“Jeffrey Hatcher’s Hamlet” comes to Moorhead

Come celebrate Shakespeare’s 450th birthday year in as MSUM Theatre Arts presents one-man show on March 27

“Jeffrey Hatcher’s Hamlet,” the latest work by Minnesota’s own acclaimed playwright, premiered last summer as part of Minneapolis-based Illusion Theater’s Fresh Ink series. Now Hatcher hits the road with his one-man show and travels to Minnesota State University Moorhead where he’ll perform for one-night only on March 27 at MSUM’s Gaede Stage. Admission is free and is first come, first served.

When Hatcher was 11 years old, he adapted, directed and performed in one of Shakespeare’s greatest dramas, “Hamlet.” It was staged in the fifth grade English class of Stark Elementary School in Steubenville, Ohio. It starred every student in the class. The audience consisted of teachers, parents and other kids. The first show sold out, so they added a second. It, too, sold out. It was Hatcher’s first hit.

Flash-forward to 2014 while Hatcher re-visits that experience. He said, “The play is a one-person show called “Jeffrey Hatcher’s Hamlet” all lunatic egocentric pomposity intended. I’ll play myself telling the story, with its ups and downs, its disasters and triumphs and life lessons – all scaled to the fifth grade, naturally. It will be about theater as a home, as a refuge, and as a platform. It will be about time and place and politics – an Ohio steel town in the mid-60s. It will be about people who reveal themselves, their talents and weaknesses, when put through the pressure-cooker of putting on the world’s greatest play in circumstances not likely to have been repeated since.”

The “Jeffrey Hatcher’s Hamlet” creative team includes Director Michael Robins, set design by Dean Holzman and image design by Jonathan Carlson. Lindsay Woolward serves as production manager.

Minnesota State University Moorhead is just one of 10 stops that “Jeffrey Hatcher’s Hamlet” will make as part of the Arts Tour Minnesota program. Illusion Theater is a fiscal year 2013 recipient of a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is funded, in part, by the Minnesota arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the Legacy Amendment vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

About Illusion Theater

Illusion Theater was founded in 1974 and presents its season on the 8th floor of the Hennepin Center for the Arts in downtown Minneapolis. In 40 years, Illusion has generated over 500 plays, developed thousands of artists, and created ground-breaking educational works.  Plays developed at Illusion have been produced in theaters throughout the world. Illusion’s work has catalyzed conversations in living rooms, kitchens, coffee houses, and board rooms, and has led to transformations in policy, in organizations, in students, and in individuals.