ACT1 Theater's Ribbing of the Bard Opens Friday

Alpharetta area residents can watch the Bard get ribbed and skewered in ACT1 Theater's presentation of Barbecuing Hamlet, writer Pat Cook's tribute to community theater. Fast lines and even faster exits punctuate this farce as an unwilling director and a troupe of eccentric actors turn Shakespeare's famed tragedy into a melodrama straight out of the old west.

In the play, Margo Daley thought it would be fun to direct Hamlet, until she is forced by the Arts Council of The Peaceful Glenn Memorial Players to give it a western theme, and worse, to insert sponsors' names into the play.

Roswell resident Kevin Renshaw directs this ribbing of the Bard in this play within a play. Renshaw earned the 2009 Metropolitan Atlanta Theater Award for supporting actor in a major role for his work as Boolie in ACT1 Theater's production of Driving Miss Daisy.

North Fulton residents featured in the play are Hugh Chapman as Sarge, Jaye Finley as Opal, Jim Gray as Harlen Dortmunger, Barbara McFann as Hope and Dorian Roberts as Mary Beth.

Barbecuing Hamlet opens Friday, March 4 and runs through Sunday, March 27. Performances will be Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., and on Sundays, March 13-27, at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for seniors age 60 and over, and children age 12 and under.

ACT1 Theater is located inside the Alpharetta Presbyterian Church, Tickets are available at 770-663-8989 or online at http://act1theater.com.