The Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company will present the world premiere of Blue-Eyed Hag by Jim Lair Beard in June, 2022. The production will tour to several West Michigan venues. Blue- Eyed Hag is a prequel to Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

Pigeon Creek executive director Katherine Mayberry describes the play as “alternately laugh out loud funny and hauntingly poignant. Beard does a fantastic job of recreating the structure and mood shifts of a Shakespearean play, but you don’t need to know Shakespeare or The Tempest to enjoy this new story.” The play begins with two warring kingdoms about to be united by the marriage of their prince and princess. Just as the king of Chatauk lands on the island of Kytiff for the wedding festivities, a mysterious woman also arrives on the island with her newborn baby. The plans for a royal wedding descend into chaos as magic and confusions ensue. Blue- Eyed Hag explores the themes of power and the treatment of strangers in a lively and engaging script.

Jim Lair Beard, who wrote the script, is a playwright, screen writer, and Shakespearean actor currently based in Calgary, Canada. He spent several years as an actor at the American Shakespeare Center in Virginia. He is currently focused on his work as a playwright, and during the past two years of the Covid pandemic wrote three Shakespeare-adjacent scripts, telling original stories inspired by Shakespeare’s characters and settings.

The cast of Pigeon Creek’s production includes actors Chaz Albright, Chase Decker, Kimi Griggs,Troy Harvey, Kat Hermes, Maggie Hinckley, Scott Lange, Katherine Mayberry, Ashley Normand, Emma Oliver, Eric Orive, Sarah Stark, and Julia Verstraete. It is an ensemble directed production with stage management by Gabby Zeinstra.

Blue-Eyed Hag will play at the Saugatuck Women’s Club in Saugatuck on June 11; the Walker Memorial Library in North Muskegon on June 17; Little Space Studio in Zeeland on June 24, 25, and 26; and Little Space Studio in Grand Rapids on June 30 and July 1 and 3. Tickets to all performances are $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors. Tickets are available at www.pcshakespeare.com, where audiences can also find information about Pigeon Creek’s other upcoming summer performances.