The Playwrights Center will launch the Minnesota Shakespeare Project (MSP) on May 22 in Twin Cities.

The new company steps into the Twin Cities theatre scene with an open rehearsal of Hamlet at the Playwrights Center. A fall residency and performance is scheduled in Grand Marais, which will be followed by a fully mounted production in Twin Cities in the spring of 2001.

MSP's artistic directors are Elizabeth Dwyer, Diane Mountford and Doug Scholz-Carlson. In a prepared statement, Scholz-Carlson said, "We've been workshopping this play for several months with a very talented group of actors, and [we] are thrilled to open our doors to the public."

Featured in the production are performances by Dwyer, Jake Heinrich, David Mann, Ron Menzel, Mountford, Mark Rosenwinkel and Scholz Carlson.

Admission is free. For directions and information on the performance(s) call MSP at (612) 871 5168. -- By Murdoch McBride