Thinking Cap Theatre To Present William Shakespeare's THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

Thinking Cap Theatre will officially kick off 2024 this March with a main stage production of The Taming Of The Shrew by William Shakespeare, adapted and directed by TCT’s Founding Artistic Director Nicole Stodard.  The production will run from March 22nd through April 3rd at The Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale.

TCT’s last Shakespearean revival, a reimagining of Shakespeare’s great tragedy King Lear, was named one of the top ten plays of 2018 by Boca Magazine.  With Shrew, TCT turns to one of Shakespeare's most controversial works, a play that has left audiences divided on whether the playwright was a misogynist or a proto-feminist.  Made famous in a mid-twentieth century revival that starred real life sparring lovers Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, this comedy dramatizes the age-old battle of the sexes in the tumultuous courtship of the characters Katherina and Petruchio. 

Despite being one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, The Taming Of The Shrew epitomizes Shakespeare’s fascination with raising, but not ultimately answering, pressing social questions.  In Thinking Cap's innovative new staging, performers and audiences alike will be able to experience and judge different casting and directorial choices in real time to explore our shifting perceptions of what’s playable, offensive, or funny.  “Shakespeare’s works play differently in every age.  This particular work presents a meaningful opportunity, in this moment, to ‘hold a mirror up to nature,’ in the words of Hamlet, and to demonstrate the perennial nature of some of our current debates,” says Stodard.

This main stage production is part of The People vs. Shakespeare’s Shrew, a multifaceted project that invites audiences to engage deeply with this problem play through complementary programming that includes the following: a staged reading of John Fletcher’s 1611 response play entitled The Woman’s Prize or the Tamer Tamed; Sunday Talkbacks with the cast and creative team; and Shakespeare Was Here, a 6-episode podcast series with Shakespeare practitioners and scholars from around the country.

Tickets

The staged reading of The Woman’s Prize or the Tamer Tamed, will take place on Thursday, April 25, 2024 at Art Serve in Fort Lauderdale.  Doors open at 6:30pm; curtain at 7pm.  Tickets are $20 and include complimentary catered refreshments.  Art Serve’s address is 1350 E Sunrise Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304 
Staged reading ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-tamer-tamed-or-the-womens-prize-play-reading-tickets-816509641317?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Shakespeare Was Here: New Podcast Series

TCT’s podcast, Thoughts on Theatre and Life, includes multiple ongoing series, the newest of which explores the living legacy of William Shakespeare.  Guests of The Taming of the Shrew can deepen their engagement with the production by tuning into Shakespeare Was Here for stimulating conversations with leading Shakespeare scholars and practitioners from coast to coast.  The podcast is available on Amazon, Apple, Google, and Spotify.  Podcast guests who will discuss The Taming Of The Shrew inlcude: Vernon Dickson, Ph.D. (Florida International University), Carla Della Gatta, Ph.D. (University of Maryland), Jemma Alix Levy (Washington & Lee University), Carmen Pelaez (playwright), Ian Smith, Ph.D. (University of Southern California, President of Shakespeare Association of America).

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