Journal Staff Writer

MARQUETTE — The pop-up stage for the Upper Peninsula Shakespeare Festival’s Hamlet will never fade to black. But for the Marquette crew of performers, artists and historians this is only one of many exciting challenges they hope to overcome before opening night.

In a collaborative fundraiser with UPShakes, the Marquette Regional History Center is hosting a performance of the Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” The show debuts on Aug. 4 in the center’s rotunda. Tickets are now on sale and cost $10- $30. The play is a true collaboration that combines the unique architecture of the history center with the artistic vision of local professionals and classically trained actors from around the country.

Jamie Weeder, the artistic director and co-founder of UPShakes, said that the festival started as a way to draw people into the world of theater with Shakespeare’s familiar name. Of all the plays the festival as produced, “Hamlet” is one of the most ambitious in content and logistics, said Weeder. However, they still hope to make the play’s themes accessible to those who may be intimidated by its classical language.

“We want to makes these plays and these themes as accessible as possible,” said Weeder. “It’s incredibly relavant. There’s just as much sexuality and violence and cunningness in Shakespeare as there is in any modern theater. It’s just gussied up in some beautiful language”

Outside of content, the play’s production is also challenging due to its unorthodox location. The history center’s rotunda is a wide windowed room with bright marble floors and columns that stretch towards the center skylight. The skylight prevents the room from ever achieving complete darkness, and the room has no classical stage. It was not built for theater. However, the unorthodox nature of the space is what inspired the collaboration between the festival and the center.

Since UPShakes founding in 2015, Weeder and her co-founder Alastar Dimitrie have been finding innovative ways to organize plays in unique locations. Normally, the company performs at the Ore Dock Brewing Co.

“We were really intrigued by the idea of bringing non-traditional theater to the Upper Peninsula,” explained Weeder.

Jessica Bays, who will play Gertrude in the production and works as the Promotions and Membership Coordinator at the history center, was also artistically inspired by the unique space.

“When I first saw this space I thought someone needs to do a show in here,”she said. From there, the collaboration was only natural.

Bays talked about previous performances that the center has hosted including musical groups and a reading of Chekov’s “The Seagull” in 2019. She said this production hopes to improve the audience experience by implementing changes informed by the lessons they learned through the previous performances.

For “Hamlet,” in contrast to The Seagull in which seating was flat, the center is installing risers and creating a thrust style stage under the skylight. In this orientation audience members sit on risers and look down upon the stage in a style reminiscent of the Globe theater.

“It will be a unique visual experience,” Weeder said.

In the most inexpensive, “Pigeon Roost,” seats and the audience members will gaze almost directly down upon the performance from their perch above the stage. The lower and more expensive seats are located in the risers centered around the action, and members will have a direct view of the play’s drama, heartbreak and extensive sword-fighting.

The festival’s ambitious and unique interpretation of “Hamlet” sits at the end of many years of collaboration between UPShakes and the community of Marquette.

“I realized the true nature of collaboration. What these actors locally are bringing to the table: their perspective, their experiences have really shaped this company and me,” said Weeder as she reflected upon her own artistic journey.

The play will be an opportunity to witness the communion of history, art, and the Upper Peninsula’s unique culture and talent.

Caroline Ray can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 543.