Center Stage: Michele McNeal Brings Shakespeare to Life with Passion and Power

Akron-based actor and director Michele McNeal knows precisely what draws her to the works of Shakespeare: the bard’s eternal ability to evoke genuine emotion.

“Two years ago, the inaugural production for Twilight Theatre was ‘Romeo & Juliet.’ And two other actresses that I’ve worked with and I were all involved in the production,” she recalls. “I can remember standing backstage with them and listening to an audience that was not a big Shakespeare audience … laughing through the first half of the play, then being shocked — audibly shocked, saying, Oh no, and Oh my — when Mercutio was killed.”

At the conclusion of the play, in which the two lovers die, McNeal remembers the audience becoming devastated.

“[I remember] turning to Elizabeth Allard, who was playing Juliet, and saying, You know what? This is why I do Shakespeare,” she says. “The language in these plays and bringing that to life in a way that makes it pertinent and accessible and emotionally important to people who are new to it is just — it’s so delightful.”

After studying at what would become the Ohio Ballet’s Dance Institute under Heinz Poll during her formative years, as well as performing in theater in middle school and in high school, she played her first Shakespearean role at age 16 for Akron City Summer Theater — Adriana in “The Comedy of Errors.” McNeal attended The University of Akron, where she participated in theater, including Shakespeare on the Terrace. Since graduation, she has been working in community theater.

From a witch in “Macbeth” for Rubber City Shakespeare Company to Beatrice in “Much Ado About Nothing” for Shakespeare on the Terrace, McNeal has slipped into the roles of many of the characters in Shakespeare’s oeuvre during her career — even those traditionally portrayed by men.

“You delve the depths of your own soul to try and see where they’re coming from,” she says.

In her 2017 turn as a female version of King Lear in “Lear” for Rubber City Shakespeare Company, McNeal was praised by the West Side Leader for having “a voice to match the storm.”

“That was really hard, but really cathartic, really intense and very moving for me as an actor,” says McNeal. “When I got to perform it in front of people, I could hear, sense and see how it moved them as well.”

Now, McNeal is fresh off of her performance through Aug. 31 as Prospero — the overthrown ruler of Milan turned sorcerer living in exile on an island — in Twilight Theatre’s “The Tempest.” The play follows Prospero and her daughter, Miranda, played by Jane Plishka, as Prospero attempts to exact revenge and reclaim her rightful title through the use of magic.

“Prospero doesn’t make as bad decisions as Lear but also has to face the results or the repercussions of their own choices,” McNeal says. “So, it’s really fun, but it’s really cathartic also, especially if you get to rage. Doing that onstage can be very cathartic for your own sense of trials or tribulations in your real life.”

McNeal’s next project with Twilight is being the stage manager for staged readings of the works of Edgar Allan Poe in October. Catch them on Oct. 18 at Modern Methods Brewing Co. in Warren and Oct. 25 at Last Exit Books & Coffeehouse in Kent.

Theater, McNeal says, allows actors to share an enhanced connection with audiences.

“There is an energetic interchange with the audience,” she says. “The backwash of emotion from that is like an electric charge. … They send that energy back to you in recognition of what you’re doing, and it’s just amazing.”

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