One popular play, one adventurous musical make up Door Shakespeare's 2023 season

BAILEYS HARBOR - A play familiar to Door Shakespeare fans and a play of a less familiar style, each directed by a couple of familiar faces, make up the Door County theater company's 2023 summer season, which was announced Thursday.

Leda Hoffman, who directed four productions for the company in past seasons, will direct their production of the William Shakespeare comedy "As You Like It." And Scott MacKenna Campbell, who's taken on roles such as performer, composer and designer for the company since 2017, will direct the unique musical "The Old Man and the Old Moon" written by PigPen Theatre Company.

“The 2023 summer season is full of joy,” producing artistic director Amy Ensign said in a news release. “It is a celebration of who we are and the journeys we take to get there. It explores challenges that lead to discovery and a deeper understanding of person and place. These stories fit perfectly under the magnificent maple that canopies our stage.”

This will be Door Shakespeare's fourth go-around with "As You Like It," but its first since the 2012 season; the other productions were in 1999 and 2006. It's one of The Bard's most produced and most popular works, appealing to Shakespeare aficionados and newcomers alike over the years with its poetry, romance, intrigue and gender-switching humor. The comedy follows Rosalind to the Forest of Arden as she searches for family and place after being banished from a duke's court.

Hoffmann previously directed "The Comedy of Errors" (2018, 2014), "The Tempest" (2015) and "Romeo and Juliet" (2015) for Door Shakespeare. Currently the artistic director of the Contemporary American Theatre Company in Columbus, Ohio, her work as a director also has been seen at Milwaukee theater companies such as Milwaukee Rep, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, First Folio and Alchemist Theatre, as well as the Illinois Shakespeare Festival and Texas Shakespeare Festival, among others across the country.

"The Old Man and the Old Moon" is an adventurous fairy tale told not just with acting but also with shadow play and alt-folk music. It tells the tale of a man who serves as the sole caretaker of the moon, filling it with liquid light each night. But his wife is drawn away by a mysterious melody, leaving the man to decide between duty and routine, or love and adventure. He chooses the latter, which takes him on a seafaring epic encompassing storms, battles, leviathans of the deep and cantankerous ghosts while the light drains out of the moon.

The book, music and lyrics of the play are a collaboration by members of PigPen Theatre Company, which formed as a group of seven freshman students at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in New York in 2007. They have since performed, produced and licensed their original plays in New York and around the world, as well as recording several albums of music.

Following its 2012 premiere, "The Old Man and the Old Moon" earned critic’s picks recognition in reviews from the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Boston Globe and more, also winning a Joseph Jefferson Award (for Chicago-area theater) in 2014 for Best Original Music in a Play. PigPen also won top play honors for two different works at New York's Fringe Festival in 2010 and '11, making them the first group to win that award two years in a row.

Campbell has designed, performed and taught with Door Shakespeare since its 2017 season. Last year, he was both the composer and lyricist for the company's "The Three Musketeers: An Adventure, With Music" and played the character of Planchet. Campbell holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as two master's degrees and lectures at UW-Madison on dramatic literature, theater and written composition. He is the principal songwriter for folk band The Rude Sea and a performer and interpreter of traditional music from Ireland, Scotland, England and Scandinavia.

Door Shakespeare’s 2023 season, its 27th, runs from June 28 through Aug. 27 with shows in the outdoor Garden at Bjorklunden in Baileys Harbor. Shows will take place at 7:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 5 p.m. Saturdays. For more information on the season and other company events, call 920-854-7111 or visit doorshakespeare.com.

Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.

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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Door Shakespeare's 2023 has a popular play and an adventurous musical