Dylan Thomas' classic pastoral of the imagined seaside town of Llareggub, where the inhabitants sleep, wake, live, love and then dream again. The poetic characters step off of the page onto the stage to be enjoyed in all their spontaneous eccentricity.

Megan Cole

Under Milk Wood was a composition Thomas was writing over a period of time, and with several working titles - and ultimately he completed it as a reaction to the bombing of Hiroshima. (For who, exactly, do we kill with our violent "shock & awe"?) This radio play also introduced the world to the young Welsh actor Richard Burton.

We felt compelled to assay Dylan's haunting masterpiece for it seems ripe for these times and serves as a reminder that a new day begins with each night and that life can be a “greenleaved sermon on the innocence of men”.

“The play is an affirmation: a redemptive piece.  Megan Cole, as The Voice, unfurls this plush verbal tapestry with clarity, rhythm and a measured cadence that brings every detail of Llareggub into high-definition, techni-color, stereo-phonic focus.”  - Alameda Times

UTB proudly partnered with the Bay Area’s award-winning Porchlight Theatre Company to assay a new production of this beloved piece of literature. Stage and screen actor Megan Cole joins a pedigreed cast of 16 of the Bay Area's favorite actors. With a live musical composition by the noteworthy theatre composer Katy Stephan, Under Milk Wood is performed under the stars and the towering trees of the glorious Marin Art & Garden Center's Redwood Amphitheatre, and for a limited engagement.

"Expertly directed...a moving tableau of life in a small town...a dramatically viable tour de force by director and cast." - San Francisco Bay Times   “…outstanding...we’re drawn into their world by the sea as we watch each character roll in and roll out with the surf - and their words, that often make us laugh, also cleanse our souls and wash through the tides of our hearts."  - Joint Forces Journal

Summer 2008

Investigate the Under Milk Wood Director Notes