The Taming of the Shrew opens on August 20-21, 27-28 at 6:00 pm at The Canal ways Center, Lock IV Park and St. Helena III Two sisters - one a sweet innocent girl, while the other an obnoxious, demanding, and unpleasing person. The problem is that the sweet, innocent girl is the youngest and her mother says that the only way she can wed one of her many suitors is to get someone to marry her older obnoxious sister first. That problem is compounded when no one, and I mean no one, wants the honor of taking the older sister’s hand in marriage. The older sister is also in no hurry to get married. The younger sister and the suitors can only lament. That is until one of the suitors remembers that there is an obnoxious and demanding man who lives in the hinterlands. The suitors summon this unlikely person to come to town and woo the older sister, who is very determined to spurn his advances. Unfortunately for her, the younger sister and their mother are very determined to get her married. They collaborate with the suitors to cause a deception. Thus, in a nutshell, is the plot to The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare. Come for a pleasant evening of Shakespeare, while cruising on the canal, as the Canal Fulton Players present this absolutely raucous comedy on August 20-21, 27-28 at 6:00 pm on the St. Helena III, Lock 4 Park, and the Canal Ways Center, 125 West Tuscarawas Street, Canal Fulton, Ohio. The cost of the performance and cruise on the canal is $23.00. Not only is a suitor hired to woo the older sister but the various suitors use various forms of deception to win the hand of the fair young sister. By the time the climax of the play occurs, there is so much confusion as to who is with whom and who actually the shrew is. Starring in this fine comedy are Shawna Shaw as Katharine, the tart tongued older sister, Katherine, Geri Marken as fair Bianca, Cindy Bagocius as Baptista, the harried mother, Zach Donahue as Petruchio, the town braggart hired to woo Katharine, Josh Rowe, as Hortensio, the suitor who hires Petruchio, Charles Hayward, as Gremio, the older suitor who has ideas of his own, Daniel Schmidt, as Lucentio, the young student who is willing to shed his identity for love, Nathan Schmidt as Tranio, the loyal servant who aids Lucentio, and David Van Gaasbeek, as Vincentio, the loving but confused father of Lucentio and master of Tranio. Also appearing are Melanie Sneir, the first weekend, and Chuck Bonakowski, the second weekend as Grumio, Petrucchio’s loyal but sarcastic servant, Michal Donahue, as Biondella, Baptista’s earnest but confused servant, and Sharon Nolan, in multiple roles. Producing and directing this play with a great assist from assistant director Charles Hayward is David Van Gaasbeek. “The whole concept of this play is to give the audience a new surreal experience in which the cast is all over the place performing as the audience drifts down the canal to Lock IV Park and back to and from the Canal Ways Center,” says Mr. Van Gaasbeek. “Shakespeare is a wonderful playwright who mastered the art of comedy by giving the director and his or her cast free license to do anything they wanted because he gave no stage directions except entrance and exit. The actors can really go over the top without violating the tenor of the story.” Tickets can be purchased by calling 330-854-6835.