Teacakes & Tarot at Island Shakespeare Festival

Island Shakespeares "Teacakes & Tarot" Announces Extension:Digital Queer Theatrical Series hosted by self-proclaimed "gender traitor" Will Wilhelm extends with special guests including Bill Rauch

Each night, a queer artistic crush of Will Wilhelms is invited over for a tarot reading and an intimate chat about all things theatre before Will shares a few pages of their upcoming solo show GENDER PLAY. Its part cocktail party, part slumber party, and part premiere party all in 30 fabulous minutes. Previous guests have included Broadway's THE INHERITANCE actor Jordan Barbour, and queer poet and AMERICAN CRIME actor Kevin Kantor.

Upcoming November guests include the regionally acclaimed Shakespeare actor and director Sara Bruner (Nov 11); television writer and award winning playwright MJ Kaufman (Nov 12); and bilingual actor and playwright Meme Garca (Nov 13). On December 10th, Wilhelm will welcome Bill Rauch, current Artistic Director of The Ronald O. Perelman Center for the Performing Arts and former Artistic Director at Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

TEACAKES & TAROT has delighted audiences who called it "a much needed TRANSfusion [in American Theatre]", "the BEST part of my 2020," and "I was delighted by every part of it the queering of canonical texts to the intimacy of watching someone get a tarot reading."

Island Shakespeare Festival specializes in classical texts with inclusive approaches; the Shakespeares Playground Series is their digital season created to connect artists and communities through captivating world premieres during this challenging time of social distancing. TEACAKES & TAROT is available via Zoom, Vimeo, and Facebook Live November 11 - 13, and December 10 at 9:30 EST/6:30 PST.Performed by Will Wilhelm Directed by Erin Murray (she/her)Digital set design by Kathryn Lynn Morgen (they/them).For information and pay what you want tickets visit www.islandshakespearefest.org.

PRODUCING AND ARTISTIC TEAM:
Island Shakespeare Festival is an annual outdoor theatre festival started in 2010 and based on Whidbey Island, WA. Notable productions include the world premiere of Scott Kaisers SHAKESPEARES OTHER WOMEN, A WINTERS TALE directed by the Artistic Director of the Ashland New Play Festival, Kyle Haden, OTHELLO directed by Terri McMahon, and commissioning the Kilroys List Awarded adaptation of CYRANO DE BERGERAC featuring a transgender or gender non-conforming actor in the titular role which will premiere in 2021. TEACAKES & TAROT is part of their Shakespeares Playground digital festival including a podcast series based on Scott Kaisers newest book, TALES FROM THE VOMITORIUM, and a devised play on Shakespeare, race, and intergenerational relationships, MUSINGS OF FIRE by Santiago Sosa.

Will Wilhelm (they/them) is host of TEACAKES & TAROT and co-creator and performer of GENDER PLAY. A Michigan native, Will is based in Chicago, IL, where they earned their BA in Theatre from Northwestern University before becoming the first non-binary company member at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. There, they reimaged genderqueer characters in AS YOU LIKE IT, MACBETH, and Bill Rauch's OKLAHOMA! Other notable projects include creating the role of Person in Charge in the Midwest Premiere of STRAIGHT WHITE MEN, written and directed by Young Jean Lee, at Steppenwolf Theatre Company; playing Angel in Metropolis Performing Arts Center's production of RENT, for which they received the 2016 BroadwayWorld Chicago Award for Best Actor in a Musical; and performing full texts bilingually in Spanish and English. Additional theatre affiliations include Victory Gardens Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and About Face Theatre Company. In 2020, Will wrote Gender is Performance for Howlround and was featured in the Chicago Tribune. Will is represented by Gray Talent Group.

Erin Murray (she/her) is the director of TEACAKES & TAROT and co-creator of GENDER PLAY whose 15 year career has spanned much of the Northern Hemisphere. Erin directed the Irish Premiere of HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH in 2005 which won Best Production at the Dublin Fringe Speigeltent and was later remounted at Project Arts Centre. From 2005 - 2008, Erin was the staff director for Opera Theatre Company in Dublin, Ireland, where she toured five fully staged operas on European tours. In 2012, she was the executive producer on the world premiere of Ariel Zetina's PINK MILK: A MAGICAL TRAGEDY LOOSELY BASED ON THE LIFE OF ALAN TURING at New York International Fringe Festival and Chicago Fringe. Additional directing credits include Anne Washburn's THE INTERNATIONALIST (Steppenwolf Garage), the world premiere of Scott Kaiser's SHAKESPEARE'S OTHER WOMEN (Island Shakespeare Festival), the Chicago premiere of Suzanne Heathcote's I SAW MY NEIGHBOR ON THE TRAIN AND I DIDN'T EVEN SMILE (Redtwist), and the Seattle premiere of Annie Baker's JOHN (ArtsWest); Erin assisted Tony Award winner Anna D. Shapiro on the world premiere productions of Tracy Letts' THREE SISTERS and MARY PAGE MARLOWE for Steppenwolf Theatre. Erin will direct her Kilroys List Awarded adaptation of Edmund Rostand's CYRANO DE BERGERAC featuring a trans/non-binary actor in the titular role for the 2021 Island Shakespeare Festival. Erin earned her MFA in Theatre Directing from Northwestern University, and BA in Drama and Theatre Studies from Trinity College Dublin.