{"id":84633,"date":"2025-01-03T13:58:33","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T21:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=84633"},"modified":"2025-01-03T14:05:26","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T22:05:26","slug":"theater-news-long-beach-shakespeare-company-2025-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/art\/theater-news-long-beach-shakespeare-company-2025-season","title":{"rendered":"Theater news: This year the Long Beach Shakespeare Company is embracing love \u2014 and all its complexities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new year can offer opportunities for all kinds of new experiences \u2014 including the dramatic. Fortunately, Long Beach has several live theaters in which to immerse our emotions and imaginations, including the intimate Long Beach Shakespeare Company (LBSC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nestled in the heart of Bixby Knolls at the Helen Borgers Theatre, LBSC is set to explore the theme \u201cSo this is love?\u201d during its 2025 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First up is this weekend\u2019s \u201cEver Will\u201d \u2014 a new project by writer Pamela Gilbreath Kelly about the early and older years of William Shakespeare told through music and song, performing on Jan. 4 and 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LBSC will then stage Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cRichard III\u201d later in January and early February \u2014 \u201cthe winter of our discontent,\u201d as per the play \u2014 which the theater describes as a historical tragedy exploring the limits of familial love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LBSC Artistic Director Holly Leveque calls staging the play both \u201cexciting and challenging\u201d \u2014 and pertinent today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe political landscape in America made this a powerful choice, a scary choice, and it is a story that should be told,\u201d she said. \u201cYou don’t want to miss this one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LBSC is also planning four other plays: Shakespeare\u2019s comedies \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream\u201d in spring and \u201cMuch Ado About Nothing\u201d in summer, followed by Henrik Ibsen\u2019s \u201cA Doll\u2019s House\u201d in fall and \u201cCinderella: Holiday Edition\u201d in winter, which the theater describes as \u201ca festive twist on the classic romantic fairy tale.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always try to pick a season theme that is already out there in the world, that is familiar to the ear,\u201d Leveque explained. \u201cAnd I could just not get the Disney song \u2018So This is Love?\u2019 from \u2018Cinderella\u2019 out of my head.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added that the audience might reflect on their own feelings of love as they experience these plays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs this feeling actually love? Is it lust? Is it friendship?\u201d she posited. \u201cOr maybe love for your country? Is this feeling actually hate? Or maybe it’s revenge?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to staged plays, LBSC will continue to offer its retro radio shows, converting the theater into a 1940s \u201cKBRD\u201d radio station, with actors speaking into microphones while playing instruments and creating sound effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s radio shows include \u201cThe Wizard of Oz,\u201d \u201cArsenic and Old Lace\u201d\u00a0and LBSC\u2019s perennial spooky rendition of \u201cWar of the Worlds\u201d\u00a0in October and holiday-inspired \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d\u00a0in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since becoming artistic director two years ago, Leveque introduced two new LBSC programs to add to the mix \u2014 a New Works Festival in May and June and a three-day poetry series in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New Works Festival will feature six original scripts, whether one-acts, full-length plays or musicals, all in various stages of development. And SoCal poet Brian Sonia-Wallace will curate the poetry series with activities, readings and a new work of horror poetry inspired by Franz Kafka\u2019s “The Metamorphosis.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leveque said it\u2019s been a \u201cdelight and an honor\u201d to showcase the work of new playwrights during the festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn life, you don’t always get to help someone in that type of way \u2014 to uplift them, celebrate them and get to help them achieve their dream of seeing their work on our stage,\u201d Leveque said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe 2024 New Works Festival featured an East Indian romantic comedy, \u2018Pyar aur Coffee,\u2019 that was such a hit we had to add an additional performance,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LBSC\u2019s mission since 1990 has been both pro-literacy and pro-community, Leveque noted. \u201cWe love the arts and our neighbors,\u201d she said. \u201cWe hope to share and build on that love with our 2025 season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Long Beach Shakespeare Company performs at the Helen Borgers Theatre, 4250 \u00bd Atlantic Ave., Long Beach. For tickets and information, call the box office at 562-997-1494 or visit <\/i>LBShakespeare.org<\/i><\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s what’s in store this season at our local Shakespeare company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":84636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1453],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32310],"class_list":["post-84633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","tag-theater","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84633"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84638,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84633\/revisions\/84638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84633"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=84633"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=84633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}