In Steinbeck’s final novel, The Winter of Our Discontent, he says, “A man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has as many versions as it has readers.” It’s fitting that the book is titled after a Shakespearean line, as Shakespeare himself was prone to telling old stories in his own way. It’s doubly fitting as Marin Shakespeare Company presents the last two shows of the One For All Solo Series.
There are three shows in all—last month’s Tell-Tale Heart by Carlos Aguirre, Dan Hoyle’s Takes All Kinds and Brian Copeland’s Jewelry Box, a prequel to Not a Genuine Black Man.
The shows seem like an odd mix. Heart is a rap musical mixing Poe’s themes of guilt with modern identity issues. All Kinds is a sometimes funny, sometimes challenging, always complex channeling of real American people as they navigate the times we are living in. Jewelry Box seems like the simple story of a young Black boy trying to buy his mother a gift. Except he has no money, so he embarks on a journey to find the $11 needed for a jewelry box.
So what do they all have in common?
“Bravery,” says artistic director Jon Tracy. “Both the bravery and openness of the artist, but also the bravery of the audience,” he explains. “There is a joy,” continues Tracy, “when the audience realizes that it is not really a solo piece. It is something they are all participating in.”
Tracy, who has been obsessed with the power of storytelling since childhood, is understandably proud of the work being brought to the Marin Shakes stage.
“I want our theater to be a place where curiosity is rewarded,” he explains, “where folks of all backgrounds can find a space that is both quite familiar and wonderfully new. The weight of the world can be so consuming, but we don’t shy away from the challenges of being human. We also don’t fear the power of hope.”
In an echo of Steinbeck, Tracy muses that “one can always find their production of Twelfth Night.” Meaning that the job of a theater is not to prescribe. It is to present the stories and ask the questions.
It’s up to the audience to find what answers resonate for their lives.
The Marin Shakes ‘One for All’ Solo Series runs at their Center for Performing Arts, Education, and Social Justice at 514 Fourth St., San Rafael. Sat, Nov. 22, at 7:30pm; Sat, Dec. 20, at 7:30 pm. $15-$40. 415.388.5208. marinshakespeare.org.
