BUCKHANNON – The West Virginia Wesleyan Arts Alive! Series and Department of Theater & Dance present The Rustic Mechanicals’ production of “Hamlet,” Tuesday, October 10 at 7:30 pm, with a casual pre-show “Mix and Mingle with Music” hosted by the company starting at 7 p.m. at the Virginia Thomas Law Center for the Performing Arts. The show features Wesleyan theater alumna and Buckhannon resident Sinead Pechon as Ophelia, and is free and open to the public. 

Prince Hamlet has the world at his feet. Young, wealthy and living a rather revelrous life studying abroad. Then word reaches him that his father is dead. Returning home he finds his world is utterly changed, his certainties smashed and his home a foreign land. Struggling to understand his place in a newly ordered world he faces a stark choice. Submit, or rage against the injustice of his new reality. Shakespeare’s searing tragedy is as relevant today as when it was written; “Hamlet” confronts each of us with the mirror of our own morality in an imperfect world.

Founded by Celi Oliveto in the summer of 2014 and based in Clarksburg, West Virginia, The Rustic Mechanicals is the only troupe of actors in West Virginia dedicated to touring the works of William Shakespeare and other classical playwrights.

Directed by Jim Warren alongside Intimacy Director Jessica Morgan, Fight Choreographer Millie Omps, and Voice & Text Coach Bridget Rue Esterhuizen, with Technical Direction by David Byard, Dramaturgy by John S. Shirley, Costume Design by Jason A Young, and Hair and Make-Up Design by Samantha Huffman, the Mechanicals featured in these productions include Samantha Huffman, Sinead Perchon, Seret Cole, Joshua Brooks, James Matthews, Calian Byard, Stephen Phillips, Jason A Young, Justin Grow, Niki DeWitt, and Sarah Young.

 The Mechanicals now tour five shows annually, including their summer West Virginia Shakespeare in the Park(s) outdoor tour and script-in-hand productions called, “a Play, a Pie, and a Pint,” focusing on making Shakespeare’s plays accessible to modern audiences by utilizing dynamic and extreme casting techniques paired with Shakespeare’s staging conditions.

“Hamlet” runs roughly 90 minutes with no intermission and contains images of simulated violence. Please contact Wesleyan Theatre & Dance Department Chair Thomas Schoffler at schoffler_t@wvwc.edu for more information.