Hamlet.

For this East Coast Artists production, Schechner largely used the 1603 First Quarto and character names derived from earlier source texts. Schechner proposes a collision of 21st century American popular culture, Elizabethan poetry, and a medieval Danish story. Using contemporary U.S. idiomatic expressions, ballroom dancing, and pop icons such as Marilyn Monroe (Gertred) and Shirley Temple (Ofelia), 'Hamlet' embodies a cyclone of tragedy enacted within the postmodernity of the 21st century. As Schechner writes in his program note, Monroe and others steal the words of Shakespeare's characters and haunt the play from the future - just as Gertrude, an ancient woman, haunts it from the past. Claudius is both a Viking pirate and a contemporary globalizing marauder, blustering and handsome. Polonius is a talking head, a TV pundit full of shopworn sagacity. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are literally rats, their tails trailing behind them as they do tap routines. Claudius hums Broadway tunes. The 'Get thee to a nunnery' scene transforms from a ballroom dance number into a violent encounter. Polonius is in an incestuous relationship with Ofelia who is much too old to wear the clothes she does. When her father is murdered, Ofelia cracks up. Hamlet is angry, lost, an outsider in his own home, ironic, crazy, and determined in his indeterminacy. Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics

Richard Schechner is a theater director, performance theorist and university professor known for being one of the founders of the academic discipline of Performance Studies at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Schechner combines his work in anthropology with innovative approaches to performance of all kinds including ritual, drama, environmental theater, political rallies, dance, music, etc. in order to consider how performance can be understood not just as an object of study, but also as an active intellectual-artistic practice. He is the editor of 'TDR: The Journal of Performance Studies.' His books include 'Environmental Theater, ' 'The Future of Ritual, ' 'Performance Theory, ' 'Between Theater and Anthropology' and 'Performance Studies: An Introduction.' As of 2007, his books have been translated into 14 languages. Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics