Cast members Mason Modzelewski (left), Jordan Collyer and Gavin Rapuzzi perform in the Detroit Mercy Theatre Company production of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [revised] [again]” at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, where they were honored.
Local universities provide a wide range of theatre options for patrons to enjoy while training the actors and technicians of tomorrow, as demonstrated by both the University of Detroit Department of Performing Arts and by the Department of Theatre and Dance at Wayne State University.
DETROIT MERCY THEATRE COMPANY HONORED BY THE KENNEDY CENTER AMERICAN COLLEGE THEATER FESTIVAL
“The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) [revised] [again]” was honored with multiple commendations from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival National Committee.
The high-energy production was praised for its “collaborative storytelling and dynamic execution.”
The three-man cast of Jordan Collyer, Mason Modzelewski and Gavin Rapuzzi was recognized for Distinguished Achievement in a Performance Ensemble, as well as Distinguished Achievement in Audience Interaction.
Josiah Martelle and Li Udell were recognized for Distinguished Achievement in Backstage Run Crew, while Alan Batkiewicz was recognized for Distinguished Achievement in Property Design.
The show is a comedy that parodies 37 Shakespearian plays, as well as the Bard’s sonnets, in two hours, with three performers.
The show includes a parody of “Romeo and Juliet,” then “Titus Andronicus” as a cooking show and “Othello” as a rap song. The comedies, which share many plot devices, are combined in a convoluted reading, while the histories are stylized as a sports competition.
“Julius Caesar” focuses on his death, while “Anthony and Cleopatra” and “Macbeth” turn into a duel with condiments, witches and downfalls.
The trio has a wild ride with “Hamlet,” performing it faster and then backwards.
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival provides college students with a chance to have their work critiqued, to improve their dramatic skills and to receive national recognition for excellence.
For its 2025-26 season, the Detroit Mercy Theater Company will return to the McNichols Campus as it opens its new Black Box Theater.
The season includes: Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” Nov. 7 to 16; Chiara Atik’s “Poor Clare” Feb. 13 to 22, 2026; and Samantha Hurley’s “I’m Gonna to Marry You Tobey Maguire” April 10 to 29, 2026, with season tickets on sale July 1 at DetroitMercyArts.com.
“Twelfth Night” focuses on twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated during a shipwreck. Viola disguises herself as a man, Cesario, and falls in love with the Duke Orsino, who is in love with the Lady Olivia, who loves Viola/Cesario, thinking she is a man. When Sebastian shows up, Olivia thinks he is Cesario.
There is also a subplot where the servants set up Malvolio, a stuffy servant, to appear mad, in revenge for his earlier actions against their partying ways.
“Poor Clare,” set in medieval Italy, follows a young woman, Clare, who meets Francis of Assisi whose ideas make sense to her. The characters are based on the two who later were recognized as saints.
“I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire” is about an eighth-grade girl with an absent father, neglectful mother and demeaning classmates who focuses her obsession on Tobey Maguire, the star of the 2004 movie “Spider-Man.” She decides to kidnap him and force him to marry her in her home’s basement. However, he isn’t the heart-throb she believes him to be.
Theatre and Dance at Wayne present “Politics of the Grid” at 7:30 p.m. May 30 and 31 at the Hilberry Gateway Theater, 4715 Cass Ave., on the Wayne State University campus.
THEATRE AND DANCE AT WAYNE PRESENTS ‘POLITICS OF THE GRID’
Wayne State University presents “Politics of the Grid,” a new dance-theatre work by Jessica Rajko, a Knight New Work Detroit grant recipient, at 7:30 p.m. May 30 and 31 at the Hilberry Gateway Theater, 4715 Cass Ave., in Detroit.
The show explores how people experience human relationships in a world mediated by digital technology.
The immersive performance fuses dance, devised theatre, and digital sound and touch technologies to immerse audiences in a surreal AI-driven world.
The story is set in a room with people whose relationships are driven by algorithms, user agreements and data permissions.
The five people in the room can only communicate with the outside world through a phone connected to a useless automated help line. As they struggle with the frustration, they discover how “the grid” controls their world.
Tickets are $23.18, and are available at eventbrite.com/e/politics-of-the-grid-tickets-1310189996549.
Wayne State University announced its 2025-26 theater lineup, which includes modern comedies, Shakespeare and musical entertainment.
The season opens Sept. 3 to 11 with the side-splitting farce “The Play That Goes Wrong,” followed August Wilson’s tragicomedy “Seven Guitars,” Oct. 31 to Nov. 9, set in 1948 and focusing on seven African-Americans at the funeral of one of the main characters.
The musical “Violet,” with book and lyrics by Brian Crawley and music by Jeanine Tesori, runs Nov. 21 to Dec. 7, and is the story of Violet, scarred by an accident, who travels across the South in 1964 to seek a televangelist’s healing touch but who discovers along the way that true beauty lies within.
The new year opens with Shakespeare’s tragedy “Julius Caesar” Jan. 31 to Feb. 9, followed by “The SpongeBob Musical” March 21 to 30, and “Paradise Lost” April 11 to 19, based on the John Milton epic poem, through a contemporary feminist lens, of the battle between good and evil, free will and the moral consequences of disobedience.