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TheActrix Studio LLC offers compelling productions, youth and family actor training, as well as personal and professional development for the whole family and the larger community. TheActrix was founded in 2024 by Wendy Spurgeon who has worked with organizations such as Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Virus Theatre, and was a founding member of Oregon Conservatory of Performing Arts and StageCoach Theatre School. It has produced The Vagina Monologues as a fundraiser for SASS, several youth drama camps, and the youth directing program showcase, Frankenstein.
DitchSpeare
A celebration of timeless language and emotion featuring classical drama, music and dance.
When
5/17 Friday 7pm
5/18 Saturday 7p
5/19 Sunday 2pm & 6pm
5/20 Monday 6pm
Where
Big Ditch Park, south of Main Street Plaza, accessed between 6th and 7th streets in downtown Silver City.
SILVER CITY,NM—DitchSpeare is coming back to Silver City, May 17-20, serving up more hot takes on favorite classical works of Shakespeare and contemporaries with joyful abandon. Ditchspeare received so much support from the community when it premiered last year that the director chose to draw the experiment out into an annual event. “Watch out,” joked director Hallie Harris, “if you feed the actors, they’ll keep showing up for more!”
Help Support Classical Pop-up Theatre in Southwest New Mexico! Your support goes towards costumes, sets, advertising, food, and stipends for local musicians, actors, dancers, and crew!
DitchSpeare performances will be Friday and Saturday May 17 & 18 at 7pm, Sunday, May 19 at 2pm and 6pm, and Monday, May 20th at 6pm in the Big Ditch Park, south of Main Street Plaza, accessed between 6th and 7th streets in downtown Silver City. The show is a pastiche of speeches, poetry, music, improv, and dance from Shakespeare and his contemporaries—such as Lope de Vega and Sor Juana de la Cruz of Spain and Mexico, respectively. The tone is lighthearted and fun with some deeper emotions and some mature themes thrown in. There is some naughty Shakespearean language and some very mild violence (no blood, no guns) and is suitable for most audiences. Be prepared to enjoy time outside. Bring your own lawn chairs, sunscreen, and bug spray, as if you were intending to hang out in the great outdoors. The playing space can be reached most directly via the stairs near the South corner of Main Street Plaza or via the ramp off of Kelley Street.
“I love classical drama and poetry,” says returning cast member Ana Trinidad, “there is a reason this language has stood the test of time and it is a privilege to share it, to pass the torch to new generations to appreciate and transform. This year’s production owes a debt to the Shakespeare Sonnets produced in Gough Park in 2019 directed by Frost McGahey, Shakespeare WILL instructor and author of the play Who Invited Falstaff? as well as the NM Shakespeare festival in Albuquerque, the local VirusTtheatre’s site specific and outdoor work and the outdoor Shakespeare director Harris saw growing up in Texas. “I love street theatre and outdoor performance. I love the sense of community and I love spending time outdoors and letting my imagination fly while I listen to beautiful words and immerse myself in story and character. We’re sharing some of our favorite literature here, but playing with it and creating something that’s hopefully fun and timely and relatable,” says Harris.
DitchSpeare is being produced by the newly-formed TheActrix Studio, LLC. It runs May 17-20 in the Big Ditch Park and is free to the public, although donations or “pay-what-you-will” tickets are encouraged and the actors will pass a hat. Information, tickets, and opportunities to support the production can be found at https://TheActrix.studio/DitchSpeare.
— Hallie Harris, director
Hallie began DitchSpeare in 2023, to celebrate the poetic language of classical drama and as a vehicle for actors to collaborate and stretch into new roles. Hallie has directed youth and community theatre, including DitchSpeare, Marjorie Prime, and Seussical Jr. She has been teaches improv. She was a member of her college improv team, The Collective, and a founding member of Project Seattle Street Theater, among others and recently appeared on stage in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. She has studied improv, acting, and directing at institutions like UW Seattle, Jet City, The PIT, The American Conservatory Theater Studio, Washington Improv Theater (DC,) Second City (Chicago,) and The Groundlings.
