Oberon Shakespeare Study Group

Paul Manganello and Jim Manganello: Fratellanza The Fratellanza collaborative of Jim Manganello and his brother Paul Manganello visited Oberon last night to talk about The Mute Quire , their new play running currently at Mix Studio Theater in Ypsilanti. Their energy and dedication to the art of theater thrilled us. "They made me feel young again -- as if anything were possible."  Joy T. said. The Mute Quire is about the production of The First Folio and features, according to co-writer Jim Manganello, an antagonism between printer William Jaggard and actor John Hemminge about whether the play As You Like It should be included in the folio. Actors John Hemminge and Henry Condell signed a foreword in The First Folio testifying to the worthiness of the content and the co-signatories are often termed "editors" of the book by traditional Stratfordians. Most anti-Strats consider Ben Jonson the one and only editor of The First Folio , as Oberon chair Richard J...

Our friend Jim Manganello who did such a fabulous job directing Richard II for The Rude Mechanicals has a new project playing at the Mix Studio Theater in Ypsilanti through July 1. The play, The Mute Quire , a comedy about the production of Shakespeare's First Folio, was written and produced by Fratellanza for the New Theater Project . Manganello's promo says: Fratellanza is a new collaboration between Jim and Paul Manganello committed to generating live theater with physical rigor and imagination. [The play is]  Written and performed by Jim and Paul Manganello with Josh Berkowitz. Two forgotten actors. A printer and his apprentice. An absurd clown and a sad one. All these characters collide in a print shop to publish the plays of the recently dead Shakespeare. Before ink meets paper, they're battling over the soul of poetry, drama, nonsense. Using verse and movement, Fratellanza transforms history into a living celebration of love. The Mute Quire is told from a t...

Rude Mechanicals troupe takes a bow after Oct. 24, 2009 performance of Richard II . The University of Michigan's student acting troupe, The Rude Mechanicals, presented Shakespeare's  Richard II  in October at the Duderstadt Center Video Gallery. I arrived to a chaotic scene with ticket sellers turning away disappointed students. I asked if they would seat non-ticket-holders for no-shows before curtain-time, but was told it was hopeless. The mother of student director Jim Manganello presented me with a ticket and I donated money for cookies for the cast in Oberon's name. I am so glad I didn't miss this magnificent production.  120-150 patrons (estimated) were seated on risers on either side of a three-foot-high runway stage about 10 x 30 feet . (Measurements are guess-timates of size.) Sixteen- by four-foot-high screens hung behind both sets of audience risers showed projected images of moving humans and an industrial cityscape in black and white. Another block of ...