Play on Shakespeare Releases Spring and Summer 2022 Season

Play On Shakespeare, the not-for-profit organization dedicated to exploring the world of Shakespeare in performance through translation and adaptation, today announces their spring/summer 2022 season. Lue Douthit, President and Co-Founder says: "Well, the theater world is definitely opening up. We literally mean 'world' (Prague, Guam, England) and suddenly there are ten professional productions of Play On translations opening in the next few months, including two in San Francisco (African-American Shakespeare Company and Cal Shakes). We are delighted that there are so many opportunities for audiences to gather together again to see and hear Shakespeare differently. Play on!"

African-American Shakespeare Company @ Marine's Memorial Theater [San Francisco, CA]

Richard II [modern verse translation by Naomi Iizuka; direction by Peter Callender]

April 16-24

Working in the realm of memories and dreams, the African American Shakespeare Company will present Richard II this April. Interested in the quarantined reality many of us have faced during over the last 24 months, the play will begin in the end with Richard II's famous prison scene. This is the company's first-ever production of Richard II.

Tickets and further information here.

The spring/summer 2022 season also includes performances with Prague Shakespeare Company (Henry VI: Part I - director: Suzanne Dean, Part II - director: Laura Cole, & Part III - director: Brendon Fox); TheatreSpace Northeast (Love's Labour's Lost; Hamlet). Further information will be available shortly across Play On Shakespeare's web site and social media platforms.

MORE ON PLAY ON SHAKESPEARE:

Play On Shakespeare is a non-profit company promoting and creating contemporary modern translations of Shakespeare's plays. Since its inception in 2015, Play On has commissioned dozens of contemporary playwrights and translators to translate 39 Shakespeare plays into modern English, with a majority of the commissions being helmed by BIPOC and womxn playwrights. Far from a paraphrasing exercise, each playwright was tasked with matching Shakespeare's linguistic rigor as they approached the text, preserving rhyme, rhythm, metaphor, meter, imagery, symbolism, rhetoric, and the structure that make Shakespeare's plays engaging and accessible to today's audience. Play On partners with artists and organizations across the globe to deliver and advocate for these translations through different channels, including theatrical productions, podcasts, publications, and film. For more information, visit playonshakespeare.org. Play On Shakespeare is made possible through generous support of the Hitz Foundation.

Breaking Wave Theatre Company [Guam]

Much Ado About Nothing [modern verse translation by Ranjit Bolt; co-direction by Ean Taijeron & Madison McKenzie Scott]

May 5-8

Set in modern day Guam, Breaking Wave Theatre Company will produce Ranjit Bolt's translation of Much Ado About Nothing this spring. The script will interweave the native language of Guam, CHamoru, and Tagalog, the native language of the Philippines.

Tickets and further information here.

1623 Theatre Company @ Century Theatre [United Kingdom]
Much Ado About Nothing [modern verse translation by Ranjit Bolt; direction by Ben Spiller]
May 6-7

After being separated for far too long, a community comes together to celebrate and feel connected. This will be the UK premiere of this production.
Tickets and further information here.

Portland Shakespeare Project @ Portland Playhouse [Portland, OR]
The Winter's Tale [modern verse translation by Tracy Young; direction by Michael Mendelson]
July 7-24

Tracy Young offers a new version of Shakespeare's difficult tale of jealousy and redemption. The Winter's Tale is one of Shakespeare's most challenging explorations of redemption and rebirth. Driven by extreme jealousy, Leontes, the King of Sicily, accuses his wife Hermione of infidelity and orders his newborn daughter to be abandoned. Sixteen years later, Leontes must reckon with the consequences of his rash decisions. Tracy Young's version of The Winter's Tale transforms the theatergoing experience from Shakespeare's time to ours.
Tickets and further information here.

al Shakes @ Bruns Ampitheater [San Francisco, CA]
Lear [modern verse translation by Marcus Gardley; co-direction by Eric Ting & Dawn Monique Williams]
September 7-October 2

Set in San Francisco's Fillmore District in the 1960s, Marcus Gardley's Lear will be presented at Cal Shakes in partnership with Oakland Theatre Project. Infused with a jazz score, this will be a Lear you've never seen before.

Tickets and further information here.

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