Fun fact: The first play two-time Houston Theater Award-winning actor Brandon Morgan ever acted in was William Shakespeare\u2019s The Tempest during his freshman year of college.<\/p>\n
Now, Morgan makes a long-awaited debut at the Houston Shakespeare Festival, tackling roles in both The Comedy of Errors and\u2014in what he describes as \u201ca good full-circle moment\u201d\u2014The Tempest.<\/p>\n
While summer scheduling conflicts kept him away from the University of Houston-produced festival until now, Morgan recalls auditioning for HSF at the beginning of his career more than a decade ago. While he wasn\u2019t cast back then, noting with a chuckle that he \u201cwasn\u2019t cast in a lot of things during that time,\u201d he\u2019s glad it\u2019s happening now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so much more comfortable with the text and the story,\u201d says Morgan. \u201cIt\u2019s a story that I\u2019m super familiar with, so it feels more at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the story, an exiled duke, Prospero, uses magic to shipwreck those who have betrayed him on his island. In the Sharon Ott-directed production, Prospero is reimagined as Prospera, with Morgan playing one of her backstabbers, her brother Antonio.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is still human,\u201d says Morgan. \u201cHe knows he has betrayed his family, and, as human as I can make it, there is a shred of guilt there. But ultimately, what trumps that is, what I gain from my betrayal, which seems more important to Antonio.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ott, who is also the director of the School of Theatre and Dance at the University of Houston and the executive director of HSF, will make her Houston directorial debut with the show, often described as a revenge play.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve heard people describe it as a revenge play. I\u2019ve actually heard some people describe it as a comedy. But I think it\u2019s more about redemption,\u201d says Morgan. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of room for revenge, but [Prospera] does not act upon that revenge. So, it has to be about redemption.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Morgan identifies The Tempest as his favorite Shakespearean work, he admits that The Comedy of Errors, a work he had only read a couple of times years ago that\u2019s now playing in repertory with The Tempest, has taken a hold of his psyche.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been doing myself a disservice by not reading it all this time, because it\u2019s actually terribly funny,\u201d says Morgan.<\/p>\n
In The Comedy of Errors, Morgan will play Antipholus of Ephesus, a twin, in a story he describes as your \u201cbasic Shakespeare plot: a case of mistaken identity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were two twins separated at birth,\u201d explains Morgan. \u201cBoth have grown up in their respective areas, and my twin travels to my city, and when he gets there, the craziness ensues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keeping that carefully choreographed craziness on track is the stage manager for The Comedy of Errors, Guy Spear.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I make the magic happen,\u201d says Spear. \u201cThe actors are going to initiate the magic, but if I don\u2019t say \u2018go,\u2019 the magical light cue doesn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spear graduated from the University of Houston\u2019s Stage Management program in 2022 and recently completed his fourth and final season working for Houston Grand Opera.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been very much in the opera world for the last few years. But recently, I\u2019ve been itching to do a good play, and if there\u2019s one man I know who can write a good play, that would be Mr. William Shakespeare,\u201d says Spear.<\/p>\n
But whether it\u2019s theater, opera, ballet or fashion, Spear says the job requires the same skillset.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of hard skills\u2013note taking, calling cues, time management\u2013but also a lot of soft skills because everyone in the room is an artist, from the production table to the creatives to the performers on stage,\u201d says Spear. \u201cThe easy explanation is that we merge the technical and the artistic realms together.\u201d<\/p>\n
In The Comedy of Errors, the technical and artistic realms will merge to create a vibe similar to \u201ca \u201860s sitcom,\u201d with Spear describing the set, the costumes, and the colors as \u201cvery bright, very loud, very in your face.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really stretching what you can do with Shakespeare these days,\u201d says Spear. \u201cWe\u2019re able to stretch his text and add our own flair to it\u2013our own Houston flair, and our own HSF 2026 cast flair to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spear considers the comedy to be \u201cmore approachable\u201d and one of the easiest of the Bard\u2019s to get into, with both Spear and Morgan saying kids will absolutely love and understand it, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI envision children watching this play on the Hill, being like, \u2018That was great! I felt like I was watching a live cartoon,\u2019\u201d says Morgan.<\/p>\n
Spear says HSF artistic director and director of The Comedy of Errors, Jack Young, has a knack for comedy, and Morgan adds that if he wasn\u2019t in the play, he would be on the Hill with a beer watching it \u2013 which he attributes to Young.<\/p>\n
Beyond the thrill of returning to The Tempest, Morgan praises the time he\u2019s spent with Young in rehearsals for The Comedy of Errors.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe directs in a teaching manner, and I appreciate that so much because I\u2019m not a person who did a lot of years of schooling for theater,\u201d explains Morgan. \u201cI sit there and I\u2019m just absorbing all of the little nuggets that he\u2019s giving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgan says with a laugh that he plans to buy Young a 24-pack of LaCroix to thank him for the experience, adding, \u201cIf I wasn\u2019t too old and I had some more money, I\u2019d come back to school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Performances are scheduled through August 8 at 8:15 p.m. with a pre-show Bard Talk beginning at 7:45 p.m. as follows: The Tempest: August 1, 3, 5, and 7. The Comedy of Errors:\u00a0 August 4, 5, and 8. At Miller Outdoor Theatre, 6000 Hermann Park Drive.\u00a0 For more information, call 832-487-7102 or visit milleroutdoortheatre.com FREE.<\/p>\n
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