Thursday, June 13 / 7:30-9:30 PM / $15

About the Play:

It is February, 1599. The Globe Theatre will not open for another six months.

In a urine-soaked pub just north of London, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men lick their wounds after a disastrous opening performance of Ben Jonson’s “Every Man Out of His Humour.” Already facing the very real threat of default and debtor’s prison, a Battle of Wills erupts within the company pitting the world’s most famous comedian, Will Kempe, against the person who will become the greatest playwright to ever live, Will Shakespeare. This is the true story of how Shakespeare strong-armed Cuthbert and Richard Burbage into abandoning low comedy in favor of the sort of psychological drama that Elizabethan audiences came to prefer over public executions and bear fights.

All parts played by female-identifying performers.

TICKETS

Cast:

Richard Burbage: Hanna Gaffney
William Shakespeare: Sarah Stryker
Cuthbert Burbage: Deanna Gibson
Philip Henslowe/Barmaid: Michelle Pauls
Will Kempe: Eleni Delopoulos
Lord Chamberlain/Punter: Carolyn Nelson
Stage Directions to be read by Keenya Jackson