03/24/2026
A Note from Director Jonathan Heidenreich :
"So is it in the music of men's lives"
-Richard II
It was a sold out run by opening night. Seats were added, then sold out immediately. For the first time in my Shakespeare career I fielded at-door requests for standing room tickets...to a three-hour History.
Why? That's the magic that's made when the community supports the dreams of artists as utterly magnificent as our cast and crew, in a Tragedy as timeless as Richard II.
This labour of love had been 15 years in the making, essentially since the founding season of Food for Groundlings. Though it would take on various forms and shapes in my mind over the years, its hold would never slip. That's what this play does...It follows you.
One of only a handful of plays Shakespeare penned entirely in verse, and as exceedingly dangerous as it was popular in his lifetime, this tragedy brims with heightened feelings and ideas that demand equally heightened language. I've always considered Richard II to be Shakespeare's most empathetic play- a falling die with as many sides, emotions, and twists of fate as there are characters to navigate them. It plays with our sympathies and flexes the human capacity for identifying with the plight of others.
On the surface, it's the story of a capricious monarch, emboldened by an iron-clad sense of divine authority and his right to rule, overreaching his grasp and being toppled by the cousin he banished. But that is only one side of the die...it is also a story of self-discovery coming all too late. A story of familial loyalty and betrayal, of the adversity of q***r love in a world (like our own) where to express that love with defiant pride and to reject the heteronormative mold was to provide society the means to undermine, and even destroy you. It is a story of fear and loss, conquest and corruption.
It is the story of deeply vulnerable people, with whom we all can identify, and revile, at different points. It's a study of human emotion through slipping and tightening grips on the teetering seesaw of fortune...and of music. My god, the music in the language of this play- It's like none other in the Canon.
The concept for this production was decided as early as the desire to put on the play. The decision to set Richard's court before the backdrop of the final days of the Romanov Tsars was not just to achieve a beautiful esthetic (though I hope we achieved that as well) but to evoke images that I believe amplify the themes of the play. Belligerent opulence in the face of public outcry for reform, cracks in the gilt of a waning royal regime out of touch with those they rule- clinging to power through divine right. The cold brutality that is to be found in the exchange of power (however that change is presented to the people). Mark Twain famously said "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes", and the similarities between Tsar Nicholas II and King Richard II presented more than enough rhymes to suit the music of this play.
But these are just thoughts, weightless ideas, until brilliant artists give them texture and substance. I have never been more blessed as a Director, or prouder of anything in my life, than I am in the presenting our cast and crew that have dedicated the last several months of their lives to bringing to life this timeless Tragedy. To them I am beholden not only for their magnificent art, the generosity of their efforts, and the passion with which they took up this dream...but most of all for their friendship.
To our Richard Maxine Coltin, for whom began this journey over a year ago, I am grateful beyond measure and proud of the man you've become and discovered through your work. To my hero, intamacy director, and sound designer Kaitlin Kerr-Heidenreich who has been a pillar of this production. To our tireless and stalwart stage manager Mars Hallman, our talented fight director Ella and their captain, and to the blindingly phenomenal actors in our cast to whom I am forever indebted...and to you, the audiences that packed the The Glitterbox Theater to bursting each night...thank you.
“I count myself in nothing else so happy
As in a soul rememb’ring my good friends”
-Bolingbroke
