SEPTEMBER 16 • 2021 | 43

DETAILS

Shakespeare in Love runs approx-
imately 2.5 hours with one 15-
minute intermission. Show dates 
are Sept. 17, 18, 24, and 25 at 
8 p.m. and Sept. 19 and 26 at 
2 p.m. All audience members, 
whether vaccinated or unvaccinat-
ed, must wear masks at all times 
while inside the Village Players’ 
building. Tickets are $20 (plus a 
$1 processing fee for each ticket 
order) and are available online at 
www.birminghamvillageplayers.
com or by calling the theater box 
office at (248) 644-2075. The 
Village Players theatre is 
located at 34660 Woodward Ave. 
in Birmingham.

continued on page 44

I

t was March 6, 2020. Opening night 
of Shakespeare in Love at Birmingham 
Village Players. The audience raved 
about the romantic comedy that tells the 
fictional story of the creation of Romeo 
and Juliet and is based on the Academy 
Award-winning movie of the same name. 
In fact, the cast and crew celebrated a stellar 
opening weekend of three performances. 
And then Broadway and the theater world 
shut down six days later. The Shakespeare in 
Love set, props and costumes sat dormant 
for 18 months.
On Sept. 10, Shakespeare in Love
reopened for the second time at 
Birmingham Village Players, in front of a 
live, masked audience and will run through 
Sept. 26.
“We essentially picked up where we left 
off,
” says Steve Sussman, who is Village 
Players’ Artistic Board president, a featured 
cast member and the show’s fight scene 

choreographer. “Everyone is thrilled and 
excited to be back on stage and reprising 
our roles.
”
Between some scheduling conflicts and 
people who had moved out of state during 
the pandemic, a few roles had to be recast, 
including the lead character, William 
Shakespeare.
Patrick Lane plays Shakespeare, which is 
very fortuitous for the production reboot, as 
he’s married in real-life to Ashley Lane, who 
plays his love-interest, Viola.
“Village Players has taken all the precau-
tions necessary to keep the actors and audi-
ence safe,
” says Ashley Lane, who received 
her MFA in acting, along with her husband, 
at the American Conservatory Theater in 
San Francisco. “I am lucky all around that 
my husband stepped in as my leading man. 
I only have to kiss him, so no safety proto-
cols are being broken, which makes it all the 
more fun to be onstage together.
”

ARTS&LIFE
THEATER

For the second time, Birmingham Village
Players presents Shakespeare in Love.

Parting Was
Such Sweet Sorrow

JULIE SMITH YOLLES CONTRIBUTING WRITER

COURTESY OF STEVE SUSSMAN

A sword fight
choreographed by
Steve Sussman

