'Richard III' concludes Shakespeare festival

NY Director Ryan Lee's cast includes several newcomers

Download photo

Ross Hellwig is Buckingham, Aidan Kye is young York and Jason McBeth is Richard.

Photo: Brian Stethem

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – June 29, 2015) The 19th season of the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival will conclude on a tragic note with “Richard III.”

Performances will begin at 8 p.m. July 17 through 19, July 24 through 26, and July 31 through Aug. 2 in Kingsmen Park on the Thousand Oaks campus of California Lutheran University. The festival grounds open at 5:30 p.m. for picnicking and entertainment.

The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company last presented “Richard III” a decade ago. With Richard finally having been given an official burial in March after his long-lost body was unearthed and the popularity of the HBO series “Game of Thrones,” which is based on the Wars of the Roses, the time seemed right to revisit the play.

One of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, “Richard III” was written around 1592 about the final chapter in the Wars of the Roses. King Edward IV of the House of York sits on the throne unaware that his brother, Richard of Gloucester, has a Machiavellian passion to take the crown and will stop at nothing. Richard plots to eliminate everyone who gets in his way.

Director Ryan Lee lives in New York City where he most recently directed acclaimed productions of “The Winter’s Tale” and “A View from the Bridge.” He last appeared on the Kingsmen stage as Berowne in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” in 2004.

Cast members include several newcomers to the Kingsmen stage including Jason McBeth as Richard, Angela Sauer as Queen Elizabeth, Gillian Doyle as Margaret, Jamey Hecht as the Duke of Clarence and Seta Wainiqolo as Richmond. McBeth has appeared in “King Lear,” “Much Ado About Nothing,” “King Henry VI, Part I,” “Richard III” and “Dr. Faustus” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Sauer’s credits include regional productions in Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago as well as television. Doyle received a Stage Scene LA Outstanding Comedy Award for Grace in “Pterodactyls” and an LA Weekly nomination for “Mrs. Warren’s Profession.” Hecht is an actor with the Porters of Hellsgate. Wainiqolo, a Moorpark resident, has performed as summer stock with Theatricum Botanicum, graduated from Cal Lutheran in May with a bachelor’s degree in theater arts and will begin the Master of Fine Arts acting program at Yale University in the fall.

The cast also includes familiar faces. Rachel Seiferth, who plays Lady Anne, previously appeared at the festival as Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet.” Ross Hellwig plays Buckingham, Marc Silver portrays Hastings and Harold Dixon is Stanley.

The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company is the professional theater company of Cal Lutheran.

General admission is $20 for adults and free for those under 18. Individual tickets are available at the door only. For lawn box reservations, visit kingsmenshakespeare.org or call 805-493-3014.

©