Play On Shakespeare Announces Fall 2021 Season

Founded in 2020 by North Carolina-based director and producer, JaMeeka Holloway, Blk Girls Luv The Bard reimagines, reframes, and examines Shakespeare through the lens of Black and IPOC women with process, people, care, and community-centered workshops and public readings using modern verse translation commissioned by Play On Shakespeare.

This fall, in partnership with Play On Shakespeare and with the support of a Bold Ventures grant (a Helen Gurley Brown initiative), Blk Girls Luv The Bard will present a series of three live, virtually streamed staged readings, along with a community conversation series titled Beyond Shakespeare: Confronting the Past, Exploring the Now and Shaping the Future (facilitated by The Blueprint). The Blueprint is a network of professional, working artists who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color, dedicated to providing comprehensive, holistic training to emerging artists from BIPOC communities.

The Reading Series will exclusively feature works commissioned by Play On Shakespeare. Staged readings from the series will be streamed live via YouTube on September 23 @ 7:30pm ET; October 21 @ 7:30pm ET; November 19 @ 7:30pm ET. Live readings will be preceded by three weeks of process-centered workshops. Dates for the accompanying conversation series will be announced at a later date. Tickets are on sale now for all live, virtual readings.

Comedy of Errors [modern verse translation by Christina Anderson]

Directed by Raelle Myrick-Hodges, with dramaturgy by Korinn Annette Jefferies
Workshop dates: September 5 - 22
Live, virtual reading date: September 23

Macbeth [modern verse translation by Migdalia Cruz]

Directed by Tia James, with dramaturgy by Dawn Monique Williams
Workshop dates: October 3 - 20
Live, virtual reading date: October 21

Romeo & Juliet [modern verse translation by Hansol Jung]

Directed by Kamilah Long, with dramaturgy by Amrita Ramanan
Workshop dates: October 31 - November 17
Live, virtual reading date: November 18

More information at Blk Girls Luv The Bard's Instagram page.

Play On Podcasts

Macbeth; Pericles; A Midsummer Night's Dream

Out now

Building upon Play On Shakespeare's mission to enhance the understanding of Shakespeare's plays in performance, Play On Podcasts bring timeless tales directly to modern audiences. Following the success of Macbeth (starring RuPaul's Drag Race stars Manila Luzon, Monet X Change and Peppermint); Pericles (starring legendary actor Keith David), the series - presented by Next Chapter Podcasts in partnership with Play On Shakespeare - continues with the release of Jeffrey Whitty's A Midsummer Night's Dream (starring acclaimed actors Daisuke Tsuji, Amari Cheatom and Alexandra Henrikson).

Play On Podcasts bring together a team of Award-winning sound designers, composers, playwrights, directors, and performers -- with original music composition and the voices of extraordinarily, gifted artists -- to create aural storytelling experiences. It's a Shakespearean audio adventure.

Next in the series will be Coriolanus. Further details will be announced shortly.

Listen here.

San Francisco Shakespeare Festival

Pericles [translation by Ellen McLaughlin]

Various dates through October 10

For the 39th season of Free Shakespeare in the Park, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival has staged a hybrid version of Pericles, Prince of Tyre (partially virtual, partially in-person) in a modern verse translation by playwright Ellen McLaughlin presented in four episodes. The first three episodes have already been broadcast live online. The season culminates with Episode 4 featuring live performances at multiple locations. It will also be recorded for remote viewing.

Dates, locations and further details can be found here.

SUNY New Paltz - School of Fine and Performing Arts @ McKenna Theatre

Macbeth [translation by Migdalia Cruz]

September 11 & 12

SUNY New Paltz hosts an in-person production of Migdalia Cruz's modern verse translation, directed by Claudia Acosta, in which the Witches run the world in this story of love, greed, and power.

Tickets and further information here.

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