Weston Theater Company announces its 2022 Young Company production: Shrek: The Musical, playing Wednesday, June 22, through Sunday, July 10, and touring venues throughout central and southern Vermont.
“Follow Shrek, that lovable, stinky ogre on his quest to save quirky, captivating Princess Fiona from a dragon-guarded castle,” say organizers. “There is something for everyone in this bighearted, fun-packed, and fart-joke-filled fairy tale.”
Weston Theater Company joined with partners across Vermont to bring Shrek to audiences in their own towns for free.
“We are so pleased to be able to offer the Young Company show as a free event for communities throughout Southern Vermont,” Susanna Gellert, Weston's executive artistic director, said in a news release. “Shrek, our second annual Young Company tour, is sure to delight audiences young and old, near and far. It's a wonderful, joyful event that takes full advantage of Vermont's beautiful summers, and it's sure to make us laugh out loud and dance on our picnic blankets.”
The cast will be made up entirely of members of Weston's Young Company, a summer-long residency program for college-aged performers.
Piper Goodeve, director of Shrek, is returning for her 15th season with Weston. Past Weston credits include The Phantom Tollbooth (director), Anne of Green Gables (assistant director/musical staging), Long Day's Journey into Night (Cathleen), All My Sons (Lydia), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Logainne), three years as director of education/artistic associate, and dozens of cabarets.
She received a Drama League Award Nomination for Distinguished Performance for her performance as Anne in Anne of Green Gables (Off-Broadway) and holds a master's from Brown University.
Shrek introduces Eli Hamilton (Marymount Manhattan College) as Shrek; Tomias Robinson (University of Michigan) as Donkey; Tommy Bergeron (The Hartt School) as Farquaad; Nadia Wilemski (Marymount Manhattan College) as Dragon; Anthony Bologna (CAP21/Molloy College) as Pinocchio; Bryanna Cuthill (Baldwin Wallace University) as Gingy; Ana Laura Santana (The Hartt School) as Peter Pan; Nile Andah (University of Michigan) as Wolf; and sees the return of Emma Diner (Pace University) as Fiona. Diner played Gertrude in last season's Young Company production of Seussical.
Scene designer Michael Ruiz-del-Vizo brings the world of Duloc and fairy tale characters to the stage. His set will be highlighted by Lily Prentice's costumes. Felicity Stiverson also returns as choreographer.
Shrek will have performances at the Walker Farm Field in Weston June 22 through 25 and July 5 through 10 at 1 p.m. The statewide production tour schedule will take the show to Grafton on Sunday, June 26 and to Putney on Wednesday, June 29.
All performances will be outdoors and are BYOS (bring your own seating). For more information and to reserve free tickets, visit westontheater.org/shrek.