth, he flung his head offstage with a golf club.
Following Macbeth was Julius Caesar and Anthony and Cleopatra, Two Noble Kingsman, and Troilus and Cressida. These were performed very quickly including a brutal betrayal, a soothsayer, vomiting on the audience, a monogram, and an interpretive dance routine.
Next up is the History of Sports, an adaptation of English history into a sporting event. Lots of the cast got involved with this one including Noah David (‘26) as Henry VI and Aella Strohl (‘30) as King John.
Act 1 wraps up with Samantha Szente and Ana Torres attempting to convince Mirò Drudis Sànchez to help complete the collection by performing in Hamlet; their fiery argument ends with him running away and out of the theater.
All of Act 2 is devoted to one of Shakespeare’s most well known works, Hamlet. After Ana Torres is able to retrieve Mirò Drudis Sànchez, they, along with Chase Stoerger, begin Shakespeare’s magnum opus.
All is going smoothly until, during Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy, Ana Torres “collapses into a nervous breakdown.” It is here that it is revealed that Ana Torres is not the preeminent Shakespearean scholar she claimed to be at the beginning of the play. Mirò Drudis Sànchez then delivers his own speech and surprises himself with the elegance of the lines.
Then the cast gets the audience involved during the “Get thee to a nunnery!” scene. They bring two audience members on stage and get the remaining audience members to yell out various things decided by their seating section. Through all of this chaotic shouting and running, one of the audience members on stage delivered a scream inspired by all of the parts of Ophelia’s mind represented by the various sections of the audience.
After finishing the rest of the play as normal (mostly), the cast is informed that there is still more time before they have to be off stage, so they perform Hamlet again but faster, and then even faster, ending the show by performing Hamlet backwards.
It was obvious to anyone in the theater that the audience loved the performance. There was lots of cheering and applause, as the play was a rousing success thanks to all of the cast, crew and pit. Jenna Alvino, the play’s director, earned the respect from the performers and crew. She said that it was one of her favorite plays she’s worked on for New Hope Academy. She is glad that the audience was exposed to Shakespeare in such an accessible way. She previously had concerns with the audience not liking Shakespeare, but felt The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) was well received.
Rehearsals were tiring yet rewarding for the cast. They were fun for the cast to spend time doing what they love. They took place after school for a few hours. Rehearsals eventually led to tech week, a full week of all day practice for the whole cast, crew, and pit. Tech week was fun for some of the play members, while also very stressful because it took time to see all the pieces come together for the show. The staff were very supportive of the cast and were able to guide them through the final preparations of the production.
Overall, this year’s play performance was a huge success. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) was witty, entertaining, and hilarious. It was a pleasure to watch, and the audience is excited to see the New Hope Academy theater department perform their selected musical, Alice by Heart, this coming spring.
margo.kitchin@newhopeacademy.net
