GARDINER

Johnson Hall Performing Arts Center on Water Street in Gardiner will present the film “Richard3” at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 18. Tickets are $6.

Michael Miclon, the Executive and Artistic Directer of Johnson Hall, is also the screen writer, director and lead actor in “Richard3” — Boo Dog Film’s latest production.

“Richard3” is a comedic adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Richard III,” and was shot on location throughout Maine — from Fort Popham in Phippsburg to the former St. Patrick’s Church in Lewiston. The film also used only Maine actors, all of which are classically trained physical comedy stage performers. The production also included over 300 extras from all over Maine and New Hampshire.

Production on the film began in the summer of 2012. After two years of pre-production, plus a successful fundraising campaign through Kickstarter, Miclon and his team completed the film and are now preparing to enter it in festivals across the country.

“In June of 2013, we had the great fortune to show the first-cut version of ‘Richard3’ to a sold-out crowd of 428 people at the Emerge Film Festival,” Miclon reports. “Since then, we have been sharpening our editing knives and have prepared this third cut to show at Johnson Hall.”

“Richard3,” created with a budget of $65,000, is the story of the famed hunchback maniacal king who murders his way to the top easily lent itself to the absurd. Adding a twist or two to the original script and trimming away some of the less essential parts of the story, Miclon and compant created a script that told the story and utilized everything in their performing arsenal, from improvisation to juggling.

Founder of Boo Dog Films and the Oddfellow Theater, Miclon has created videos and short films in ten countries on four continents for corporate and humanitarian groups over the last fourteen years. A veteran of live performance, he’s perhaps best known locally for “The Early Evening Show,” the longest running variety show in Maine history. “Richard3” was adapted from the Oddfellow Theater’s live performance of the same name, which the Portland Phoenix called “comedic genius.”

For more information on this event, contact Johnson Hall at 582- 7144.