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Baker Shakespeare presents: The Merchant of Venice!
Returning director (from our landmark Hamlet) Haley E. R. Cooper and our talented cast and crew present this powerful tale as Baker Shakespeare's 44th show. In this most problematic of Shakespeare's comedies, Shylock the Jew seeks a pound of flesh from Antonio the Christian while three couples fall in love. All that glisters is not gold in this equal parts funny and frightening production, set in all the opulence and prejudice of Renaissance Venice. The Merchant of Venice is Shakespeare’s most controversial play.
Performance & Tickets
Performance weekends are 1st and 2nd weeks of March, after Rice's Spring Break.
- Thurs, March 7
- Fri, March 8
- Sat, March 9
- Thurs, March 14
- Fri, March 15
- Sat, March 16
Tickets are $5 for Rice students or groups of ten or more, $7 for Rice faculty and staff, and $10 for the general public.
Reserve yours by emailing our box office at tmh5(at)rice.edu. Payment at the door in cash, please.
The theater opens at 7:30 pm; curtain time is 8:00 pm. Seating is open: first-come, first-seated. The performance will run about 2 hours 45 minutes, including one intermission.
All performances will be held in the Baker College Commons, on the Inner Loop at the southeastern end of the Rice University campus. Parking is available on-campus at the Founder's Court lot off Entrance 1 or 2. Street parking is available on the south side of Main Street between Cambridge St (Entrance 3) and Rice Blvd (Entrance 1). A Metro Blue Line stop is across the street from Entrance 1.
A campus map is available at http://www.rice.edu/maps/, which includes locations of other parking lots available for visitor parking.
Our Merchant of Venice
Merchant is Shakespeare's most controversial play, a reputation it had even before World War 2—though its tenor changed post-Holocaust. It is a problematic play in the modern world, as a comedy in which a Jew is both villain and victim. When it is performed, directors often treat it as a tragedy, which creates tremendous tension with Shakespeare's text, often leading to radical changes or additions to "make it work".
Our Vision
A Merchant of Venice as Shakespeare intended: a comedy that ends up unraveling when people face the consequences of their choices. It’s Merchant of Venice à la soufflé: we will craft a delicate balance of both light and dark; we will side with neither Jew nor Christian—both are villainous, both are noble. This production will create a Venetian culture where riches are everything, religious conflict rife, and no one learns the moral of looking beyond the surface.
Our show is set in the period for which it was written: the Italian renaissance. Costumes and set will be carefully constructed to portray this rich and elaborate world.
Cast and Crew
Our people are what make BakerShake so special: a mixture of rookie and veteran, student and alumni, who work hard and think hard to make our productions the best they can be. In no particular order...
Cast
| Travis Hoyt | Lancelet Giobbe |
| Omar Tariq | Antonio |
| Duarte Costeira | Bassanio |
| Jake Ellis | Gratiano |
| Ethan Agrawal | Lorenzo |
| Katherine Gunn | Salerio |
| Ian Mauzy | Solanio |
| Alex Karge | Shylock |
| Nicole Moody | Jessica |
| Bryce Eakin | Tubal/musician |
| Nicki Pariseau | Portia |
| Jacquelyn Pass | Nerissa |
| Tori Dominguez | Stephana |
| Jinal Mehta | Lucetta |
| Rey Valdez | Morocco/Jailer |
| Michael Paras | Arragon/Leonardo |
| Chepe Lockett | Giobbe/musician |
| David Howard | Duke of Venice |
Production Team
| Haley E. R. Cooper | Director, Executive Costumer |
| Lindsay Bonnen | Asst. Director/ Dramaturg |
| Travis Hoyt | Producer |
| Molly Cisneros | Stage Manager/Costumes |
| Courtney Svatek | Props Head |
| Kat Humphreys | Set/Board Op |
| Cassie Chan | Publicity/Box Office |
| Christy Leos | Publicity |
| Weston Novelli | Set |
| Alex Vega-Gardner | Set Build/Running Crew |
| J Cameron Cooper | Lighting/Set Consultant |
| Farah Imtiaz | Lights |
| Daniel Burns | Costumer |
| Mackenzie Turner | Costumer |
| Mimi Zhang | Costumer |
What is BakerShake?
See also: The History of Baker Shakespeare
Since the premiere season in 1970, Rice University’s Baker Residential College has hosted the oldest continuous Shakespeare festival in Houston, bringing these classic plays to both the undergraduate population and wider Houston audiences.
Actors from across Rice University—students past and present, staff, and faculty—endeavor to present a lively, intimate, and high-quality performance. Six weeks of rehearsal give the undergraduate actors the chance to deeply inhabit Shakespeare's work and words, and Baker College's elegant oak-paneled Commons, originally the university-wide dining hall in the early 1900s, provides a stately space within which to perform. The space lends itself to fast entrances and exits and frequent interaction with the audience, thus recreating the experience of Shakespeare's own day.
Donate to BakerShake!
Baker Shakespeare needs your donations to run a successful show! Please follow these instructions to make your donation.
- Visit http://www.rice.edu/giving/.
- Choose the "MAKE A GIFT NOW!" button on the right-hand corner of the page.
- Complete the secure online donation form.
- Select "Other" from the gift designation menu — and be sure to write "Baker Shakespeare" in the special instructions box.
- Your donation will be acknowledged by Rice for record-keeping purposes, and the funds will be routed directly to Baker College.
Contact
For more information, contact the BakerShake box office or the director.
