The Merchant of Venice

Mesa Arts Center
1 East Main Street Mesa

When gold is flowing, all is well -- but when a contract is broken, simmering racial tensions boil over. The Merchant of Venice offers up one of Shakespeare's most controversial figures, the vengeful moneylender Shylock, as well as the clever and well-spoken Portia -- long considered one of the Bard's most fully developed and complex heroines. Southwest Shakespeare Company stages this classic tragic comedy, which showcases the tenacity of young love and calls into question the prejudices and beliefs of Renaissance-era Venice, offering philosophical musings that resonate with audiences to this day. See it at Mesa Arts Center's Nesbitt/Elliott Playhouse.