Titus Andronicus Jr.

As a theatre critic, I always believed there is no better satisfaction than seeing a good production; one for which the presenting organization has seen to every detail. So, I’ll be honest here. It was with great dread that I gathered my notepad, pen, and tiny book light, my ever-present go-cup of iced tea (I’m sure by now most think it’s vodka, or at least liquor-spiked something) and made my way to my SUV. I sat there and tried to conjure an excuse for not going.

I mean, come on, can anything be worse than a poor production of The Bard’s plays? But my conscience will not allow me to operate that way. Guilt would consume me. I would go. I would suffer for art’s sake.
It seems I’ve been schooled, instructed as to the error of my thinking. By a bunch of middle school kids, no less.

Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus,” presented by Dawson Middle School at the Onyx Theatre, is an absolute top-notch production. Not because the sets or costumes and props are elaborate; they aren’t. But

Table 8 Productions makes its Hollywood Fringe Festival debut with a twisted premiere: Titus Andronicus, Jr., written and directed by Creative Director Troy Heard, at the Sacred Fools Theater Second Stage, June 5th through 28th.
Mr. Benjamin, a recently divorced art teacher at upscale Dawson Middle School, is assigned the most unenviable task: to direct the Spring play! When he opts to mount Shakespeare’s bloodiest tragedy he gets caught in a darkly comic spiral as the students supplant the teacher and he learns the toughest lesson of them all…

Titus Andronicus Jr. originated two years ago when Heard staged A Very Merry Unauthorized Scientology Pageant with a cast of young children. “After Pageant, I had people coming up to me saying I should do Shakespeare with children, which didn’t really interest me. But I thought if only there were a gimmick…and that’s where the idea of doing Titus popped up. I took inspiration from the pageant scenes in The Addams Family movies.” But that