August: Twelfth Night. I’ll be playing everyone’s favorite coward: Sir Andrew Aguecheek! Odd’s Bodkins presents Twelfth Night, August 30 to September 15.
September: Julius Caesar. Beware the Ides of September when this crowd-pleasing politico-philosophical drama thrusts its way between the ribs of the proletariat!
December: MacBeth 10th Anniversary Special. Please join the Unrehearsed Shakespeare Company as we celebrate our tenth anniversary with the show that started it all!
Spring, 2020: The Wayward War. Odd’s Bodkins will debut The Wayward War as part of its ’19-’20 season. A prequel to The Wayward Women, Wayward War tells the story of the Duchess Penti Celia’s ascension through civil war.
Summer, 2020: The Passion of Boudicca. We Three is remounting the story of the ancient British queen and her rebellion against the invading Roman Empire. Coming to Chicago in August.
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2019
TWELFTH NIGHT
January: Unrehearsed Shakespeare opened its Tenth Season with our seventh annual Twelfth Night! So many numbers! Some of our biggest and most responsive audiences, followed by our season announcement.
STARLIGHT RADIO DREAMS
January: I got to hang out with the rocktacular voices of Starlight Radio Dreams for their season closer. My involvement was very minor (I just helped sing chorus in a song); I just really like Starlight Radio Dreams. You should check ’em out!
THE PALL OF MEDUSA
February: Greenhouse Theatre hosted a staged reading of my latest verse script.
ACT FIVE! ROMEO & JULIET
April: Unrehearsed Shakespeare joined with Babes with Blades, Quicksilver Shakespeare, Odd’s Bodkins, and the Shakespeare All-stars to birth an artistic Frankenstein’s Monster! Each company performed one act of this classic tale!
GHOST TO GHOST
April: Master exorcist Father Doviculus joins the Ghost Bros, Blake Mathias and Tommy Summerset on their new ghost-hunter podcast.
COMEDY OF ERRORS
May: Unrehearsed kept the good times rolling with a fan-favorite. Welcome to new directors Sarah Franzel and Kaelea Rovinsky!
TIMON OF ATHENS
May: A rarely-performed anti-Christmas-Carol, which teaches us the virtues of hoarding money and spurning the needy. The Alcibiades subplot was been cut for maximum Scroogeness.
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2018
TWELFTH NIGHT
January: Unrehearsed kicked off the new year with our sixth annual Twelfth Night. We witnessed a resurgence in our audience-size, perhaps thanks to our new venue: the Atlantic Bar & Grill. Stay tuned for more new-to-Chicago plays.
JOAN OF ARC
January – February: Abaisses Theatre debuted with the world premier of Alexandra Renieri’s Joan of Arc at RhinoFest. I performed as Bishop Pierre Cauchon, Joan’s judge and chief persecutor.
TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA
April: Unrehearsed Shakespeare presented the classic Comedy of two horrible men who experience zero consequences for their horrible behavior. Also, a bit with a dog! Two Gents may well be the first play Shakespeare ever wrote, and we gave it its due on two twosdays.
THE TRAGEDY OF TOM RIDDLE
May: I fulfilled my destiny by portraying a Clown version of Peter Pettigrew in this verse rendition of Voldemort’s rise and fall.
SKOOCH TAP PRESENTS: SCOTCH TAPE
May: Sketch duo Skooch Tap presented their variety hour Scotch Tape. Unrehearsed and We Three joined forces for the first time, presenting an Unrehearsed performance of Act 2 Scene 1 from The Wayward Women!
UNREHEARSED MASTER CLASS
June: The first time! Unrehearsed Shakespeare held a Master Class covering in-performance techniques with immediate feedback.
FIVE ROBOTS WORKING THAT HUSTLE
June: My new farce about American Neo-Puritanism premiered as part of the St. Sebastian Players’ first annual ten-minute play festival! Yaaay!
KING JOHN
July: Hubert the villager and Richard the Bastard are highlights in this History play, the story of a happy ending run afoul when everyone thinks maybe they can get a little bit more.
THIS PRISON WHERE I LIVE
August: Angela Iannone’s second play in the Edwin Booth cycle was a hit with critics and audiences! Check out some the praises here!
ROMEO & JULIET
October: Unrehearsed Shakespeare closed its 2018 season with the famous Tragedy of bad decisions and stubborn self-righteousness.
FIVE ROBOTS WORKING THAT HUSTLE
November: My jaunty little parable about Neo-Puritanism’s destruction of all life returns! This time, presented as part of Otherworld Theatre’s annual PARAGON play festival!
STARLIGHT RADIO DREAMS
November: I joined Starlight Radio Dreams as a guest performer, voicing a Shakespearean Scholar, a Pokemon Professor, a Catholic standup comic, Greek god Pan, and a chisel-jawed TV hero who thinks the only real monster… is man.
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2017
TWELFTH NIGHT
January: After a late King Lear, Unrehearsed jumped right back into it with our fifth annual Twelfth Night on Twelfth Night!
SHERLOCK HOLMES: ALMOST GOT HIM
February: Sherlock Holmes: Almost Got Him returned, this time at the Devonshire Playhouse in Skokie. “When five of Holmes’ fiercest adversaries come together, they decide on the ultimate wager: who has the best Almost-got-him Sherlock story?” Directed by Orion Couling.
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UNREHEARSED SHAKESPEARE WORKSHOP
March – April: Unrehearsed Shakespeare held new classes, welcoming ten new Apprentices into our ranks.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
April: Unrehearsed presented the classic problem play, whose commentary on sexual harassment, assault, and human agency seems remarkably more relevant today than when it was written.
BARD PARTY
April: Unrehearsed joined other Shakespeare companies in Chicago for Fury Theatre’s Bard Party, a commemoration of the 401st anniversary of Shakespeare’s shuffling off this mortal coil. In tune with the evening’s spirit motif, we presented two of the Ghost scenes from Hamlet.
RICHARD III
June: I performed as Buckingham in Fury Theatre’s production of the classic tale of Tricky Dickie and how he stole the election/throne.
RICHARD II
July: Shakespeare’s classic history of a weak, thin-skinned monarch taught us about empathy, power, and pragmatism’s dominion over emotion.
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THE WAYWARD WOMEN
July: Milwaukee’s TheaterRED staged the sophomore production of The Wayward Women. Love, lies, and fisticuffs abound in this new Elizabethan comedy.
LET WOMEN WAR: THE PASSION OF BOUDICCA & THE WAYWARD WOMEN
September: We Three returned to premier the epic tragedy of the Queen of the Britons, paired with the remount of a personal favorite.
“A shout out… to playwright/director Jared McDaris, for hoodwinking me completely into thinking I was watching the genuine article, a “forgotten” Elizabethan play that had escaped my attention all these years.” – Herb Metzler
“Exhilarating and inspiring Historical fiction!” – Mark Anthony Child
CORIOLANUS
October: Unrehearsed closed its eighth season with Coriolanus, the Roman tragedy that pits elitism against ignorance.
STEAMPUNK CHRISTMAS CAROL
December: Tinker Tim, Barb Ratchet, and the swash-buckling Ghost of Christmas Present returned in EDGE Theatre’s annual Steampunk Christmas Carol.
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2016
TWELFTH NIGHT ON TWELFTH NIGHT
January: Unrehearsed commemorates the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s stumbling off! We opened with our annual Twelfth Night on Twelfth Night. After working on this play seven times, I am still learning new things about it!
MESSINA3004 (Much Ado About Nothing)
February: I joined Otherworld Theatre for MESSINA3004: A Dystopian Retelling of Much Ado About Nothing. I played an especially nebbishy Leonato.
THE WAYWARD WOMEN (Or: Nothing To Do)
March-April: We Three debuted The Wayward Women (or: Nothing To Do), a new Elizabethan Comedy about gender roles, post-war peacetime, and good ol’ fashioned doin’ it!
“ I cannot recommend this show enough… It is original, playful, hilarious… A solid 4 out of 4 stars.” – Patrick Bushnell
AS YOU LIKE IT
April: Unrehearsed staged As You Like It for the first time in Chicago. For the second time in my life, I got to perform “All the world’s a stage,” this time with the Duke Senior as a visual aid!
[THUS DIE I]
April: Unrehearsed joined Two Pence Theatre for [Thus Die I], a celebration of all things Shakespeare and Death. April 23rd, in commemoration of the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s lamented demise. After an evening of depressing death scenes, we were happy to add some levity with Pyramus & Thisbe. And I got to fulfill a twenty-year ambition by portraying Wall!
UNREHEARSED SHAKESPEARE WORKSHOP
May – June: Back by popular demand, Unrehearsed Shakespeare held another workshop, recruiting student performers for Hamlet Unrehearsed.
COUNTESS BATHORY
June: We Three struck again with Countess Bathory, an Elizabethan tragedy about the infamous “Blood Countess,” who allegedly bathed in the blood of her virgin serving girls to maintain her legendary beauty.
“GO SEE THIS PLAY!! Gorgeous writing and truly exceptional acting. Mary Kate Arnold brings the countess fully to life, imbuing her with a humanity and beauty that makes her actions all the more believable and horrifying. A wonderful evening at the theater!” – Laura S.
“Dark subject matter handled deftly, surprising moments of humor and pathos… it was very pleasant to hear non-Shakespearean verse that was just as passionate and fiery as the Bard’s.” – Jeremiah Barr
“And, of course, the play would be nothing without the expertly crafted writing.” – Stephanie Plus Verb
“Ladies and gentlemen, you have to see the show! But you might wanna leave the kiddies at home. It is brutal, intense, tension so thick you could cut it with a knife (might take a couple passes even). One HELL of a show!” – Dylan Crow
“One hell of a show… It is not very often you can see a bold performance like that even in a place like Chicago.” – Artur Michalowicz
HAMLET
July – August: Unrehearsed staged Hamlet for the first time in Chicago.
TO BE OR NOT TO BE? Unrehearsed Hamlet finally came to Chicago! Featuring a completely different cast each night, three different Hamlets helped created three markedly different performances of this, the greatest of Shakespeare’s masterpieces.
THE HOUR OF ERRORS
August: Unrehearsed headed out to Elgin, IL to perform Comedy of Errors with Janus Theatre!
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POETRY TALK
September: A scene from The Wayward Women was featured on Peter Storey’s Poetry Talk, a monthly show discussing contemporary poetics.
Guests included Jacob Saenz, Robyn Shanae, and myself. Immediately following my interview, The Wayward Women‘s Act 2, Scene 1 was performed, featuring Adrian Garcia, Gilly Guire, Alexandra Boroff, and Katy Jenkins reprising their original roles. My interview featured some gratifyingly boisterous laughter (especially from one particularly appreciative audience member), though this was soon dwarfed by the reaction to the scene itself. Admittedly, it’s easy to get a reaction in a scene where the characters talk almost exclusively about sex.
POLYXENA IN ORBIT / BUTCHER BOGGLE
October: Otherworld Theatre hosted its 2nd annual PARAGON play festival, the largest Sci-Fi/Fantasy play festival in the world! My play Butcher Boggle, a parable about moral relativism, was just one of the 40 plays that were staged. I also directed Stuart Bousel’s Polyxena in Orbit.
HELL
October: The Accidental Shakespeare Company presented a staged reading of Upton Sinclaire’s Hell, a darkly comic indictment of contemporary capitalism that is still sadly relevant today. I was blessed to double as Mammon, the devil of Greed who takes over the management of Earth, and “Big” Bill Haywood, a coal miner and socialist revolutionary.
STEAMPUNK CHRISTMAS CAROL
December: EDGE Theatre produced my Steampunk Christmas Carol (and this time, I got to direct!) in rep with Commedia Beauregard’s A Klingon Christmas Carol. Much sci-fi! So Holiday! It was a remarkably warm and reassuring production with many of my favorite artists.
KING LEAR UNREHEARSED
December: Unrehearsed closed its fourth season with King Lear! Two very different but equally exciting audiences made each performance an incredible and unique experience, as did our brief fore into larger venues with the Public House Theatre.
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2015
TWELFTH NIGHT ON TWELFTH NIGHT
January: Unrehearsed Shakespeare opened its third full season with Twelfth Night on Twelfth Night ’15.
UNREHEARSED SHAKESPEARE WORKSHOP
January – February: Back by popular demand, Unrehearsed Shakespeare held its second workshop in half a year.
THE ILLUSION
March – April: At long last I returned to The Right Brain Project, for a dream role in a dream play. The RBP opened its tenth season with Tony Kushner’s The Illusion, in which I played the lunatic braggadocio, Matamore. Ever since I saw the Court’s production back in 2010, I have longed to be a part of this show, so that’s one bucket-lister down.
“McDaris is this deliciously melodramatic doofus.” – Katy Walsh, The Fourth Walsh
“Jared McDaris makes a swashbuckling Matamore, with all the wink-and-nudge humor of Inigo Montoya.” – Colin Douglas, Chicago Theatre Review
“Jared McDaris’ pompous pirate/plot device [scores] the biggest laughs.” – Kerry Reid, The Chicago Tribune
TITUS ANDRONICUS UNREHEARSED
April: Unrehearsed Shakespeare finally returned to Black Rock Pub (home of Twelfth Night 2013) to stage a remarkably successful Titus Andronicus. The audience’s freedom to voice their opinions on the characters’ actions allowed for a strong personal investment and interpersonal connection. It was nifty.
UNREHEARSED WORKSHOP IN MICHIGAN’S AACTFEST
April: Zack Meyer and I traveled taught an Unrehearsed Shakespeare workshop in Midland, Michigan for the Regional Festival Conference for the American Association of Community Theatres (AACTFest). It was a small class, but the director of the festival was kind enough to join us and seemed very happy with the experience. So, win-win.
RICHARD III UNREHEARSED.
July: Zack Meyer starred as the hunchback king in his (possibly) final performance with Unrehearsed Shakespeare. Tricky Dicky lies, cajoles, and charms his way into England’s highest office, and often wins the audience over along the way. We had some of our most enthusiastic audiences to date, giving Zack and his horse a great send-off into the wild beyond of grad school. Good luck Zack!
A THOUSAND TIMES GOODNIGHT
July – August: My first Elizabethan comedy, which premiered in Milwaukee back in 2013, was finally brought to Chicago.
“We had an awesome time!! Brava/Bravo to all the actors, playwright, and production team! I love seeing theatre that leaves you energized at the end.” – Emily Brantz, audience member (via social media, unsolicited)
“Such a great show! Laughed a lot, booed, cheered, hissed, clapped, all sorts of good feels.” – Peter Hammer, audience member (via social media, unsolicited)
THE SHAKESPEARE ALL-STARS GO ON TOUR! KINDA!
August: Independence Park Farmer’s Market (Aug 9), Goldberg Playlot (Aug 12), Cubano Fest (Aug 16), and the Portage Park Farmer’s Market (Aug 16).
TWELFTH NIGHT!
August: TheaterRED in Milwaukee produced an outstanding Unrehearsed performance of Twelfth Night. I got to play Malvolio again after seven years, and it was a highlight of a very full and very excellent month.
THE THESPIS PROJECT
August: Inspired by his studies of natural speech and conversation (and how we actors tend to abandon those natural proclivities once we’re given a script), Dr. Christopher Aruffo set four short plays in Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro, demonstrating natural speech in given circumstances.
PARAGON PLAY FESTIVAL
August: Otherworld Theatre hosted their first annual PARAGON: A Science Fiction and Fantasy Play Festival. I directed Amanda Carson (A Thousand Times Goodnight) and Katy Jenkins (EDGE Theatre) in the short plays Queens of the Realm and A Dream of Two Moons. August was a busy, fruitful month.
THE TEMPEST, UNREHEARSED
October: Five years ago, Unrehearsed Shakespeare premiered in Chicago with The Tempest. Now at long last, we’ve brought the magic back!
STEAMPUNK CHRISTMAS CAROL
December: A one weekend event in conjunction with the EDGE Youth Theater production. ‘Steampunk’ is a retelling that follows Dickens’ classic story with modern humor, lots of heart…and steam-powered robots.
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2014
AMADEUS
February and March: I performed with World’s Stage Theatre (Milwaukee) in Amadeus, playing Mozart.
“Jared McDaris is intoxicating as a show-stealing Mozart: brash, crude and shamelessly egotistical, but also charming, funny and passionate. Even more impressive, McDaris captures the emotional depth of a character who rightly tells us that while ‘my tongue is stupid, my heart isn’t.‘ ” – Mike Fischer, JS Online
Fischer later gave my performance an honorable mention in his list of the top ten Milwaukee performances of 2014. Good Milwaukee debut.
ROMEO & JULIET (UNREHEARSED)
May: Unrehearsed Shakespeare moved to Mary’s Attic, where we performed Romeo & Juliet for the first time (directed by Zack Meyer). I performed as Mercutio to some of our largest and especially most appreciative audiences to date.
LOVE’S LABOURS LOST
June-July: The Right Brain Project’s Labours of Love opened in late June, featuring diverse pieces and musical performances from local artists. The centerpiece of this project was a performance of Love’s Labours Lost, which I directed.
UNREHEARSED SHAKESPEARE WORKSHOPS
July
The Unrehearsed Shakespeare Company finally brought Workshops back to Chicago. On July 15, 17, 22, and 24, students learned the basics of the Unrehearsed technique, as well as some pointers on how to focus your preparation, how to be a good scene partner, and how to approach verse with a sense of discovery.
JULY 15: BASICS: Intro to the Unrehearsed Rules and Guidelines.
JULY 17: BOOTCAMP: Incorporating all the Rules into small scenes.
JULY 22: STORY-TELLING: Learn to actively listen and work as a group.
JULY 24: MASTER’S COURSE: Work on full scenes with veterans, and join a discussion with experienced performers on the best methods.
–Dr. Jonathan Shailor, Founder and Director, The Shakespeare Prison Project: A Partnership Between the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Racine Correctional Institution, Sturtevant, Wisconsin.
TWELFTH NIGHT (MKE)
July-August: I spent July in Milwaukee directing Twelfth Night, the inaugural production of the newly formed H+D Productions, in collaboration with Story Teller Theatre; performed outdoors and hosted by Saint Thomas More High School.
CAST: Hayley Cotton, Ethan Hall, Stuart Mott, Eric Scherrer, Sasha Sigel, Shanna Theiste, Tawnie Thompson, Bridgette Well, Glenn Widdicombe, and Rachel Zembrowski.
“Masterfully delivered… Director Jared McDaris staged each scene with purpose, allowing the actors to thrive… a brilliant overall production.” – Local Trolley
“Under the direction of Chicago-based Jared McDaris… they capture something about the play that more respectful productions don’t always: it’s really, really funny… As broad as their characterizations are, the players understand what they’re saying, know what they’re feeling, and they show it.” – Jeff Grygny, Milwaukee Theatre Examiner
Jeff Grygny also made brief mention of Twelfth Night during his entry for the Examiner on Milwuakee’s recent upswing in risk-taking theater.
August: The Unrehearsed Shakespeare Company presented our Double Feature: The Hour of Errors (an hour-long cutting of Comedy of Errors), directed by Emma Couling; and Double Falsehood, the allegedly-Elizabethan play of dubious origin, directed by Danny Pancratz.
Double Feature, 2014
Comedy of Errors
SHAKESPEARE ALL-STARS
September – December: I joined the Shakespeare All-Stars for their Fall 2014 season. The Shakespeare All-Stars presents accessible and interactive vignettes from the Bard’s most popular works to schools and theaters in the Chicagoland area.
I did not scorn to wear the leek!
HENRY V UNREHEARSED
October: The Unrehearsed Shakespeare Company wrapped up its second full season with Henry V. We few, we happy few, may sit amidst the action and the passion. War! Romanticism! Nationalism! Leeks! Henry V has it all!
Cuckoo’s Theater Project
November: I acted as text coach for The Cuckoo’s Theater Project’s production of The Tempest.
October-November: I rejoined Accidental Shakespeare for their sophomore production of MacBeth. Once again, I found myself playing Duncan and the Porter, but with a little Old Man and Doctor thrown in for good measure.
“McDaris is an extremely dynamic actor, switching convincingly and quickly through majestic, hilarious, frantic, and quietly concerned through each of the roles he plays.” – ailelie
Courtesy of Benjamin Dionysus
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2013
Back in 2013, my work began with Accidental Shakespeare’s debut performance of The Tempest. I played Ariel (in addition to playing mandolin, tabor, and finger cymbals).
“McDaris radiates magic as sprite Ariel, bringing whimsy to each syllable and completely comfortable jumping around and making mischief.” – Chicago Theater Beat
“Only Jared McDaris – as the duke’s magical slave, Ariel – has the vocal chops needed for Shakespeare’s rich poetry.” – Chicago Reader
The Tempest, 2013
