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Double, double, toil and trouble.

It's been only a few short months since Frederick's Zoning Board of Appeals smiled upon The Maryland Shakespeare Festival, securing the theater troupe's residency at its West Second Street stomping grounds, Centennial United Methodist Church.

Or so it seemed.

According to artistic director Becky Kemper, due to further litigation, the future — and a permanent home — remains uncertain.

It's knee-jerk, of course, to infer that infamous "Macbeth" curse, a longheld belief amongst thespians that saying its very name aloud could conjure bad tidings.

Actor Steven Hoochuk, who portrays the muderous king in the company's production of The Scottish Play, opening Friday, has never experienced any such thing in his 10 years of studying the Bard, or this role.

"There are people who believe such things," he said. "And I respect that. And rib them a bit about it. But I don't give it that much credence."

"Besides," he continued, "we wouldn't get too far if we couldn't say the name."

And like the titular Thane of Cawdor, this company is nothing if not determined.

Marking the Festival's "first-ever full winter production," noted director Kemper, Shakespeare's shortest tragedy has been a long time coming.

Its leads — Hoochuk as Macbeth with Shannon Parks as his manipulative Lady — have cumulatively perfected their respective roles over a span of 15 years. Talent teamed with opportunity led to a companywide decree of: "It's time."

"There are lots of reasons the show is perfect for this company," said Kemper. "First off, this is the season of power and power plays. In the fall, we do politics, in the spring it's about forgiveness, but this is a show about an awesome misuse of power."

A collective urge to dabble in something a bit more dastardly, too, could not be denied.

"We've done nine years of summer comedies and knew we wanted to do a darker piece," Kemper continued. "This is not a play a company enters into lightly. It's about darkness, and that can take its toll. You have to be a mature company to deal with such themes. I mean, you juggle these words around long enough – it's hard."

Parallels, perhaps, with contemporary society can also be drawn, said the director.

"I think this play is also about a turning point," Kemper said. "When the world of light and good and the world of darkness and evil switches – when that balance switches. It's a cautionary tale for our own world, where, so often it feels like the darkness is winning."

It also provided husband and wife team Kemper and Hoochuk another opportunity to work together — although, this time, with a slight twist.

"It's been wild to direct a play that's so much about marriage," said Kemper. "My husband is playing Macbeth. My best friend is playing his wife. And we're all living together. Shannon lives far away, so we've put her up for the show. It's been a wild ride in so many ways. But delicious, too. We trust each other as actors so much – we have conversations that take very little time."

The unconventional dynamic has proved "a new challenge" for Hoochuck as an actor and husband, but also a welcome one.

"I've been directed by Becky many, many times before," he said. The moral of the story, of course — communication is the key.

"A lot of scholars have said and agreed that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are the strongest couple Shakespeare writes about. They literally finish each other's sentences," he said. "Things go wrong when they stop talking to one another. When they stop working as a team, bad things happen."

"One of the reasons Macbeth does the things he does — these horrible, evil things — is for the love of his wife," Hoochuk continued. "It's a misguided love story."

"Macbeth," of course, is perhaps one of Shakespeare's most iconic and lauded works, and certainly no stranger to the Frederick stage — most recently seen as a Scottish armada-as-biker gang update courtesy of The Maryland Ensemble Theatre.

What, then, sets The Maryland Shakespeare Festival staging apart?

"From the 15 productions that have been done in the past two years?" Kemper said, laughing. "That's one of the joys with these plays. You can revisit them. It's kind of like a sonata. You hear something — see something different each time."

This will be a straight-forward, traditional adaptation, she noted: Set in the ninth century, complete with broadswords and bravado and good, old-fashioned Shakespearean authenticity.

"This is a chance for us to do a play in original practice," said Kemper. "What I mean by that is, although there is theatrical lighting, the entire space is theatrically lit — so the actors and the audience can always see each other. We're using all acoustic music. We also have a pre-show and two interludes – a relaxed time when the actors and the audience share a space. I think, unless audience members have been to the Blackfriar's Playhouse in Virginia or have seen another show of ours, this will be something they've never experienced before."

It has been a long road for The Maryland Shakespeare Festival, one whose end, unlike the fate of "Macbeth," has yet to be reached.

"Well, I think a stronger sense of purpose," Kemper said when asked what emotions have stirred of late.

"If we only get one opportunity to present a full production in this space, and do it full out, we don't want to waste it. There's a desire to show the community what this can be ... But it's out of our hands now."

‘The Tragedy of Macbeth'

-When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 15

-Where: Centennial United Methodist Church, 8 W. Second St., Frederick

-Tickets: $25 for adults, $20 for students, seniors and military with ID

-For information:

301-668-4090

www.mdshakes.org