Snoop's Theatre Thoughts

Winds of Change
by Deanna Jent
Based on The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
Directed by Adam Flores
St. Louis Shakespeare Festival: Shakespeare in the Streets
September 24, 2022

Noah Laster, Hannah Geisz, Colin McLaughlin, Molly Burris
Photo by Phillip Hamer
St. Louis Shakespeare Festival

It’s good to be back at Shakespeare in the Streets! For various reasons, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a show in this exciting series by the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, in which they spend time in a St. Louis area neighborhood getting to know the residents and history, and then produce an original, Shakespeare-inspired play set in that neighborhood, featuring professional actors and local residents together. This year, the Bevo neighborhood in South City is featured, with a new play by Deanna Jent based on one of the Bard’s wackiest comedies, The Comedy of Errors. In this iteration, the chaotic comedy of mistaken identity is still there, but it’s also enriched by a good deal of local atmosphere, as well as an educational focus on the history of the neighborhood and the arrival of many Bosnian immigrants in the 1990s and their making the area their home over time. There’s also a heartwarming theme of family and reunions after a period of absence. 

The play starts as essentially a presentation about the neighborhood, as local resident Antipholus (Colin McLaughlin) and his cousin, Dromia (Hannah Geisz) introduce the neighborhood and tell their story about arriving in St. Louis as young children accompanied by Antipholus’s mother, Emilia (Christina Rios), after being unintentionally separated from the rest of their family in the confusion following the war in Bosnia and the evacuation of refugees years before. They’ve never forgotten their long-lost siblings, an identical twin each for Antipholus (Noah Laster) and Dromia (Molly Burris), as well as Emilia’s husband and Antipholus’s father Aegon (Hady Matta), who, unknown to his long-lost family, is still looking for them, hoping to find them soon, since his visa is due to expire soon. He is accompanied by young Youssef (Yousseff Matta), who often translates for him. Also unknown to the Bevo Antipholus and Dromia, the other Antipholus and Dromia have recently arrived in town, looking for their family. This, of course, sets off the confusion, which involved Bevo Antipholus’s wife Adriana (Carly Uding) and her adopted sister, Luciana (Ashwini Arora), as well as their local friend Barbara (Brenda Morrison), and Barbara’s granddaughter, Meg (Rosario Rios-Kelley). 

Also included in the story are representatives of local organizations playing themselves–Mark and Joani Akers from Oasis International and Father Mitchell Doyen from St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. It also features singing and dancing from Nadja Kapetanovich and an accordion performance from Edo Maajka, as well as a presentation about the history of the neighborhood from a a group representing local community theatre KTK productions (Bill Bush, Aileen Kidwell, Chris Kidwell, Matthew Lewis, Jake Singer, and Mike Singer III). Several prominent businesses and landmarks, including Das Bevo (originally the Bevo Mill restaurant), the Heavy Anchor, and more are mentioned and incorporated into the story. While the Comedy of Errors portion of the story takes a while to really get started, this is a fun, engaging presentation that captures the spirit of the neighborhood while retaining the raucous comedy from its Shakespearean source, and the original music–composed and performed by McLaughlin (who is also the music director) and Laster–works well to set and maintain the mood of the production.

The performances are excellent all around, especially by those involved in the “mistaken identity plot”, with both Antiphololuses and Dromias displaying excellent comic abilities. Uding and Arora also provide excellent support as the increasingly confused Adriana and Luciana, and especially as the latter is pursued romantically by the newcomer Antipholus while believing he is her brother-in-law. There’s strong singing from several of the players, including McLaughlin, Laster, and Rios, and some fun moments from the younger cast members–Youssef Matta, who works well teamed with Hady Matta as providers of important exposition; and Rios-Kelley, who delivers one of funniest lines in the show. The local participants also perform their roles well, adding to the neighborhood atmosphere. 

All the action is performed on a clever set by Dunsi Dai that features a background of windmill blades. Michele Friedman Siler’s costumes and M. Bryant Powell’s lighting design also add an air of whimsicality and credibility to the production. 

Overall, this is another strong showing from Shakespeare in the Streets, reflecting the personality of a local neighborhood while blending it seamlessly into a Shakespearean story. The only real drawback is that there are only three chances to see it, and the performance I saw was the last. Still, Winds of Change is a memorable and often hilarious representation of both its Shakespearean source and the vibrant Bevo Mill neighborhood. I’m looking forward to seeing what neighborhood the festival goes to next.

Hannah Geisz, Christina Rios, Colin McLaughlin
Photo by Phillip Hamer
St. Louis Shakespeare Festival