In the mid-Twentieth Century, when naturalistic conventions and societal preconceptions dominated the theatre, Ridiculous Theatrical Company came along and rocked the New York stages with critically acclaimed radical, gender-bending, yet classic and bold, theatrical works. As New York City gears up to welcome the world to simultaneously commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall uprisings and celebrate World Pride, Theatre at St. John’s hails the return of legendary actor, director, playwright, and designer Everett Quinton to its stage in this production. An icon of New York theatre, West Village history, and LGBTQ+ culture, Everett Quinton brings to life one of the world’s most demanding artists in this uproarious combination of pop culture and high art.
Joining Everett Quinton in the title role are Shane Baker, Beth Dodye Bass, Maude Lardner Burke, Géraldine Dulex, Mark Erson, Christopher Johnson, and Jenne Vath.
Pastor Hamlet is dead. His congregation has found a replacement. His widow has taken a husband. Everyone is trying to move on. Except his son. And...there are rumors a spirit has been walking the sanctuary at night.
Bonneville Theater Company's production of Shakespeare's greatest work sees a Hamlet set in an American evangelical charismatic Christian church in the 1990s during which was born a spiritual shift, including the rise of the mega-church, the "cool" pastor, the increasing popularity in Christian rock, and the revitalization of Youth Ministries. Shakespeare's England at the time of Hamlet's writing was not without its own fluctuating theological scene, where the masses struggled to find their spiritual identity in the wake of the great Reformation which establishment of the Church of England two generations prior. These very tensions are embedded in the play as Hamlet navigates personal dilemmas surrounding theological and spiritual unease. Bonneville Theater Company turns Shakespeare’s royal family into a church family. King Hamlet becomes Pastor Hamlet. Gertrude becomes a pastor's wife. And Hamlet, a man who returns home from school to find his uncle leading the congregation his father once led.
About the Company: Bonneville Theater Company
Bonneville Theater Company is a performance ensemble based in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Founded by Alexandra Kuechler Caffall, Lindsey Trout Hughes, and Tyler Caffall, Bonneville uses research, collected pastiche, and nostalgia to build theatrical experiences that have been deemed altogether joyous, intimate, and innately celebratory. Of Lindsey Trout Hughes' play Chop Your Own Wood, nytheatrenow said, "Bonneville Theater creates a closeness that so much theater can only hope to achieve."