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Mara Polster
(Founder) was
thrilled to see the Project into its 14th season as its Executive
Director (1995-2008) and is looking forward
to next year's 15th Anniversary. Mara most recently adapted and
directed 50 Minute Macbeth,
the newest outreach program for The Shakespeare Project's educational
arm 50 Minute Shakespeare --
now scheduling performances in its seventh
school year. Mara started The Shakespeare Project of Chicago in May of
1995 and during her tenure as Artistic Director (May 1995 - August
2002), guided The Project through the entirety of William Shakespeare’s
canon within the first four years, and over 50 productions. She
has
directed numerous plays for the project including Romeo
and Juliet, Titus Andronicus,
Henry VIII, Comedy of Errors (twice), Two Noble
Kinsmen, Julius Caesar, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Othello, Loves Labours
Lost, King Lear, A Midsummer Nights
Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Coriolanus, Edward II, Henry V, Richard
III, King Lear, As You Like It, Timon of Athens,
Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet
-- which was
mounted as the Project's premier production in March/April of 1999
and led to her subsequent concept of a two actor version of
the play, now known as 50 Minute
Hamlet (adapted and directed by Jeff Christian) --
and of course, Macbeth (multiple
times including during
the Project's opening season and the Tenth
Anniversary Season before adapting and directing 50
Minute Macbeth in 2007).
In
1996 she
adapted and directed excerpts from Richard III which were
performed for the Chicago premier of Al Pacino’s Looking for Richard;
from Twelfth Night which were
performed at the Chicago
premier of
Fineline Feature’s Twelfth Night; and from her old professor,
Tony Kushner’s Angels in America for World AIDS Day at the
Chicago Cultural Center. Mara is
a graduate of The Webster University Conservatory of Theatre Arts
and Dance in St. Louis, Missouri and has
acted on many of the stages here in Chicago and many others across the
country. Favorite roles include Lady Macduff in Macbeth,
Miranda in The Tempest, Emily in Our Town,
Angie in Top Girls, and Edna the Terrorist in Top
40 Terror. Mara has also performed in musicals all across the
country including Candide, Guys and Dolls, Evita, A Little Night
Music, Oklahoma, Brigadoon, Best Little Whorehouse, Sweet Charity,
Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I, Zorba, and so on. On the TSP
Stage -- in addition to the many organizational roles she has played
for the Project since its inception, Mara was also lucky
enough to play many of the great Shakespearean women on the Project's
stages including Emilia
in Othello, Tamora in Titus Andronicus,Margaret
in 3-Henry VI, Paulina in TheWinter’s Tale,
Isabella in Measure for Measure, Katherina in The
Taming of the Shrew, Charmian in Antony and Cleopatra, Lady
Macbeth and also Chorus in Henry V. Mara is very proud to have
provided similar opportunities to many other professional actors in
Chicago since 1995, and to have created the concept that is now the
Project's successful education arm, 50
Minute Shakespeare -- revealing the passion and poetry of
Shakespeare to younger generations.
That Shakespeare Project of Chicago: the world in
words.
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