Wed. Oct. 3 - Sun. Dec. 4  

      Whether or not you consider yourself superstitious, there are certain things you probably just do not do- Among these are flying kites in lightning storms (sorry, Ben!), provoking black cats and saying “Macbeth” in a theatre. Despite these potential prohibitions, the bold thespians of Actor’s Shakespeare Project are mounting the medieval Mac-sterpiece (insert good-natured groan) for the second time in five years, at the Chevalier Theatre in Medford Wednesday Oct. 3 - Sunday Dec. 4.

      “This time, it's got men in it,” explains title role actor and ASP Artistic Director Allyn Burrows when asked how this Paula Plum-directed production will be different from his company’s daring and effective all-women 2007 edition, “and it's set in the twenties.”

     Another difference will be the venue. As is ASP’s way, each production of the 2012-13 season will be performed in a new location,  the historic Chevalier Theatre. “I wandered in there a couple of years ago and found it fascinating,” Burrows explains. “It's classic, haunted, renovated, and cavernous, all wrapped up into one venue, and that's very fitting for a production that largely deals with deep desires to fill a void.”

      Despite its age and the number of times it has been produced by ASP and every other Shakespeare company in the world, Burrows also posits that “The Scottish Play” (as it is often called by the superstitious) can still hit home as well. As ”Macbeth” is “a challenging and ever intriguing story about tough personal decisions and their ramifications,” Burrows suggests that it is always pertinent. “It's a cautionary tale about the consequences of unfriendly decisions.” He adds that, thanks to its story line and political themes, the play can be especially germane in an election year. “We slay with words,” he muses, “not with knives.”

     Burrows also notes that this is not the first play to which his company has returned in its acclaimed nine-year history. “We broke the membrane of hesitation when we did ‘Twelfth Night’ last year,” Burrows explains, citing the first dual-production play (Twelfth Night was produced in 2005 and 2011). As for when he knew the “hesitation” was not called for, Burrows says, “Three days into rehearsal we realized it was a completely different animal….It's like I'm working on a completely different play.”

     Though this production will be somewhat modernized, Burrows admits that the characters may not be confused for people we know today. Even so, he suggests, these classic characters still exist and there is still much to be learned from this play. “You don't see them,” Burrows says, “but they're there. Oh man- are they there!”
    Show is up Wednesday-Sunday. 2 pm matinees on Saturday, 3 pm on Sunday. 10 am matinees Wednsesday (except opening night), 7:30 otherwise, except 8 Saturday. No evening Sunday show.  Tix: $40-$28. 

    (The rest of the season (which has the thematic name of “Coming Home” will include productions of “Two Gentlemen of Verona” at Somerville’s Davis Square Theatre December 12-January 13 and a run of “Pericles” at Suffolk University’s Modern Theatre from April 17-May 12. ASP’s other tradition - the season’s non-Shakespeare play - will be represented this year by Will Eno’s “Middletown” which will be performed at the Central Square YWCA in Cambridge from February 13-March 10. “Macbeth comes home and that's when the fit hits the shan,” Burrows says purposefully. “Every play in this season has a motif of relationship with one's home- coming home, leaving home, finding a home, looking for home.”)

-Matt Robinson

30 Forest St., Medford, 617-901-8981 www.chevaliertheatre.com  www.actorsshakespeareproject.org