The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
directed by Cait Bodenbender

Auditions will be held on Friday, August 22nd 6-9pm and Saturday the 23rd 1-4pm at the Village Theatre (formerly Turner Hall), 2113 E. 11th Street Davenport, Iowa.

Call backs will be held Sunday, August 24th 1-4 at the same location.

Original Review

By Julie Jensen

Getting with the program in a Prenzie Players production is easier when they do Shakespeare than when they choose a little-known 17th century Spanish play, “Life’s A Dream.”

You usually know the plot in Shakespeare, but the convoluted story line of the play by Pedro Calderon de la Barca is outside the experience of most of us.

Original review
LIFE’S A DREAM

Running time: 2 hours and 25 minutes, including two intermissions (during which additional scenes are performed), plus an additional half-hour preshow that begins at 7:30 each evening the play is performed

Original Review

Written by Mike Schulz
Wednesday, 14 May 2008

Say what you will about the Prenzie Players' latest presentation, but you can't say that the classical-theatre troupe, with its production of Pedro Calderón de la Barca's Life's a Dream, is merely resting on its laurels.

Original Review

By David Burke | Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The theme of the last two Prenzie Players productions seems to be “Let’s see what we can pull over on Eddie Staver III this time.”

In March, the subplot of “The Taming of the Shrew” was to convince Staver’s supporting character that he was a nobleman for whom they were performing.

Original Story posted April 30, 2008

Running, Running, Running: The Prenzie Players Venture Beyond Shakespeare with "Life's a Dream"

Original review by Thom White, originally posted May 8, 2008
Original Review

On Stage — Prenzie Players’ Life’s a Dream
As a theater-goer, I go to the theater to escape for a while, losing myself in a story of others’ lives played out before me on a stage. I don’t want to be aware of my presence, only of the presence of the characters before my eyes. That’s my preference, but it’s not Prenzie Players’ policy. As they say, “theater is not a passive experience.” And, knowing that, I approached the group’s latest production with trepidation, with anxiety. Despite efforts to approach the show with an open mind as a reviewer, I dreaded

Written in 1637, Pedro Calderon's Life's a Dream investigates the borders between truth and illusion, loyalty and treachery, captivity and freedom, in a romantic fairy tale set somewhere along the dusky borders between the waking world and the landscape of dreams. King Vasily has read in the stars that his newly-born son Sigismund is destined to overthrow him and become a tyrant. Accepting the prediction as true, he imprisons his son in a tower, where he grows to manhood alone.

Prenzie Players ‘shine’ in ‘Taming of the Shrew’
Written by David Burke
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Original Review

It’s doubtful that when William Shakespeare wrote “The Taming of the Shrew” in the late 16th century that he envisioned it being played using Lean Cuisine, a borderline bondage outfit and with its cast performing the chicken dance.

No Holds Bard: "The Taming of the Shrew,"
Written by Mike Schulz
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Original Review

The way I see it, the only real problem with the Prenzie Players (and it's more a problem for me than them) is that their performance standard is so consistently high that when they produce a show that satisfies even beyond that standard, you don't quite know how to describe it. Regarding the theatrical troupe's current production of The Taming of the Shrew, then, let me just state that it's the best time I've had at an area show in all of 2008. And, quite possibly, in all of 2007. And 2006. The invention and commitment and laugh-'til-you-cry hilarity of director Jeremy Mahr's presentation is truly staggering; it transports you to a state of complete happiness that you don't ever want to return from.