Opening Night in Prague

Evelyn Carol Case, lecturer in theatre and dance, is in Europe preparing to go on stage for her opening night performance in “Venus and Adonis” at the 2012 Prague Fringe Festival, playing June 5-9 at Na Pradle Theatre in Prague, Czech Republic.

Case has been a member of the Theatre and Dance Department faculty for more than a decade and a professional actress for 30 years. She co-stars opposite Michael Drace Fountain of Chapman University who portrays Adonis. The two join a professional cast in the Czech Republic for performances of Shakespeare’s seldom-produced work.

“Venus and Adonis,” the Bard’s first published work, is a narrative poem about the love goddess and her passionate love for a young mortal. The production is a partnership among Cal State Fullerton, Shakespeare Orange County, Chapman University and Prague Shakespeare Festival, which is also co-producer. It is directed by Shakespeare Orange County founder Thomas F. Bradac.

“Our production of ‘Venus and Adonis’ examines the feminine sexual drive to love, couple and reproduce contrasting the masculine desire for solitude and the hunt,” Bradac said.

The Prague Fringe Festival is an international festival that has played host to theater companies from the United Kingdom, Japan, Norway, Holland, France, Serbia, Ireland, India and Italy, among others.

“One of the strengths of the Prague Fringe is its intimacy — bringing audience members right up close to the performances,” said Steve Gove, festival director. “It’s a perfect setting for ‘Venus and Adonis,’” noted Bradac, who will stage the production in Orange County Aug. 10-11.

Case’s stage credits span multiple productions of Shakespeare’s plays, including “King Lear,” “Hamlet,” “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” “The Comedy of Errors,” “Venus and Adonis” (Shakespeare Orange County), “Othello” (Laguna Playhouse), “Romeo and Juliet” “Macbeth,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Taming of the Shrew,” “Henry I, Part One,” “Twelfth Night” and “Hamlet” (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), as well as “Lend Me A Tenor” (Theatre on the Green), “The Cherry Orchard,” “The School for Scandal,” “The Marowitz Hamlet,” “You Never Can Tell,” “Hay Fever,” “The Immigrant,” “Steel Magnolias,” “Crimes of the Heart” (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), “On The Verge” (Pennsylvania Stage Company), “On The Verge,” “Crimes of the Heart,” “Cloud Nine” (Arkansas Repertory Theatre) and “Side By Side By Sondheim” (American Stage Co.).

This summer, she will be performing in Shakespeare Orange County’s 21st anniversary season in the productions of “The Tragedy of Richard III” and “Much Ado About Nothing,” as well as “Venus and Adonis” at the Festival Amphitheatre in Garden Grove.

June 4, 2012