The Henriad: King Henry the Fourth

Prenzie Players present King Henry the Fourth, the second play in Shakespeare’s epic trilogy of power, love, and war, The Henriad--performed with a continuous cast for the first time in the area.

Raucous, hilarious, and heartbreaking, the next play, King Henry the Fourth, centers on the figure of the Prince of Wales, Hal, who, alienated from his cold father, spends his time in the company of thieves, drunkards, prostitutes, and a certain enormously fat knight long considered one of the greatest and wittiest characters in the theatrical repertory—Sir John Falstaff. As his distant and sick father falls ever closer to death, and his own succession nears, Hal must choose where his true allegiance lies—with his lowborn friends or the noble peers of his blood.

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Risky Business
Written by Mike Schulz
Wednesday, 20 December 2006
By Mike Schulz

....snip....

Forsooth, Prenzies! Thy most joyful of seasons is nigh! Odds bodkins!

(Introductions like this are the reason I don't audition for you guys.)

"King Richard the Second" I'll just say it: King Richard the Second was the most extraordinarily fine time I had at the theatre in 2006. Stephanie Burrough gave a dexterous, achingly emotional performance (the best I saw by a female actor all year), the other cast members followed her lead splendidly, and the show itself was an almost absurdly engaging blend of tragedy, comedy, action, romance - everything we go to the theatre for. And, with that clock radio that awakened Richard and his lovers during the prelude, there were even songs!

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(from an article in the River Cities Reader by Mike Schulz)

Jeremy Mahr and Chris White. The Prenzie Players, en masse, are essential to local theatre; Mahr earns particular mention here not only for his deeply affecting Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream and his stunningly focused Henry in King Richard the Second, but for being equally committed to (and equally human in) the slapstick buffoonery of Richmond Hill's Perfect Wedding. Meanwhile, White - Mahr's Wedding co-star - matched him laugh for laugh, was splendid in Richmond Hill's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and tore into his role as McMurphy in Playcrafters' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which he enacted less than two weeks after a major traffic accident, hospitalization, and surgery; White performed with his arm in a sling, and within five minutes, made you forget all about it.

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Shakespeare in the Peanut Gallery
Wednesday, 19 March 2003

About a year ago, Genesius Guild members J.C. Luxton and Cait Wooley had an idea: to bring Shakespearean theatre to a more intimate space than the outdoor Lincoln Park venue in which the Guild performs every summer.

Now their idea has evolved into reality as a group of nine actors called the Prenzie Players will produce Measure for Measure at the Peanut Gallery (located on the corner of Third Avenue and 21st Street in Rock Island) on March 21 and 22.