SoHo Shakespeare Company to Present Reading of THE IDES—Adapted From JULIUS CAESAR

SoHo Shakespeare Company will present THE IDES-adapted from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The industry reading will take place on January 20, 2024 at The Flea Theater, NYC.

Adapted by Aeneas Sagar Hemphill & Ben Natan.

Over the last century, Shakespeare's stories have found a comfortable place in the American city. From West Side Story to Baz Luhrmann's Romeo+Juliet, the everyday drama and urban bustle are a perfect setting for the high drama of the Bard. In The Ides Project, we are ptting The Tragedy of Julius Caesar against organized crime in the mean streets of New York City. A power struggle and a little neighborhood in lower Manhattan gives us the perfect setting for Shakespeare's cautionary tale of the doom that faces any empire built on violence.

From the creators: "The Ides Project is not only about bringing Shakespeare's words to the streets of New York, but about elevating some of the best young artists in the city to perform them. Conventional wisdom has been that Shakespeare can only bring in an audience when it has movie stars in the cast. Meanwhile, the best Shakespeare we've seen has been performed by passionate young troupes of players tucked away across the boroughs. Players who are performing for their love of the text and their love of the communities they serve. These tenets best honor the Shakespearean tradition, and this project is about bringing that collaboration and community-invested creativity to the forefront. It feels right to realize this project alongside SoHo Shakespeare Company, who is committed to bringing equitable, raucous theatre to Lower Manhattan."

"You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things! O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome."

The cast includes Keith Hale*, Michael Aurelio*, Arin Edelstein, Ryanne Ello, Andrew Goehring, Maya Jeyam*, Mahayla Laurence, Ahmad Maher*, McLean Peterson*, Heath Saunders*, Lee Arden.*

The production team includes Kanika Asavari Vaish (Director), Eden Mullins (Stage Manager), and Angelfaith Steven (Production Assistant). Executive Produced by SoHo Shakespeare Company and Ben Natan; Produced by Alex Pepperman and Abbas Syed.