PlayLab Readings 1999-2000

Around the World in Eighty Days

November 15, 1999

Go ahead and search the wide world arounds you won't find a more entertaining evening than Around the World in 80 Days, Mark Brown's new adaptation of the Jules Verne classic. Presented as the third event in the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festivals PlayLab series, this free reading will take place on Monday, November 15th at 7 PM at the Orange County Historical Museum theatre, Loch Haven Park.

This new version features five versatile actors who will portray the intrepid Victorian traveler, Phineas Fogg, and the many eccentric characters he encounters in his daredevil voyage. One surprise for audiences who might be familiar with the famous 1956 version starring David Niven and Cantinflas: no balloons! Every other mode of transportation is represented from trains to elephants! But the real journey, as always in theatre, is taken by the imagination.

Playwright Mark Brown's work is well known to Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival audiences: both onstage and off. Mark co-wrote the popular Poe: Deep Into That Darkness Peering and appeared in The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shakspr (abridged), The Curate Shakespeare, As You Like It, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew, Julius Caesar and Othello. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Mark had roles in the movies Out of Sight and Holy Man as well as several popular television series (ever heard of Ally McBeal?).

Around the World in 80 Days will be read on November 15th at 7:00 PM. The orange County Historical Museum is located at 812 East Rollins Street, at Loch Haven Park. There is free parking, and the theatre is handicapped accessible. Reservations are not necessary. The PlayLab series continues monthly through next April. For a detailed calendar listing all events, please call Eric Hissom at (407) 893-4600 ext. 242.

CAST
Kenny Babel
Mike Dressel
Lance Noe
Suzanne O'Donnell
Richard Width

Directed by April-Dawn Gladu

                                                                 Last Updated: 05/06/2007                    Copyright Orlando Shakespeare Theater