The Comedy of Errors Staged Reading
Zany and playful with a touch of the absurd!
Two sets of twins, a shipwreck, and mistaken identities ignite one of Shakespeare’s liveliest and most playful comedies. Join celebrated director Desdemona Chiang and a dynamite cast to find out what happens when madcap physical comedy meets the virtual realm. You’ll enjoy selected scenes from the play and hear directly from the artists involved.
“Desdemona Chiang is one of my favorite directors. She is diving into the playful possibilities that The Comedy of Errors offers, when the role of twins can be achieved by two camera angles, and a little zany humor is born when actors live in one household.” - Artistic Director Marissa Wolf
The Comedy of Errors Plot Summary
Adapted from the Royal Shakespeare Company’s plot synopsis.
The Comedy of Errors is believed to be one of Shakespeare's earlier written plays; a comedy about separated family and mistaken identity.
Thirty-three years before the play begins, Amelia and her husband Aegeon, a merchant of Syracuse, became the parents of twin boys. For some reason, they named them both Antipholus! In the same inn where Amelia has given birth are two other twins born to parents who have little means, and painfully decide to give their twins, both named Dromio (you see where this is going?), up for adoption to Amelia and Aegeon. The Dromios will be brought up as servants to the Antipholuses.
THE SEPARATION
The babies’ were all born in Ephesus, and the family — 2 parents and 4 babies now — are travelling home to Syracuse, when they are shipwrecked in a violent storm. Aegeon manages to save only one of the Antipholus and one of the Dromio babies and takes them home to Syracuse. They have not seen the rest of his family since.
THE QUEST
The Syracuse family — Antipholus and Dromio — arrive in Ephesus in search of their long-lost twin brothers, unaware that their father has also arrived there on the same quest. As a citizen of Syracuse, a city at war with Ephesus, Aegeon has landed illegally in Ephesus and is arrested and condemned to death unless a ransom is paid by sunset.
Unknown to all of them, the lost Antipholus and Dromio have been living in Ephesus for many years.
OLD FRIENDS
On Ephesus, the strangers find themselves greeted like old friends. Antipholus of Syracuse finds that he has acquired a wife, and everyone in Ephesus seems to be behaving very strangely ...
Meet the Cast
in alphabetical order
Jimmy enjoys his collaborative relationships with innovative creative outlets such as Portland Center Stage, Artists Repertory Theatre, Profile Theatre, and Milagro, to name a few. You can catch more of Jimmy’s work in PCS’s Play At Home series; he was delighted to perform in E.M. Lewis’ The Third Prisoner.
Meet the Creative Team
Desdemona is a stage director based in Seattle, WA, and Ashland, OR. Cofounder of Azeotrope (Seattle). Directing credits include Guthrie Theater, Alley Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, California Shakespeare Theater, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Playmakers Repertory Company, Studio Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, ACT Theatre Seattle, American Shakespeare Center, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Village Theatre, Theatre Latte Da, Heritage Theatre Festival, Book-It Repertory, Aurora Theatre Company, Theatre Latte Da, Seattle Public Theatre, Shotgun Players, Crowded Fire Theatre Company, Azeotrope, Impact Theatre, Playwrights Foundation, Golden Thread Productions, Washington Ensemble Theatre, One Minute Play Festival, Ohio Northern University, University of Washington, and Cornish College of the Arts, among others. Assisting and dramaturgy credits include: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Playmakers Repertory Company, A Contemporary Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Arizona Theatre Company, Intiman Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Magic Theatre, Theatreworks, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, among others. Intersection for the Arts Triangle Lab Artist-Investigator. Adjunct faculty, Cornish College of the Arts. B.A. from University of California at Berkeley. M.F.A. Directing: University of Washington School of Drama.
Imagine being in a room full of artists, watching the birth of an idea, a movement given purpose, a sentence, phrase, scene, act given life. Then imagine that room translating to the stage with lighting, sound, costumes, scenery, and props; then you can imagine what Mark’s job is like. Prior to Portland Center Stage, Mark toured nationally and internationally with musicals including Dreamgirls, The King and I with Rudolf Nureyev, How to Succeed …, Grand Hotel, The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, and Jersey Boys. Other Portland credits include several summers with Broadway Rose Theatre Company in Tigard. Regional credits include Alley Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, and Casa Mañana Theatre.
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