UNO’s first theatrical production of the 2016-2017 season is “Shakespeare’s Dog.”
Director Jack Zerbe says the story is about young Will Shakespeare at age 21 at a time of economic hardship for his family.
Shakespeare is trying to find his way out of that and he thinks the answer may be for him to become an actor or a playwright.
Zerbe says the play covers the 24 hours before Shakespeare leaves for London and is told through the eyes of his mangy mutt.
"And so there are two pressures to get Will and his dog out of town. One of which is to save the dog and the other one is to find a source of income to support the family. So those two things come together to create the perfect storm to drive the two of them away from Stratford and up to London.”
Zerbe says he and his costume designer visited the Nebraska Humane Society to get ideas for the dog costumes since there are multiple actors in the play who portray dogs.
After visiting NHS, Zerbe decided he wanted to give something back. So the UNO Theatre will have information on pets currently available for adoption from NHS at each performance.
They will also raise funds after each final curtain.
“Shakespeare’s Dog” runs September 28-October 1st and October 5th through the 8th. All shows take place at 7:30. For ticket information, the website is unotheatre.com.