Rob Crisell
After a career in publishing, law, and commercial real estate, Rob Crisell is now a writer, actor, teacher, and amateur winemaker located in Temecula wine country. In addition to writing dozens of articles for Sunset, Highlights for Children, Outside, and other magazines and newspapers, Rob has written five books for adults and children, including The Zoo of Impossible Animals (2016), Shakespeare’s Book of Wisdom (2018), Temecula Valley Wineries (2023), and California Avocados: A Delicious History (2024). He has written and performed several one-man plays featuring Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Shakespeare in America. Since 2012, he has acted with Shakespeare in the Vines, performing in The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Tempest, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, and others. His 2016 TED Talk about his experiences teaching the Bard to young people is called “How NOT to Hate Shakespeare.” As a winemaker, he has made seven vintages, including Sangiovese, Syrah, Pinot Noir, and various red blends. Rob, his wife Monisha, and their two children live in Southern California.
Electra New Release
Greek by Rob Crisell
48 pages
3-4 m, 3 w, 3 flexible, extras
“Electra” is about a young woman who mourns—and ultimately avenges with the help of her brother Orestes—her father Agamemnon’s murder. The story is based on a lost epic of ancient Greek literature, set in a period between Homer’s Iliad and his Odyssey. This show explores the theme of the psychological costs of resisting evil in a society bent on ignoring or even sustaining that evil. Written in blank verse, the language is conversational despite its formality. Poetry best expresses that indescribable energy and pathos of the original Greek trag...