The Adventures of Pericles Show Synopsis

THE RIDDLE

King Antiochus offers his daughter's hand in marriage to any man who answers his riddle, with those who fail sentenced to death. Pericles hears the riddle and understands that it is a trick, where revealing the truth of the king's incestuous relationship with his daughter will also result in death. He flees the city, but Antiochus sends an assassin after him.

A WEDDING

Pericles travels to Tarsus to provide food for the city in famine. He then sets sail again and suffers a shipwreck. He is rescued by fishermen and finds out that King Simonides will offer his daughter Thaisa in marriage to whoever wins a jousting contest. Pericles wins and the pair marry.

THE STORM

After finding out that Antiochus is dead, Pericles sets sail for Tyre to reclaim his throne with Thaisa, now pregnant with their first child. During a storm, Thaisa dies giving birth to a daughter and is buried at sea. Pericles lands at Tarsus and entrusts his baby daughter, christened Marina, to the care of Governor Cleon and his wife Dionyza. Thaisa's coffin lands at Ephesus, where she is revived by the doctor Cerimon. She enters the temple of Diana as a nun.

ABDUCTION

Fourteen years pass and Marina has grown up to be a beautiful young woman. Her foster-mother, Dionyza, is envious and arranges her murder, only for her to be abducted by pirates who sell her into a brothel in Mytilene, where her chastity proves bad for business. Lysimachus, the governor, visiting the brothel in disguise, is greatly impressed by her.

Stop reading now if you don't want to know how it ends.

REUNITED

Pericles, still wandering the seas, arrives by chance at Mytilene, where his ship is visited by Lysimachus. He has Marina brought aboard the ship in an attempt to rouse Pericles from his sorrows. When their conversation reveals her to be his daughter, Pericles is overjoyed. In a dream, the goddess Diana directs him to make sacrifice at her temple in Ephesus and they set sail to accomplish this final act.

*Synopsis lovingly borrowed from the Royal Shakespeare Company (rsc.org.uk)

Scholars mostly agree that there is a sharp difference between the first two acts and the final three acts of the text of Pericles. Acts one and two are sometimes clumsier, less poetic and generally serviceable whereas the final three acts achieve moments of pure poetry in line with some of Shakespeare’s finest work. The theories as to why there is this break are numerous; the most popular theory is that Shakespeare is the author of only part of the play – perhaps he had a collaborator who was primarily responsible for the first two acts or perhaps Shakespeare revised another author’s play, concentrating his revisions mostly in the final three acts. Another theory suggests that the whole play is by Shakespeare, but that the first two acts were imperfectly remembered by those who had it set to print for the Quarto edition in 1609 and those text corruptions remained through later printings.

However one approaches the authorship issue, the play itself is a fascinating piece of work. Elements of the play are reminiscent of others of Shakespeare’s works: the lost daughter Marina finds parallels in Perdita in The Winter’s Tale; the reconciled father and daughter reflect Lear and Cordelia; the chorus played by Gower is a version of the Chorus in Henry V. But the dramaturgy of Pericles, with its episodic plot and scarcely fleshed-out characters, is unlike much of Shakespeare’s work.

Pericles is generally dated around 1607 or 1608, making it one of Shakespeare’s late plays. Toward the end of his playwriting years, Shakespeare experimented with a new genre, the “romance,” which became fashionable during the rule of James I. These kinds of plays were extensive narratives driven by plots with many interlinked episodes, some imbued with a fairy-tale flavor. They suited the popular taste and captured the public’s imagination at the time, and their appeal continues to be strong today. Pericles counts as one of Shakespeare’s earlier works of this period, followed by Cymbeline (ca. 1608-10), The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest (both dated around 1610-11). Compared to the poetry and depth of character in the great tragedies, the Romances can appear to be messier plays with lesser dramaturgy. Some scholars speculate that Shakespeare may have felt he had achieved what he wanted in the tragic and comic forms, and the romance offered him the opportunity to explore other theatrical elements.

The plot of Pericles is a very old Greek tale. It was known to Shakespeare through a number of versions, most notably the story of Apollonius of Tyre in Book Eight of Confessio Amantis (Lover’s Confessions) by the medieval poet John Gower, a contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer. Gower and his work would have been familiar to a Renaissance audience and Shakespeare’s inclusion of Gower as a character provides a nod of acknowledgment that Gower was a source for Shakespeare’s play. A second, more contemporary to Shakespeare, source of Apollonius’ story was Laurence Twyne’s Patterne of Painfull Adventures, a novel published in 1576.

The title character’s name changed from Apollonius to Pericles with Shakespeare’s play. A three-syllable name may have proved easier to work with, but what inspired the name Pericles is open to speculation. Perhaps Shakespeare named him after Pericles of Athens, whose description he may have encountered in Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, on which he drew to write Coriolanus around the same time as Pericles. Or the name may come from the character of Pyrocles in Sir Philip Sidney’s verse idyll Arcadia or Pyrochles in Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queen, both of which would have been familiar to Shakespeare.

In 1608 George Wilkins published a prose narrative titled The Painful Adventures of Pericles Prince of Tyre. The proximity of Wilkins’ publication date to the appearance of Shakespeare’s play has led some scholars to believe that George Wilkins was the (inferior) collaborator on the play Pericles while others speculate that Wilkins merely drew heavily upon Shakespeare’s play, which had been quite popular, to tell his own version of the story in novel form.

The extent to which authorship issues affect or influence a stage production may very well be negligible. Ultimately, the same investment in the text needs to be made by actor, director and designer regardless of whether the text is thought to be written by Shakespeare, by another author or in collaboration.

*Article gratefully borrowed from Guthrie Theater's Pericles Play Guide (guthrietheater.org)

Deimoni Brewington (Cleon, Lysimachus, and others) is making their CSC debut. Sleep Deprivation Chamber, Roundhouse Theatre, Drama League Award Nomination, Protest in 8, Theater Alliance, Blood at the Root, Theater Alliance, Helen Hayes Award (Best Ensemble in a Play). Deimoni holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Howard University.

Jose Guzman (Pericles) is a CSC Resident Actor and Teaching Artist who has appeared in with CSC in Love's Labour's Lost as Berowne; A Midsummer Night’s Dream as Nick Bottom; The Winter’s Tale as Leontes; Othello as Iago; Macbeth as Banquo; Much Ado About Nothing as Don Pedro; and many others. Additional productions in the DC area include Ana in the Tropics with GALA Hispanic Theatre and Taming of the Shrew with Lean & Hungry Theatre. In 2018, Jose won the James MacArthur Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play, and a Helen Hayes Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train at 1st Stage Theater. Jose holds an MA in Theatre from Binghamton University.

Steven Hoochuk (Helicanus/Bawd and others) Pericles marks Steven’s twelfth production with CSC and his first as an Associate Company Member. Past roles include Westmorland in Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2 as well as Antonio (The Tempest), Mortimer (The Fantasticks), Baptista (Taming of the Shrew) and Marcus Andronicus (Titus Andronicus). Steven has also appeared with Maryland Shakespeare Festival, (where he also served as Director of Education), as Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Richard in Richard III, Macbeth (Macbeth), Falstaff (The Merry Wives of Windsor), Dogberry (Much Ado About Nothing) and Claudius (Hamlet). He is also an accomplished close-up magician and board game enthusiast.

DeJeanette Horne (Lychordia, Leonine, and others) a native Washingtonian, is making his debut with the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company.  Regional credits include: The Infinite Tales (4615 Theatre Company);  West By God and God of Carnage (Keegan Theatre); Intimate Apparel (Silver Spring Stage); Harvey (1st Stage of Tyson); One Man Two Guvnors (1st Stage of Tysons); The Fire and the Rain (Constellation Theater); Blues for an Alabama Sky (Port City Playhouse); Clybourne Park (The Arlington Players); While the Lights Were Out (Colonial Players); The Soul Collector (Port City Playhouse); Day of Atonement (African Continuum Theatre); Hercules in Russia (Doorway Arts Ensemble).

Lolita Marie (Thaisa, Diana, Pirate, and others) is making her CSC debut. She is a Helen Hayes award recipient for Doubt (1st Stage); and Helen Hayes nominee '20 for God of Carnage (Keegan Theatre) and '19 Secrets of the Universe (The Hub Theatre). Regional stage credits include, a repertory production of The Royale (Olney and 1st Stage theatres); Native Son (Mosaic Theater Company); Flood City,  Brownsville Song, and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf (Theater Alliance); The Skin of Our Teeth (Constellation Theatre Company); Sophocles’ Electra (4615 Theatre Company); Well (1st Stage Theatre); An American Daughter (Keegan Theatre); Leto Legend (The Hub Theatre); The Hampton Years and Something You Did (Theater J); Blood Wedding (Constellation Theatre Company); The Constellation (Active Cultures Theatre); and Getting Out (Journeymen Theater Ensemble). Independent film and television credits include Too Saved and Nocturnal Agony (Nubia Filmworks), and Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry (I.D. Investigation Discovery).

Chania Hudson (Marina, Daughter of Antiochus, Fisherman, and others) is making her CSC debut, her previous roles at Howard Community College include Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Evil Gabi in She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen, and Anna in Spring Awakening The Musical. Chania has also been performing, since 2016, with Arts Collective's 'What Improv Group?!' directed by S.G. Kramer and Tatum Moss. She recently graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County with a BFA in Acting, and her most recent roles from UMBC include: Everybody in Everybody by Brandon Jacob-Jenkins, Wiletta in Alice Childress' Trouble in Mind, and Ruth in Hunting and Gathering by Brooke Berman. www.chaniahudson.com

Molly Moores (Antiochus, Dionyza, Boult, and others) is CSC Company Member and CSC Teaching Artist. She has appeared with CSC in A Christmas Carol (2014-2019); Macbeth (movable 2019); Macbeth (student matinee 2019); Romeo and Juliet (student matinee 2015-2020); Henry IV Parts 1 and 2; A Midsummer Night's Dream (2018 and 2011); The Winter's Tale; Julius Caesar; Anne of the Thousand Days; The Three Musketeers; Macbeth (2016); Much Ado About Nothing; Richard II; The Taming of the Shrew; Antony and Cleopatra; Pride and Prejudice; Romeo and Juliet (2012); and The Merchant of Venice. www.mollymoores.com

Elizabeth Ung (Thaliard, Cerimon, Lord, Sailor, and others) is making her CSC debut.  Select credits include Single Carrot Theatre: Keep Off the Grass, Lear; Wyrd Sisters Shakespeare Society: Twelfth Night [virtual production]; The Strand Theater Company: Little Women; Fells Point Corner Theatre: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead; Baltimore Shakespeare Factory: A Chaste Maid in Cheapside; The Wheel Theatre Company: The Winter’s Tale; Smithsonian’s Discovery Theater: Tigers, Dragons, and Other Wise Tails; Pointless Theatre Co.: Rite of Spring; The Tank NYC/Asian Pasifika Arts Collective: Tornkid. She holds a B.A. in Theatre from University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is an Asian American actor and theatre artist based in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., which are on the Indigenous Piscataway and Susquehannock lands. (she/her) www.elizabethung.com

CREATIVE TEAM

Matthew R. Wilson (Director) previously directed CSC’s Much Ado about Nothing (2015) and performed in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), CSC’s last show before the pandemic. He is a two-time Helen Hayes Award winner and seven-time nominee as an actor, director, playwright, and fight director. Directing credits include Second City’s Twist Your Dickens (Aurora Fox, Denver); Act a Lady (Hub Theatre); One Man, Two Guvnors (1st Stage); and The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Constellation Theatre, Helen Hayes Award nomination for Fight Direction), as well as physical comedy stagings of A Commedia Christmas Carol (Helen Hayes Award nomination), Our Town, A Commedia Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, The Mandrake, and Molière’s Don Juan (Helen Hayes Award nomination) for Faction of Fools Theatre Company. Matt teaches at The George Washington University's Corcoran School of the Arts & Design. He holds an MFA from the Academy for Classical Acting and PhD in Theatre & Performance Studies from the University of Maryland. He is a proud member of The Stage Directors & Choreographers Society. MatthewRWilson.com

Sarah Curnoles (Production Manager) (See Staff Bios)

Ali Januzzi (Assistant Director) holds a BA in Theatre and Psychology from George Washington University. This is her first time working with CSC. 

Lauren Engler (Stage Manager) is a CSC Resident Technical and Design Company Member. She was Community Engagement Project Coordinator for The Diary of Anne Frank. She has recently stage managed CSC’s productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale, Richard III, Anne of the Thousand Days, and Titus Andronicus. Performing with CSC, she recently appeared as Miss Winthrop in A Christmas Carol (2017), Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2014) and the Courtesan in A Comedy of Errors. Locally, Lauren has performed in Poe’s Last Stanza with Do or Die Productions, Coriolanus with Cohesion Theatre Company, and Sweeney Todd with Stillpointe Theatre. She stage manages Renaissance Rumble at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. Lauren holds a BA in Performance Theater and Studio Art from High Point University

Dan O’Brien (Technical Director & Facilities Manager) (See Staff Bios)

Kristina Lambdin (Resident Costume & Business Manager) (See Staff Bios)

Mollie Singer (Properties Designer) Chesapeake Shakespeare Company properties designs include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Red Velvet, The Winter’s Tale, The Fantasticks, Julius Caesar, Richard III, and Anne of the Thousand Days. Other selected credits include: Subject to Change (Scenic Design, UMD: College Park); Souvenir (Scenic Design, Rep Stage); Sweeney Todd (Associate Scenic Design, Rep Stage); Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Rep Stage, Scenic Design); Hunting and Gathering (Rep Stage, Scenic Design); True West (Rep Stage, Properties); Nat Turner in Jerusalem (Forum Theatre, Properties); Becoming Dr. Ruth (Theatre J, Properties). Mollie holds an MFA in Theatre Design from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Kaydin Hamby(Sound Designer) has previously designed The Diary of Anne Frank and Dracula for CSC. Kaydin holds their BA in Theatre Design and Production from UMBC. Please visit KaydinHamby.com to listen to their portfolio of work.

Grace Srinivasan (Music Director and CSC Resident Music Director) is the resident music director at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and has programmed and arranged the music for productions since 2016. A soprano who performs a wide-ranging repertoire throughout the region, she appeared as a soloist in a program of works inspired by Shakespeare’s plays, If Music Be the Food of Love, with CSC artists, the Peabody Baroque Band, and the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble. Grace holds a master’s degree in vocal performance from the Peabody Conservatory and sings professionally at St. Stephen Martyr Church and the National Cathedral. www.gracesrinivasan.com

Mindy Braden (Backstage Manager) is a CSC Resident Technical and Design Company Member. She has served as Props Designer for Romeo and Juliet (2015), The Importance of Being Earnest, A Christmas Carol (2015), Dracula (2013), The Merry Wives of Windsor, and As You Like It; as Stage Manager for productions including Pride and Prejudice, Richard III, Taming of the Shrew, and Antony and Cleopatra; as Backstage Manager for As You Like It; and as Costume Designer for The Merry Wives of Windsor, to name just a few of her many credits.

Abigal Rosen (Tech Manager) is a theatre artist, teacher, and musician from Washington, DC. She recently finished an Artistic Direction apprenticeship at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. Favorite past productions include: Angels in America, August: Osage County, and the timeless classic musical Xanadu. (she/her/hers)

Chester Stacy (Scenic Carpenter/Painter, and Assistant Technical Director) (See Staff Bios)

Rebecca Kleeman (Assistant Stage Manager) is making her CSC production debut. She is currently pursuing a BFA in Theatre Design and Production from Boston University.

Maggie Urban (Health Safety Manager) has previously worked with CSC as the stage management intern on Love’s Labour’s Lost and the light board operator on A Christmas Carol (2019). Her theatrical management credits include Rumors at The Colonial Players, and In The Heights, The Producers, and 9 to 5 at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre. Magdalene holds a BA in Theatre Design & Production from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Isabel Duarte (Directing Intern) is making her CSC production team debut. She has also appeared as Mira in Theory of Relativity at George Washington University.

LEADERSHIP

Ian Gallanar (Founding Artistic Director) In addition to founding the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in 2002, Ian has worked as a professional actor, director, and writer for more than 150 professional productions. He has directed 40 productions for CSC. Previously, Ian has served as Artistic Director for the National Theatre for Children, Minnesota Shakespeare in the Park, and the Repertory Theater of America. Ian is a proud member of the distinguished National Theatre Conference and the Dramatists Guild of America; a Helen Hayes Tribute Award, Telly Award, and Howie Award (Howard County Arts Council) winner. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he is a Member of the College of Fine Arts Advancement Council. He is Immediate Past President of the international Shakespeare Theatre Association, an organization for professional Shakespeare companies around the globe.

Lesley Malin (Managing Director) is a founder of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, and has served as its Managing Director since 2003. She managed CSC’s building renovation of an 1885 bank into our modern Shakespeare playhouse as well as the associated $6.7 million capital campaign. She has performed in 28 CSC productions and previously in New York. She has, for 20 years, been Vice President of the Board of Trustees of The Lark, a new play development center in New York City, where she earlier was Managing Director. She served for five years on the Executive Committee of the international Shakespeare Theatre Association and organized its annual conference that CSC hosted in Baltimore in 2017. She is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, NYU’s Arts Management program, Leadership Howard County, and LEADERship Baltimore (2018).

STAFF

Jane Coffey (Director of Development) is a business development, sales and IT professional who has worked in the banking, staffing, IT, and renewable energy industries, most recently with Microsoft and Clean Choice Energy. Jane has served on the Board of Trustees for Arts Education Alliance of Maryland (AEMS) since 2017. She served on the Board of Trustees of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company from 2006 to 2015, and for several years was its president. She is an ardent supporter of the arts in Baltimore. Her husband is the professional musician and song writer Arty Hill and her daughter, Josie, is an animation artist-in-training at the Columbus College of Art and Design

Michael Lonegro (Director of Operations and Finance) was the lighting designer for CSC’s Julius Caesar (2017) and has operated lighting for numerous CSC productions. He is a member of the Resident Technical and Design Company. Before joining CSC in 2014, he studied law at the University of Maryland and comparative literature at the University of Chicago and worked for 10 years as a university press editor. He holds a BA from Yale University, where he also designed lighting for undergraduate and graduate theatre productions.

Kristina Lambdin (Resident Costume & Business Manager) won the Broadway World Best Costume Design award for her designs for A Christmas Carol (2016). Some of her costuming credits with CSC include Dracula (2013 and 2019); The Diary of Anne Frank; She Stoops to Conquer; Alice in Wonderland; Red Velvet; Anne of the Thousand Days; The Fantasticks; Macbeth (2016); A Christmas Carol (2014-2018); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2005, 2011 and 2014); The Importance of Being Earnest; The Taming of the Shrew (2006 and 2013); Romeo and Juliet (2003, 2012, and student matinees 2015-2019); A Doll’s House; As You Like It (Broadway World Best of Baltimore Award); and The Country Wife. Broadway World named her as a top artist of the 2007 Baltimore Theatre, and she won the Greater Baltimore Theater Award for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2005). For more than a decade, she served as the Costume Supervisor for the Baltimore Opera Company and then Lyric Opera Baltimore.

Brandon W Vernon (Marketing Manager & Graphic Designer) is an animator, illustrator, and graphic designer who has worked for numerous publications and theatres such as the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. He served as the Dramaturg for Dracula (2019). He holds an MFA in Visual Communication from Jacksonville State University in Alabama, and a BFA in Traditional Animation from the School of Visual Arts in New York. He has designed for theatre, film, television, and has been a featured artist on MTV.com.

Sarah Curnoles (Production Manager) stage managed with CSC for Much Ado About Nothing, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Dracula, A Doll’s House, The Tempest, and Henry V. Before working at CSC, she was self-employed as a life coach. She has also worked at Center Stage as the Executive Assistant to the Artistic and Managing Directors. Sarah created and directed A Fool’s Paradise: 30 Shakespeare Scenes in 60 Minutes which was performed at the Baltimore Fringe Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, and various stages around Baltimore.

Daniel O’Brien (Technical Director & Facilities Manager) is a founding member of CSC. Daniel has performed, designed scenery, lights, and served as Technical Director for many productions (among other jobs too numerous to name). He oversaw the construction of CSC’s theatre in Baltimore and designed the sets and lighting for Macbeth (2016); for the inaugural season plays A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Richard II; Romeo and Juliet (2015-2019); A Christmas Carol (2014-2019), and many others.

Ron Heneghan (Director of Education) oversees education programs for CSC. More than 13,000 students attended performances in the 2018-2019 student matinee program, while the in-school residency, where CSC Teaching Artists embed in English/Language Arts classrooms as a resource for teachers and a learning experience for their students, served more than 2,500 students in Baltimore City, Baltimore, Anne Arundel, and Howard Counties. Ron is a member of the CSC Resident Acting Company and a member of Actors’ Equity Association. He holds an MFA from the University of Washington and a BS from the University of Maryland.

Gerrad Alex Taylor (Associate Artistic Director & Director, The Studio) directed Dracula (2019); A Christmas Carol (2018); and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2018), and co-directed Henry IV, Part 2 (2019) for CSC. Gerrad also teaches in the theatre departments at UMBC and George Washington University. He holds a BA in Neuroscience from The Johns Hopkins University and an MFA in Performance from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is a member of CSC's Resident Acting Company, and has worked as an actor, director, and educator for theaters and educational institutions across the country including the Great River Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Pacific Conservatory Theatre-PCPA, Everyman Theatre, Constellation Theatre Company, Washington Stage Guild, and the Children's Theatre of Annapolis. He is a member of the Actors’ Equity Association.

Mandy Benedix (Box Office Manager) previously worked as the Audience Relations and Box Office Manager at Baltimore Centerstage. She graduated from University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with a BFA in Theater. She has had the pleasure of living and working in Chicago and New York prior to calling Baltimore her home.

Pamela S. Forton (Senior House Manager) supports the Box Office and coordinates many of the front-of-house and patron services that make audiences feel welcome in our beautiful theater and at the Ruins.

Ellie Skoda (Box Office Associate) is making their CSC debut as box office associate this summer. She is a recent graduate with a BA in Theatre Arts from McDaniel College.

Miranda Solomon (Marketing & Development Assistant) assists and supports CSC’s marketing and development teams in promoting and funding CSC's work. She previously worked at Omnibus Theatre, a small fringe theatre in London, UK, as a marketing intern. She holds a B.S. in Economics and a minor in Marketing from the Sigmund Weis School of Business at Susquehanna University.

Chester Stacy (Scenic Carpenter/Painter, and Assistant Technical Director) has designed, built, and painted many CSC productions, including Alice in Wonderland, The Fantasticks, Red Velvet, and Titus Andronicus; and for Baltimore Center Stage’s Thoughts of a Colored Man and Shakespeare in Love.  Chester Creates LLC, has provided film production design for The Night Watchmen, set decoration for House of Cards and The Wire; and environmental graphics for Crunch Fitness, Royal Caribbean, Bmore Greek Grill, and Healthy Highlandtown.

Russell Laury (Porter) worked with Southway Builders on the transformation of our landmark building into a beautiful Downtown Baltimore theater before joining the CSC staff.