New troupe offers stripped-down Bard

With all the excitement this season about new theaters in Boston and Cambridge, some optimism should be reserved for a new theater company, the Actors' Shakespeare Project. The Shakespeare part of the title, you've probably figured out, has to do with the fellow whose plays will be performed, starting with "Richard III," which begins previews Oct. 14 and opens Oct. 16.

The "Project" is the dreamchild of Benjamin Evett, the company's artistic director and a former American Repertory Theatre actor. Evett's Shakespeare, though, will have an entirely different aesthetic than the ART's. Instead of high-concept, big budget, postmodern productions, Evett's will be stripped-down affairs, with little in the way of sets. The performance space itself is the set, beginning with the Old South Meeting House for "Richard."

Oh, and the actors. Evett has rounded up some of the best in the area. John Kuntz is noted for his comedic turns, but is quite a fine straight actor as well. He excelled as Fluellen in Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's "Henry V" two seasons ago, as well as in the roles of a psychopath in his own play, "Sing Me to Sleep," and Nathan Leopold in "Never a Sinner" with the Lyric Stage Company.

"It wasn't like Ben immediately thought of me," said Kuntz with a laugh. "I auditioned for it three times. He wanted to hear how my voice sounded in the building. It's a big, big room, a museum during the day, and I was doing the `winter of our discontent' scene at full stage volume with all these tourists staring at me as if I was out of my mind."

Richard, of course, is hardly Mr. Mental Health himself, and Kuntz said he hasn't determined exactly how he's going to play him: "I don't like to make choices too early. Any play is a collaboration, and we'll be making decisions based on rehearsals . . . It's a monster of a role, he's a monster of a person. I'm afraid of him. He goes to places where none of us would really go, but I'm going to have to go to those places."

In addition to Kuntz, the company features Marya Lowry (Duke of Buckingham), Paula Plum (Margaret), Sarah Newhouse (Anne), Jennie Israel (Elizabeth), Bobbie Steinbach (Richard's mother), Richard Snee (Lord Stanley), Ken Cheeseman (Lord Hastings), Paula Langton (Lord Rivers), and Evett -- who is also directing -- as Henry, Duke of Richmond. Among those who'll be appearing in future productions are Jeremiah Kissel and Robert Walsh. Each has performed with the ART, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare & Company, or the Publick Theatre.

The high caliber of the cast is essential to doing Shakespeare well, said Evett: "With this approach, where the productions are very stripped down, with contemporary costumes, it's critical that the characters, the language, the story is brought across incredibly clearly and powerfully. It's essential for the success of this idea that the actors are highly skilled and experienced. There are a number of tremendous actors here in town who don't get the opportunity to do this kind of work very often. And I think that as seasoned professionals they all have a relationship with each other and an ease of working together. The task of creating an ensemble is already done."

Acting in this company doesn't preclude them from taking on other tasks. In November, for example, Evett will be performing in "Permanent Collection" at the New Repertory Theatre and Kuntz will be in "Fully Committed" with the Lyric Stage Company. Kuntz's new play, "Jasper Lake," will be at Boston Playwrights' Theatre Oct. 7-17.

Evett's inspiration dates back to when he was 14 and went to see "Macbeth" at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre in England. "It was the most exciting, dynamic Shakespeare I've ever seen," he said. "It was performed in a small, intimate space where the actors are right on top of you. The whole set was a circle on the floor, a few wood blocks for stools and props, and a lightbulb." Evett got to see a couple of fair actors himself, as Macbeth and his lady were Ian McKellen and Judi Dench.

"My favorite Shakespeare performances that I was in came at the end of the rehearsal process, before it moved onto the stage," he continued. "In that play, with the intimacy and the focus on acting, it really allowed the plays to do what they were were trying to do so well. When they're then moved into higher places with higher production values, it's harder to get at the heart of the play."

When Evett's contract was not renewed by the ART a year or so ago, "I was doing a gut check and figuring out what I was going to do with my life," he said. "I had to make the decision: Struggle on as an actor going from theater to theater, or do something bold and slightly crazy and make something new?"

Something bold and crazy this way comes.

Ed Siegel can be reached at siegel@globe.com.