‘Macbeth’ brings Shakespeare back home to Lower East Side

By Megha Bahree

Chuck Worthington, forground, and cast members rehearsed in East River Park Amphiteater.

This Macbeth has to deal with not only his own ambition and overcome his fear of what the three witches may foretell, but he has to also overcome the sounds of the traffic on the F.D.R. Drive, the boats on the East River and the helicopters that are whirling above. A challenging job for any mortal, but The People’s Theater promises to be up to the task.

Starting this Friday, The People’s Theater, a nonprofit company, will be putting up a version of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” for two weekends. The play is being performed at the East River Park Amphitheater, the same spot where Joseph Papp originally started “Shakespeare in the Park” in the 1950s. Situated on the Lower East Side, the amphitheater, which is surrounded by trees, is at a scenic spot and has the river for a backdrop and is even accessible by wheelchair. All people have to do to see it is to show up on time, bring a blanket and a picnic and sit back and enjoy.

This is the second full-scale production for The People’s Theater. The fledgling company was started a year ago by Adam Paltrowitz, 24, and Noah Opitz, 23. They started out with stage readings of new plays and had their first production, a play called “Marathon,” earlier this year. While the tickets for that play were priced at $10, “Macbeth” is free of charge.

“Theater in New York has become an elitist platform,” said Paltrowitz as he explained the reasoning behind his brainchild. “Our sole purpose is to make theater, classic or new, and bring it to the people. Our mission is to do top-quality theater that is not egotistical.”

At the same time, the duo is also trying to tap into an audience that is not familiar with theater by offering something different and free. “For ‘Marathon,’ a play that revolves around two men training for the New York Marathon, we had hundreds of people from running clubs, with no theater background at all, but who enjoyed it thoroughly,” Opitz said.

They seem to be having a similar experience for “Macbeth” as they hold daily practice sessions at the amphitheater. “There is nothing like this in that neighborhood,” explained Opitz. “It is extremely residential, the people are there and they just have to realize that this [play] is going to be there for them.” Locals stop to watch them as they go for their walks or jogs and the actors welcome the walk-by traffic. “Yesterday during practice about 12 Hassidic children were walking by and they just sat down to watch us,” recalled Steve Spehar who is playing the role of Macbeth. “It was great. They were anything between 2 to 6 years old and when they saw us it was like, ‘Ooh what’s this happening in the park,’ and they sat on a blanket and watched Shakespeare attentively for about 20 minutes until they were called away.”

The aim is to have a base audience along with the stragglers, and free tickets seem to be a necessary part of the deal. “Hey you gotta throw them [audiences] a bone,” said Boris Kievsky who plays Macduff. “The conditions here are tough — there’s the noise of the traffic on the F.D.R. on one side, the river traffic on the other side and the helicopters above us. Plus the distance between the stage and the benches is quite a bit.”

It is to overcome the last that the actors will stick to the front part of the stage and will also be using the ground space. Opitz has also bought two canvas tarps of 12 feet by 15 feet which will be spread in this space and audiences are welcome to sit back and even bring their own lawn chairs and dinners and enjoy the performance. “People can bring their wine and if they get drunk then they will have the true groundlings’ experience as it used to be in Shakespeare’s time,” Kievsky said with a laugh. Part of the true Shakespearean experience could also involve some heckling and the actors are trying to prepare themselves to deal with that in case it does happen.

The production has also been kept simple with all the props and costumes fitting in one small cart. All the actors will be dressed in basic black pants (they cost $6 each) and black T-shirts, while the witches and Lady Macbeth will be in black skirts. The props are mostly made up of black staves and swords while the blood is made from Hershey’s syrup and food color. “The costumes are less to tell the story and more to show the movement of the actors,” Opitz said. “It is on the actors to draw the people and tell the story.”

And with the first show almost here, they have so far eluded the infamous curse that is associated with practically all productions of “Macbeth” across the world. “While I was casting I kept coming with 13 cast members and that was driving me crazy until I managed to throw something out and brought the number down to 12,” Opitz recalled as he knocked on wood. “No way do I want 13.” To steer clear of the curse he also avoided calling the play by its name and always referred to it as “The Scottish Play.” Now of course he doesn’t have much choice.

The play has also received an enthusiastic response from the Lower East Side Business Improvement District. “Art and music for free for people in the community is a wonderful idea,” said Andrew Flamm, the BID’s executive director. “It will also attract people from other parts of the city into our neighborhood and that is great.”

Opitz and Paltrowitz plan to do three shows each season — something new, something classic and something that they haven’t come up with a category for as yet. And they have decided that all their classic plays will be held at the East River Park Amphitheater. “This place has great sentimental value for us since this was where ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ was first started,” Paltrowitz said.

“We plan to make this a habit,” Opitz added.