'Shakespeare' marks director's debut

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

•	'The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)' A comedy by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, produced by The Actors Group Premieres 7:30 p.m. tomorrow; repeats 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays, through Oct. 13, Yellow Brick Studio. $10, 591-7999

"She's a bit young to be directing this, but she's very capable," said Brad Powell, one of the group's regular directors, who said the 20-year-old showed promise and vision.

Known for her on-stage roles in the group's "Equus" and Hawai'i Pacific University's "Dark of the Moon," Leigh said she's surprisingly confident about her work from the dark side of the footlights, thanks to her ensemble cast.

"Usually I'm nervous before opening night, but for the first time, I'm not," she said.

"It's definitely been a challenge and a task I've enjoyed so much.

In the TAG theater (a tiny facility in Kaka'ako), this show will really work because it's all about interaction. As an actor, I've found the closeness to the audience helps; as a director, I know the audience will really feel involved."

Also, Leigh said, the scrutiny in a tiny showcase helps magnify the lighter side of Shakespeare.

"When you think about it, Shakespeare wrote things for the common man, so in his day, his comedies were bawdy, contained sexual humor and physical comedy."

It's a madcap work that excerpts and hastens the Elizabethan work — but retains the humor and the language, as if Monty Python wrote it for the cast of "Saturday Night Live."

The work was conceived for a cast of three, but Leigh took liberties, breaking up the parts and assembling a cast of six instead: Joseph Graves, Stephanie Kuroda, Cecilia Lam, Sam Olecki, Euphrosyn V.E. Rusforth and Elisabeth Anne Wenzel.