At Wichita Community Theatre, Shakespeare that’s ‘easy to enjoy’
Set against the backdrop of WWII, “Into the Breeches” is a comedic love letter to the Bard. The eight-show production begins this week and runs through May 4.
Joseph Urick has a knack for Making the Classics Great Again. Last summer, he adapted the 17th-century “Cyrano de Bergerac” for Kechi Playhouse, famous for its steady diet of burlesques, light mysteries, and farces. Urick’s adaptation stripped the play of its Baroque costumes and settings, wrestled the cast size down to six (from more than 40), and reduced the running time by a third (from three hours to two). And still had room to add a third sword fight.
Now Urick has set his sights on Shakespeare. He directs “Into the Breeches,” by George Brandt, which opens this week at Wichita Community Theatre (WCT). The play is a comedic love letter to Shakespeare set against the backdrop of World War II. Although Shakespeare’s “Henry” plays (“Henry IV,” Parts 1 & 2, and “Henry V”) are key to the plot, “Breeches” isn’t so much a reimagining of those works as a mirror for Shakespeare’s spirit, storylines, and themes.
“Into the Breeches” is set in 1940s Rhode Island, where — as with the rest of the nation — most of the men have gone off to war. As a result, the Oberon Playhouse has gone dark. However, one of the wives left behind, Maggie Dalton (Kiera Abrienne) has been inspired to keep the show going by having women perform all the roles. Urick noted that “there are a plethora of fun characters — a diva, an elderly socialite, an ingenue — and the play features subplots about racial inequality, gender roles, and LGBTQ issues that are as relevant now as they were then, which is also very telling.”
Urick joined the Wichita State performing arts faculty in late 2023. New to Wichita, he acclimated quickly. “I’m a huge fan of community theater, where I got my start,” he said, which is how he came to pitch his streamlined “Cyrano” to Kechi’s artistic director Misty Maynard.
To select its plays, Wichita Community Theatre invites directors to pitch ideas. “I wasn’t going to apply, but my friend Joe Parrish (a WCT board member) had read this script and encouraged me.” Meanwhile, he learned that Ben Bolinger, Joseph’s (now former) student at WSU, had also applied. They agreed that if one of them was selected, they’d work together on the chosen play.
“That collaboration helped me get my foot in the door at WCT,” Bolinger said. Technically the show’s “directing apprentice,” in practice Bolinger co-directed alongside Urick. “Wichita Community Theatre has been very supportive. I’ve enjoyed working with them offering me that first step to being a full director.”
Bolinger was first drawn to theater as a junior in high school. A Dungeons and Dragons nerd, he'd hidden out to play in an empty classroom, or so he thought. The drama teacher, working on casting a show, asked Bolinger, and that was that. Although he'd had some involvement since fifth grade, “my passion really kicked in that junior year.” And directing was what he most wanted to do. He received his BA in theater with a focus on directing (he directed “Happy Write,” WSU’s 2020 Bela Kiralyfalvi National Student Playwriting Competition winner) in December 2023.
“It’s been a super collaboration,” Bolinger said of his work with Urick. “Right up front, the first day of rehearsals, he told the cast that I had as much authority as he did. Initially I took the reins on some scenes, but midway through rehearsals we both ran everything. We asked each other questions, we talked about what worked.”
Urick concurred. “As much as the show is mine, it’s his,” he said.
In “Into the Breeches,” Maggie is married to the theater’s director. She recruits female actors and women on the theater’s board or married to one of its members. They include diva Celeste Fielding (Charlene Grinsell) to play Henry IV and V; Winifred Snow, married to board president Ellsworth, to play Falstaff; Ida Green (Jasmine Vertilus) to design costumes; Stuart Lasker, the lone male, to stage manage; June Bennett to play the ingenue; and Grace Richards, a newcomer to town.
Although Urick had seen some interesting set designs for “Into the Breeches,” he hadn’t ever seen a version “with no set.” He decided to create a production emulating Shakespeare’s Globe, with a deep thrust stage bring the audience as close to the actors as possible. He eschews firm scene changes, instead having actors exit and enter while speaking, as they did in the playwright’s day. Subtle lighting shifts also help indicate scene changes.
His directing process emphasizes both efficiency and effectiveness. He favors being proactive. The “does this work?” discussions happen before rehearsals begin; he sketches out staging and ideas on which the cast and crew can “build muscle and flesh out the rest.” He also rehearses four weeknights rather than the traditional five. “The results speak for themselves,” he said. “Actors realize they have more energy for the work.” At WSU, he said, this approach nurtures reciprocity: because he treats students as responsible adults who will do their work, they respond accordingly.
Veteran actor Kiera Abrienne (“I was putting on plays when I was 3”), who played Tamara in the WCT’s 2023 production of Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus,” agrees with gusto. “Joseph is my favorite kind of director,” she said, “giving me motives to work with rather than just saying ‘say it like this.’ I like his directing style. And Ben is excellent. My work is tiring — I’m on stage almost all the time — but I’ve learned more about Shakespeare and acting in this show than I have since college.”
Urick had “researched” the period through his own youth. “I’m from a military family, so I was inundated with World War II trivia from a young age. So, while I’m not an official dramaturg for the production, I was able to provide a lot of dramaturgical insights.”
Misogyny, gender, and race loom large among the obstacles faced by the characters of the 1940s — as they do today. The military was still segregated, after all, and — as they had in World War I — Black soldiers came home after risking their lives for their country to a nation that didn’t consider them, much less treat them, as equal citizens. Pay inequity was one of myriad ways women were diminished, infantilized, and discriminated against.
In the play, Abrienne noted that her character’s husband, before going off to war, was paid full-time for his position as the director of the Oberon Theatre, yet when Maggie takes on the role, she isn’t paid at all because she’s a woman. “She’s excited to get to direct but has to jump over the hurdles of the time — racism, homophobia.”
The character of Ida, the costume designer, is Black and in her 40s, and actor Jasmine Vertilus is in her 20s. Rather than trying to pass her off as older, Urick said this production is leaning into her age. Vertilus is too young to have close-hand experience of being Black in 1940s America, so Urick brought in elders to provide her and the rest of the cast with context.
Charlene Grinsell, who plays the “resident diva,” is herself a self-defined “workhorse” with almost 40 years of experience on the stage. Her character has aged out of the kinds of roles she excelled in, “and she’s not dealing well with not being the ingenue. Celeste is the one character who doesn’t have a husband. She’s had to scrabble to the top of the ladder, facing shocking inequities. The question for her is, ‘Will I reach down to help others up or will I pull up the ladder behind me?’”
Bolinger noted that gender is also part of the play’s story. “Even today there continues to be pay inequity between men and women. It’s nice that the show hits on these issues without being in-your-face about them. It’s funny, but also very serious.”
Bolinger said, “This cast has been phenomenal. I can’t speak highly enough of them.” And Abrienne concurred. “We really mesh. We’re learning from one another, and both directors are good at giving actors direction.” Other cast members are Chris Sharkey, Dona Lancaster, Jill Nicole Herbert, Mackenzie Mitchell, Kevin Sowers, Chris Welborn, and Renae Richmond. The remaining crew members are Renee Tanner, Cole Adams, Gwyn Bolte, and Kirk Longhofer.
“Shakespeare scares people — unnecessarily so,” Urick said. “What I love about this show is that it’s so easy to enjoy.”
The Details
"Into the Breeches"
April 24-May 4, 2025, at Wichita Community Theatre, 258 N. Fountain Street in Wichita
Curtain times are 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sundays.
Tickets are $18 adults and $16 for students, seniors, and military. The exception is Thursdays, when all tickets are $14.
Correction: This story was updated on April 23 to reflect that Joseph Urick adapted, rather than directed, "Cyrano de Bergerac" at Kechi Playhouse. Misty Maynard directed the play. We regret the error. For more about our commitment to accuracy, please see our corrections policy.
Anne Welsbacher writes plays, nonfiction, and book and theater reviews. She is the performing arts editor for this publication. awelsbacher.com
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