Category Archives: Shakespeare

***** KING LEAR REVIEW – IAN MCDIARMID IS A TITANIC, HEARTBREAKING WONDER · Sep 7th

(Mark Lawson’s article appeared in the Guardian; From emperor to king … Ian McDiarmid as Lear at the Crucible theatre. Photograph: Johan Persson)

Crucible theatre, Sheffield

The 82-year-old actor gives a performance of absolute authenticity and clarity as the erratic demagogue in a uniformly impressive production

The word “nothing” is spoken four times in four lines in the opening scene of King Lear, among 30 uses across the play. This feels the key to Titus Halder’s Sheffield Crucible staging, which really makes something of nothingness, crowned by an unusually age-appropriate performer as the “fourscore and upward” English king: 82-year-old Ian McDiarmid.

The dark pit of Richard Kent’s design might be a nuclear after-blast. Like Peter Brook’s mid 20th-century stage and film versions, in a previous era of existentialist international tension, the interpretation radiates terminal uncertainty. Characters address pleas and prayers to “the gods” in the direction identified with heaven but with a growing knowing that nothing is there.

It is also clear that the kingdom Lear ruinously tries to divide between his three daughters is already past its rule-by date, probably due to his eccentric leadership. In a moment of apparent clarity during his mental decline, Lear says, “I will be jovial”, and this often unremarked line seems the base note to McDiarmid’s titanic performance.

Fode Simbo as Edmund and Katie Wimpenny as Goneril. Photograph: Johan Persson

Giggling dirtily when speculating about his daughters having “issue”, he grins manically out of sync with situations. His threat to inflict “terrors” on the world even though he “does not know yet” what they are is not, as often, the forgetfulness of dementia but political bullshitting that wins a knowing laugh from the audience. Leaving his court unsure what he will say or do next, the erratic head of state is also transactional, giving real chill to the dismissal of the banished Cordelia: “Her price has fallen.”

But, while it might be no surprise if this Lear suddenly imposed tariffs on France, the portrait of power is much broader: this demagogue, unfashionably, admits fault and reaches forgiveness.

The acting paradox of Lear is that the textual extreme physical frailty must co-exist with the ability to carry Cordelia’s corpse and the vocal depth to serve the dense poetry. Because of this, middle-aged actors are often cast.

 birth-date realism raises obvious risks, McDiarmid perfectly combines bodily authenticity (the problem of transporting the dead daughter cleverly sidestepped) with absolute verbal clarity on the required range from explosion to self-reflective emotion. When Lear’s heart broke, so did mine.

(Read more)

THE DOWNFALL OF SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK · Aug 29th

(Annie Levin’s article appeared in the Compact, 8/27; Photo: Joan Marcus/ The Public Theater.)

For decades, the free outdoor summer performances put on by Manhattan’s Public Theater have been a pillar of New York City’s cultural scene. The New York Shakespeare Festival, now called Free Shakespeare in the Park, launched the careers of Meryl Streep, James Earl Jones, and George C. Scott; many other notable figures of the stage and the screen have appeared in its acclaimed performances since it was launched in 1954 by the theater artist Joseph Papp. Born to Russian Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn in 1921, Papp believed that live theater should be as accessible as the public library. With a thirty-five-foot trailer attached to a decommissioned sanitation truck, he and his company brought Shakespeare to the people for free.

When he first rolled his trailer to Central Park’s Turtle Pond, Papp could hardly have imagined what the festival would become in 2026: the Blade helicopters droning past as the festival’s director of fundraising thanks Citizens Bank and other corporate sponsors for their generous contributions; productions like last summer’s star-studded Twelfth Night, which recast the beloved comedy as a cartoonish spectacle, part Shen Yun Circus and part Spongebob musical.  

The first production in this summer’s season was a bilingual Romeo and Juliet set at the US-Mexico border wall. No English supertitles were provided for non-Spanish-speaking audience members, nor Spanish supertitles for the non-English-speakers in the crowd. The star-crossed lovers code-switched in and out of Spanish, as in: “For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch / And palm to palm the palmer les da un beso.” The laugh lines in Spanish elicited obligatory titters from perhaps a fifth of the audience. The rest maintained a guilty, awkward silence.

Juliet’s balcony scene was staged on a guard tower on the border wall. The Montagues, a Spanish-speaking family of indigenous activists from the wrong side of the wall, staged a campus-style “Abolish ICE” banner drop; the Capulets were border guards, dressed like goose-stepping blackshirts. Transposing contemporary politics onto Shakespeare can, in theory, offer a fruitful way of reimagining the play, but the politics here were slapped on and made little sense. The Montagues and Capulets are “two families, both alike in dignity” battling over ancient grudges; the tragic deaths of the young protagonists prompt them to recognize the meaninglessness of the rivalry and reconcile. The new production’s desperate bid for relevance generated an incoherent statement with little relation to the text, turning a tragic love story about fate, love, and destructive enmity into a black and white morality tale. 

(Read more)

SHAKESPEARE WAS ACTUALLY A BLACK JEWISH WOMAN, NEW BOOK CLAIMS · Jan 31st

(Sami Quadri’s article appeared in the Standard, 1/28.)

Feminist historian identifies Tudor poet Emilia Bassano as true author whose identity was hidden by literary establishment

William Shakespeare was a “black Jewish woman” whose work was stolen by a semi-literate businessman, a controversial new book has claimed.

Feminist historian Irene Coslet argues the real genius behind the world’s most famous plays was Emilia Bassano, a Tudor court poet who used “Shakespeare” as a pen name.

According to The Real Shakespeare, written by the LSE graduate, Bassano’s true authorship was covered up in favour of William Shakespeare, an “uneducated interloper” from Stratford-upon-Avon.

Ms Coslet contends that Elizabethan society preferred the narrative of a “white” male genius to acknowledging a black female playwright.

Bassano had intimate connections to the theatre world as mistress of Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon – Elizabeth I’s Lord Chamberlain and patron of Shakespeare’s own troupe, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.

Literary scholars have long speculated she could be the “Dark Lady” immortalised in Shakespeare’s sonnets.

No one during the Bard’s lifetime ever disputed his authorship. Even his theatrical rival Ben Jonson praised him as a genius “for all time”.

Yet conspiracy theories have persisted for centuries, with some suggesting Christopher Marlowe contributed to the enormous body of work.

Shakespeare’s modest origins – a glover’s son from Warwickshire with limited schooling – have fuelled doubts about how he achieved such literary brilliance.

Ms Coslet tackles this directly in her book, writing: “Historians have not managed to explain how the Stratford man, a semi-illiterate moneylender, managed to gain such a level of erudition.”

(Read more)

SHAKESPEARE IN THE DOG PARK: “LITTLE JEWEL: IN THE PLAGUES AND THROES OF LOVE”–PHOTOS FROM TNC · Aug 29th

Frank Farrell took the following photos of the cast of “Little Jewel:  In the Plagues and Throes of Love”–based on “The Two Gentlemen of Verona.”

The schedule for the show, at Theater for the New City,  is: 

SUNDAY – AUGUST 24 – 5PM

WEDNESDAY – AUGUST 27 – 6:30PM

FRIDAY – AUGUST 29 – 6:30PM

SUNDAY AUGUST 31 — 8PM

WEDNESDAY – SEPTEMBER 3 – 6:30PM

FRIDAY – SEPTEMBER 5 – 6:30PM

(from left to right:  (Wei Qiang , Ireland Meacham, and Katy Robinson)

(from left to right: Alejandro Flores and Eike Ross)

 

(from left to right: Ireland Meacham, Bobni Das, Noni Alley, Wei Qiang, Eike Ross, Katy Robinson, and Alejandro Flores)

(from left to right: Bobni Das and Noni Alley)

About Theater for the New City:

 

MEET THE VIBRANT CAST FOR ‘LITTLE JEWEL: IN THE PLAGUES AND THROES OF LOVE” · Aug 27th

They’re young, they’re talented, and boy can they howl . . . 

The names of the cast in the photo are (from left to right): Bobni Das, Ireland Meacham, Eike Ross, Katy Robinson, Alejandro Flores (big guy), and Noni Alley (woman, blond). Photo: Frank Farrell
 
Our dates at Theater for the New City follow:  SUNDAY – AUGUST 24 – 5PM, WEDNESDAY – AUGUST 27 – 6:30PM, FRIDAY – AUGUST 29 – 6:30PM, SUNDAY AUGUST 31 — 8PM, WEDNESDAY – SEPTEMBER 3 – 6:30PM, FRIDAY – SEPTEMBER 5 – 6:30PM

TNC DREAM UP FESTIVAL IN TIME OUT NEW YORK · Aug 26th

(Bob Shuman’s ‘Little Jewel: In the Plagues and Throes of Love’ is one of the shows in the 2025 Dream Up Festival.)

Time Out says (August 11/2025)

The lucky 13th edition of TNC’s diverse fest, curated by literary manager Michael Scott-Price, features 22 works, nearly all of which nearly are world or U.S. premieres. Outer space is a theme in at least three: Fletcher Michael’s First Liar on the Moon imagines the lives of the actors who played astronauts in a fake lunar landing; Thomas M. Copeland’s One in Twenty-Five looks at the aftermath of the Challenger explosion; and Blake Du Bois and TJ Canlon’s Dune! The Dunesical (The Unauthorized 4D “Muad’Dib” Experience) – Part 1 is a musical send-up of Frank Herbert’s sandwormy saga. Among the more down-to-earth offerings are Sloan Aulgur’s Green Herrings in a Yellow Room: A Counter Production of The Yellow Wallpaper, a deconstruction of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s famous short story, and Steven Sarao’s The Boys From Kingsbridge, about a pair of Bronx buddies who grow up to be cops. Solo shows include Elizabeth Alice Murray’s Con*Cussed, about recovering from a head injury; Rodolfo Avarado’s Undesirable Secrets, about a Mexican-American P.O.W. who spent time in a Nazi camp; and Steven and Rick Simone-Friedland’s Kind Stranger…a memory play, adapted from Tennessee Williams’s 1975 autobiography. Visit the Dream Up website for a full list of shows.

(Go to site)

 

‘LITTLE JEWEL: IN THE PLAGUES AND THROES OF LOVE’ COMING TO THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY THIS AUGUST (PRESS RELEASE) · Jul 31st

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press contact: Bob Shuman/Stage Voices
Bobjshuman@gmail.com

 

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY, CRYSTAL FIELD, EXECUTIVE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, TO PRESENT DREAM UP FESTIVAL WORLD PREMIERE OF BOB SHUMAN’S “LITTLE JEWEL:  IN THE PLAGUES AND THROES OF LOVE,” DIRECTED BY FRANK FARRELL AND BOB SHUMAN

MICHAEL SCOTT-PRICE, FESTIVAL DIRECTOR

OFF-OFF-BROADWAY RUN OPENS 

SUNDAY – AUGUST 24 – 5PM

WEDNESDAY – AUGUST 27 – 6:30PM

FRIDAY – AUGUST 29 – 6:30PM

SUNDAY AUGUST 31 — 8PM

WEDNESDAY – SEPTEMBER 3 – 6:30PM

FRIDAY – SEPTEMBER 5 – 6:30PM

KEY ART & PHOTOS available: (Illustration Credit: The Milkmaid (c. 1657–1658) by Johannes Vermeer. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Inv. no. SK-A-2344. Design: Frank Farrell.)

The Dream Up Festival 2025, in which this production appears, has been highlighted in Time Out New York.

Dreamup Web site: https://www.dreamupfestival.org/shows.html

Little Jewel: In the Plagues and Throes of Love

World Premiere

$18

Theater for the New City/Cabaret Theater

 


Running time: Little Jewel: In the Plagues and Throes of Love is 1.5 Hours $18.

Writer, Producer, and Director Bob Shuman

Director and Production Manager Frank Farrell

Based on Shakespeare’s “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”

The original draft of “Little Jewel: In the Plagues and Throes of Love” was written in the form of a dramatic diary, beginning with the start of the COVID epidemic in 2020.

Then Shakespeare took over . . .

“Little Jewel: In the Plagues and Throes of Love” is based on Shakespeare’s “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” and is written in Early Modern English and iambic pentameter.  The play is set amid the fearful turbulence of the Italian Renaissance, or in the Bronx during COVID, or even in Elizabethan England in the course of a pox outbreak—times analogous, or as Einstein theorized, all happening at once. The window into these worlds is the dogs inhabiting the grounds at the Duke of Milan’s castle. They are cared for by Magdalene, a milkmaid, and Launce, Sir Proteus’s servant. Displaced into a terror-ridden world of a severe epidemic, part of a larger pandemic, they, their love, and the destinies of their animals, may remind audiences of their own lives in a time not very long ago.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona (written between 1589 and 1593)

A dog, Crab, is brought to the Milanese court by his Master, Launce, servant to Sir Proteus, a young Veronese noble.  He has been sent by his father to gain wider experience in the world, although this has meant Proteus must leave his love, Julia.  He is quickly enamored, nevertheless, by Lady Silvia, the Duke of Milan’s daughter.  Launce is smitten, as well, by a milkmaid, but she does not appear in the play and is not named. Likewise, the dog, “The Little Jewel” is mentioned in the text but is never seen. The servant, Speed, however is featured in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, as well as his master, Valentine, who also has fallen in love with Silvia–however, his attentions are reciprocated.  Shakespeare focuses on Renaissance preoccupations with courtly love and gentlemanly honor in this early examination, regarding both the invention of the human–and the canine.

William Shakespeare (Playwright, 1564-1616)  The Bard’s incomparable, seismic canon of work far exceeds “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” used as the foundation for “Little Jewel: In the Plagues and Throes of Love” or the one-acts in Shuman’s “Tongs and Bones Shakespeare.”  Yet there is little factual information regarding his life.  Baptismal records document that he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, part of a family that included seven brothers and sisters.  His own children numbered three, after his marriage at age eighteen to Anne Hathaway, who was eight years his elder. The first mention of his career in the London Theatre is as an actor and playwright in 1592.  His prodigious outpouring of dramatic writing includes “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,”  “The Tempest,”  “As You Like It,” and “The Winter’s Tale” and at least thirty-two other titles.

Biographies:

Bob Shuman (Playwright, Director, and Producer) had his work included in Theater for the New City’s Dream Up Festival, 2024 (“Tongs and Bones Shakespeare”)–he is beyond grateful. He earned an MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU/Tisch and is the owner of Marit Literary Agency and the Theatre Web site Stage Voices. He is also a playwright, a senior editor with experience in mainstream publishing, a college professor, and a recipient of Hunter College’s Zarkower Award for excellence in playwriting. His dramatic work has appeared in four anthologies from Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, which includes a volume of monologues for kids. He co-edited “Acts of War: Iraq and Afghanistan in Seven Plays” (Northwestern University Press) and has written for the Eugene O’Neill Society and judged work for the New York Innovative Theatre Awards. Co-author, with fashion florist Michael George, of “Simply Elegant Flowers,” Shuman is a past fellow of the Lark Theatre Company, and his work has been given readings with the Amoralists, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, Second Stage, and the WPA, among others. Productions and readings of his plays have been presented at New York University, Ursinus College, Hunter College, and University of Mount Saint Vincent. He has also spearheaded three monologue events at the Drama Book Shop, where he was a featured author, and he ran such an evening at the Cornelia Street Cafe. He attended the Sewanee Writers Conference in Tenn., and his musical compositions for “As You Like It” and “Twelfth Night” have been heard at Ursinus College. Additionally, Shuman has acted in college productions and in local theatre in NJ and GA. He has seen productions of every Shakespeare play, many of which he has reviewed for his site, and has interviewed industry notables such as playwright Albert Innaurato (in his last “talk” before his death), Natalia Kaliada (Belarus Free Theatre), and Mia Yoo (La MaMa), among others. The actor Liv Ullmann answered several of his questions for “The Guardian” (UK). In 2021, one of the projects he represented as a literary agent was optioned by HBO, and he currently teaches courses on Eastern European Literature and Environmental writing.

Frank Farrell (Director & Production Manager) in 2024 produced and directed six productions: “Little Women,” “Poe: An Evening of Mystery and the Macabre,” and “Dickens Presents A Christmas Carol” for the Hermitage in New Jersey.  In New York City, he produced “Hamlet on the Run” at The Tank Theater, produced and directed “Tongs and Bones Shakespeare” at Theater for the New City, and co-produced and directed “Walt Kelly’s Songs of the Pogo” as part of the New York City Fringe Festival.  In 2023 he produced and directed “Shakespeare’s Ladies at Tea” and “Shakespeare’s Deaths” as part of the Little Shakespeare Festival in NYC, “Little Women” at the Hermitage, and he conducted play readings of plays by Maxwell Anderson at several New York City public libraries.  He was an actor in Chicago for 40 years, receiving four Joseph Jefferson acting nominations.  He also directed and produced plays for the Free Shakespeare Theatre Company, Temporary Theatre, Shakespeare’s Herd, Steppenwolf Theater, Raven Theatre, Equity Library Theater Chicago, the North Lakeside Players, Citadel Theater, and Theatre-Hikes.  Frank has formed seven theatre companies, including the Free Shakespeare Theatre Company (Chicago’s first year-round Shakespeare company), Theatre-Hikes, the Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company in Grand Haven, Michigan, and, in 2019, the First Flight Theatre Company.  For FFTC he has directed and produced many plays, including 2022’s production of Maxwell Anderson’s “Valley Forge.”  Frank has re-published six plays by Anderson from the 1920s: “What Price Glory,” “First Flight,” “The Buccaneer,” “Outside Looking In,” “Gods of the Lightning,” and “Sea-Wife,” all available at Amazon.com.

Thomas J. Donohoe II (Technical Director) is an NJ/NYC-based stage manager, director, and designer, and a graduate of Ramapo College of NJ with a degree in Directing/Stage Management.  Select Credits include: New Studio on Broadway: “Bright Star” (PSM), “An Experiment” (PSM), “Once More,” an original musical (PSM); First Flight Theatre Company: “Ladies at Tea” and “Shakespeare’s Deaths” (PSM/Light & Sound Design), “Mina” (Sound Design); The Tank: “Hamlet on the Run” (Director), “43 Stages of Grieving, a Comedy” (PSM); Montclair Studio Players: “The Laramie Project” (Director); Nutley Little Theatre: “Tin Cat Shoes” (PSM), “A Christmas Carol” (Sound Design); Columbia University: “Broken Arpeggios” (PSM); Ramapo College of NJ: “Stop/Kiss” (PSM), “Acting Under the Influence: Julius Caesar: A Drunk Reading” (Director).  In 2020, he won the KCACTF Region 2 National Award for Stage Management Excellence. Contact at Tdonohoe05@gmail.com.

Cast Biographies

(View Cast Photos at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lyl6Klnm-hw87ushwdAqHdkFnFCdVZ7T)

Noni Alley (Speed, Thurio’s Retainer’s Dog) (they/them) is an actor, producer, and award-nominated VoiceOver artist based in NYC.  An acting alumni of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy with a background in circus arts, Noni performs in film, live theater, animation, and audiobooks.  Recent work includes Valentine in “Twelfth Night,” Ariel in “Tongs and Bones Shakespeare,” Sterling and Tezcatlipoca in “It Has His Eyes,” a narration of​ “Wings of Omen” audiobook.

Bobni Das (Launce) is excited to make his debut as Launce in “Little Jewel: In the Plagues and Throes of Love.” He would like to thank the cast and crew for the amazing few weeks together. Outside of acting, he can be found taking studio dance classes, playing sports like pickleball, or spending time caring for his two cats. 

Alejandro Flores (Proteus, Stefano) is an actor from Ossining, NY. At TNC, he played Duke Senior, in “Tongs and Bones Shakespeare,” in 2024. Alejandro graduated from the City College of New York, where he was part of multiple productions, including Morriseau’s “Pipeline” (Dominique), Lynn Nottage’s “Sweat,” and Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Nick Bottom).  Besides acting in school productions, Alejandro has pursued directing, lighting design, improv, and film.  His love of the craft has led him to explore monologues from various Shakespeare plays, and he is extremely excited to be performing in this production and creating something wonderful with his fellow castmates and the production crew.  Alejandro thanks his family and friends for supporting him throughout his journey!

Ireland Meacham (Crab, Thurio’s Retainer) is an actor, writer, and producer.  They were last seen as Oberon and Theseus in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with the Clementine Players.  They also serve as managing director of the Clementine Players for whom they produce mainstage plays, sketch comedy workshops, and fundraisers, like trivia nights and drag shows.  By day, they are a podcast producer and are particularly proud of their podcast Gender Spiral, which features interviews with trans and queer people about their relationships to gender.

Katy Robinson (Silvia, Julia, Ticino) is an actor from Washington, D.C., and is elated to be making her New York theater debut in “Little Jewel”!  She is a recent graduate of Arcadia University with a BFA in Theater.  Past shows include the world premiere of “Holy Grail of Memphis” (Gigi Robins; Understudy) with Arden Theater Company; “Twelfth Night” (Sir Toby Belch); and “Volpone” (Voltore) with the British American Drama Academy.  Outside of acting she can be found playing the ukulele, drawing, or reading a new play.  She wants to thank her mom, dad, and girlfriend, Gwendolyn, for always supporting her dreams.

Eike Ross (Magdalene) (they/them) is an artist from Chistochina, Alaska. They have a BA in theatre from UAF, graduated from Atlantic Acting School’s full-time conservatory, and are the artistic director of The Clementine Players. Recent work: Director of “Twelfth Night,” Tybalt in “A Man Called Paris,” The Sheriff in “Brokeneck Girls: The Murder Ballad Musical,” and Sycorax in “Tongs and Bones Shakespeare.”

Wei Qiang (Little Jewel/Child) (They/them) is a Brooklyn-based writer, actor, and costume designer.  Wei was last seen in Clementine Players’ production of “Twelfth Night” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” as well as Clementine’s original one-shot series.  Wei is thrilled to join the cast and would like to extend their thanks to their family dog, Pudding, for inspiration.

Production Team:  Frank Farrell (Set Design);  Thomas J. Donohoe II (Sound & Light Design) 

STAGE VOICES Web site (www.stagevoices.com) includes reviews, interviews, current events in the entertainment world, Shakespeare quizzes, and Stanislavski quotes, among others. Owned by Bob Shuman, the Internet destination has been called, “one of the best on-line publications, featuring the gestalt of today’s theatre scene.”—Frank Gagliano, Benedum Professor of Playwriting, West Virginia University; “[A] valuable blog; you make a great contribution to theatre, and it’s most appreciated.” –Roger Hendricks Simon, The Simon Studio. David Gibbs, press agent, DARR Publicity, says, “I sometimes wish we had more reviews/write-ups like yours in the theater world. It’s interesting to read someone’s perspective on a work vs. whether it was good or bad. . .. Art is subjective, so it’s refreshing to read an essay like this. I enjoy the debate on the choices a writer and director
makes. And you give the reader smart context.”

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY (TNC) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning community cultural center that is known for its high artistic standards and  widespread community service. One of New York’s most prolific theatrical organizations, TNC produces 30-40 premieres of new American plays per year, at least 10 of which are by emerging and young playwrights. Many influential theater artists of the last quarter century have found TNC’s Resident Theater Program instrumental to their careers, among them are Sam Shepard, Moises Kaufman, Richard Foreman, Charles Busch, Maria Irene Fornes, Miguel Piñero, Jean-Claude van Itallie, Vin Diesel, Oscar Nuñez, Laurence Holder, Romulus Linney and Academy Award Winners Tim Robbins and Adrien Brody. TNC also presents plays by multi-ethnic/multi-disciplinary theater companies who have no permanent home. Among the well-known companies that have been presented by TNC are Mabou Mines, the Living Theater, Bread and Puppet Theater, the San Francisco Mime Troupe and COBU, the Japanese women’s drumming, and dance group. TNC  also produced the Yangtze Repertory Company’s 1997 production of “Between Life and Death,” which was the only play ever produced in America by Gao Xingjian before he won the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature. TNC seeks to develop theater audiences and inspire future theater artists from the often-overlooked low-income minority communities of New York City by producing minority writers from around the world and by bringing the community into theater and theater into the community through its many free Festivals. TNC productions have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and over 42 OBIE Awards for excellence in every theatrical discipline. TNC is also the only Theatrical Organization to have won the Mayor’s Stop The Violence award.

Theater for the New City is located at:

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY

Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director

155 First Avenue
(between 9th and 10th Streets)
New York, NY 10003

Visit  Theater for the New City 

The thirteenth annual Dream Up Festival (www.dreamupfestival.org) is dedicated to new works. Presented by Theater for the New City, the Festival will run from August 24 – September 14, 2025 and will feature a variety of original dramas, comedies, musicals, adaptations and experimental plays. The Festival is traditionally a celebration of the arts in a time when cultural and arts funding is in sharp decline due to a number of social and market forces. Now an East Village tradition, it challenges the audience to reflect on the innovative and imaginative ways that they interact with the theater.

For more information

https://www.dreamupfestival.org/shows.html

Acknowledgments: Fred Bull, Thomas J. Donohoe II, Claudia Egli, Clara Elser, Crystal Field, Pam Green, Susan Hemley, Joyce Henry, Jeffrey Holcombe, Lorraine Kornreich, Joseph Levis, Madeline Marsicano, Michael Scott-Price, Karen Schimmel, Marit Shuman, Thomas F. Shuman, Shuman family, John Stathakis and family, Theater for the New City, The Hermitage, NJ, University of Mount Saint Vincent

CASTING NOTICE–SHAKESPEARE-INSPIRED PLAY · Jun 23rd

STAGE VOICES PRODUCTIONS BOB SHUMAN, PLAYWRIGHT-PROD.; FRANK FARRELL, PROD. MGR.-DIR.

Key Details

Auditions:
Manhattan, NY
Open Casting Call
  • Jun 29, 2025

Visit for more info: https://www.backstage.com/casting/little-jewel-in-the-plagues-and-throes-of-love-2973081/?utm_source=social_share&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=casting_call

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Casting “Little Jewel,” a play by Bob Shuman, based on Shakespeare’s “The Two Gentlemen of Verona.” It will be presented as part of the new play festival at the Theater for the New City, 155 1st Ave, New York City, in late August and early September, featuring seven actors.

“Little Jewel” is a two-act play about what goes on between a milkmaid, a character never seen but mentioned many times in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and several characters from that Shakespeare play, along with the play’s four dogs during the plague in 17th-century Europe. While based on Shakespeare’s play, the playwright has created a feeling of “Waiting for Godot” mixed with “Come Back Little Sheba,” and all spoken in iambic pentameter.

Roles in this project

ACTORS & PERFORMERS

LAUNCE

Lead. All Genders. 18-55

A comedic character from Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and in this play, we find out about his affection for the milkmaid, Magdalene, who was never seen, only mentioned in Shakespeare’s play.

Ethnicity: All Ethnicities

Required Media: Headshot/Photo, Video Reel, Cover Letter, Resume

Required Skills:

  • Acting Techniques: Shakespeare Training

Rate: $35 flat rate (no duration provided)

 

SPEED & THURIO’S DOG

Supporting. All Genders. 18-55

A comedic character from Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona. He is an old friend of Launce. Thurio’s Dog is a dog to be played wearing a dog mask. Looking for an actor who can play a dog honestly and realistically.

Ethnicity: All Ethnicities

Required Media: Headshot/Photo, Video Reel, Cover Letter, Resume

Required Skills:

  • Acting Techniques: Shakespeare Training

Rate: $35 flat rate (no duration provided)

 

PROTEUS & STEFANO

Supporting. All Genders. 18-35

A dark character from Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona. He is in love with Julia, but now, away from home, he has fallen in love with Silvia. Stephano is another dark character and a troublemaker.

Ethnicity: All Ethnicities

Required Media: Headshot/Photo, Video Reel, Cover Letter, Resume

Required Skills:

  • Acting Techniques: Shakespeare Training

Rate: $35 flat rate (no duration provided)

 

THURIO’S RETAINER AND CRAB THE DOG

Supporting. All Genders. 18-55

A power-hungry character and Crab is Launce’s dog. Crab will be played with an actor wearing a dog mask. Looking for an actor who can play a dog honestly and realistically.

Ethnicity: All Ethnicities

Required Media: Headshot/Photo, Video Reel, Cover Letter, Resume

Required Skills:

  • Acting Techniques: Shakespeare Training

Rate: $35 flat rate (no duration provided)

 

LITTLE JEWEL AND CHILD

Supporting. All Genders. 18-25

 

The title character of the play and a dog. Looking for an actor who can play a dog honestly and realistically.

Ethnicity: All Ethnicities

Required Media: Headshot/Photo, Video Reel, Cover Letter, Resume

Required Skills:

  • Acting Techniques: Shakespeare Training

Rate: $35 flat rate (no duration provided)

SILVIA, JULIA & TICINO A DOG

Supporting. All Genders. 18-40

Julia and Silvia are characters from Shakespeare’s play The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Julia is in love with Proteus, and he is in love with Silvia. Ticino is a dog. We are looking for an actor who can play a dog honestly and realistically.

Ethnicity: All Ethnicities

Required Media: Headshot/Photo, Video Reel, Cover Letter, Resume

Required Skills:

  • Acting Techniques: Shakespeare Training

Rate: $35 flat rate (no duration provided)

DATES & LOCATIONS

Rehearsals begin July 14 via Zoom and in person from Aug. 1-31; runs Aug. 25-Sept. 15 at Theater for the New City.

Compensation & Contract

All Roles

Rate: $35 flat rate (no duration provided)

Key Details

 

Manhattan, NY

Open Casting Call

  • Jun 29, 2025

Seeking talent from Manhattan, NY

GOOD MRS SHAKESPEARE: SCHOLAR DECIPHERS LETTER TO ANNE HATHAWAY · May 2nd

(From France24.)

New evidence uncovered by the Literary expert and Shakespeare ‘sleuth’ Professor Matthew Steggle, has upended the long established narrative that William Shakespeare left his wife Anne Hathaway behind in Stratford for a career in London. It was long thought the couple had a disastrous marriage. Professor Steggle had decrypted a fragment of a letter to the ‘Good Mrs Shakespeare’ which suggests the couple had lived together on Trinity Lane in London. Is is time for a rethink of how ‘Mrs Shakespeare’ is written about? Professor Steggle has been speaking to France 24’s Gavin Lee.

(Read more)  

A BOMBSHELL NEW STUDY SUGGESTS SHAKESPEARE MAY NOT HAVE WRITTEN 15 OF HIS FAMOUS PLAYS · Apr 5th

(Michael Natale’s article appeared in Popular Mechanics, AOL, 4/4.)

This story is a collaboration with Biography.com

William Shakespeare is undeniably one of the most famous writers in human history. The 39 shows attributed to the “Bard of Avon” have been performed, adapted, and studied innumerable times in the centuries since they debuted, and his 154 sonnets are some of the most quoted poems in the world.

The very name Shakespeare has become synonymous with the dramatic arts. But for a segment of the literary community some might call “conspiracy theorists,” it shouldn’t be.

Not because they believe the plays themselves, like Hamlet and Julius Caesar, are incorrectly placed within the literary canon. Rather, they think they’re simply incorrectly labeled; specifically, on the author page.

This contingency, known as the Anti-Stratfordians (in reference to Shakespeare’s home of Stratford-upon-Avon), argue that The Bard’s lack of education and modest upbringing don’t square with the vast vocabulary on display in Shakespeare’s celebrated plays. “They note that both of Shakespeare’s parents were likely illiterate,” Biography.com states in further explaining the stance of the Anti-Stratfordians, “and it seems as if his surviving children were as well, leading to skepticism that a noted man of letters would neglect the education of his own children.”

The Anti-Stratfordians also claim that “none of the letters and business documents that survive give any hint of Shakespeare as an author,” and raise questions like “Why was there no public mourning for him when he died?”

But these claims can all be refuted to one degree or another by those who believe in Shakespeare’s authorship. Shakespeare’s modest background? It’s ultimately not dissimilar to that of Christopher Marlowe, a peer of Shakespeare’s whose authorship of celebrated plays like Doctor Faustus has never been in doubt. In response to the claim of a lack of contemporary records, Biography.com notes that “Tudor officials responsible for ascertaining authorship of plays attributed several works to Shakespeare.” And the claim of a lack of mourning is undercut by no less than Jacobean author Ben Jonson, whose esteemed poem “To the Memory of My Beloved the Author, William Shakespeare” reads:

“To draw no envy, Shakespeare, on thy name,

Am I thus ample to thy book and fame;

While I confess thy writings to be such

As neither man nor muse can praise too much”

These debates of authorship tend to treat inference as evidence, and as such, can never really be conclusive. But a new study published by Oxford University Press offers new insight into the authorship debate. And it does so by taking the human element out entirely.

The study from Zeev Volkovich and Renata Avros, titled “Comprehension of the Shakespeare authorship question through deep impostors approach,” decided to see if a deep neural network could do what centuries of scholars could not: conclusively identify works attributed to, but not written by, William Shakespeare.

The duo refer to their methodology for the analysis as “Deep Imposter”:

“The approach uses a set of known impostor texts to analyze the origin of a target text collection. Both the target texts and impostors are divided into an equal number of word segments. A deep neural network, either a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) or a pre-trained BERT transformer, is then trained and fine-tuned to differentiate between impostor segments.”

After a process which converted these text segments into numerical signals, the tested texts were clustered into two groups, which can be simplified into a score of 1 or 2. Those texts in cluster 1 would be those determined to be “imposter texts” not composed by the author in question.

When Shakespeare’s works were run through the aforementioned CNN neural network, a staggering fifteen titles were placed into cluster 1. Those included not just the usual suspects of “Shakespeare Apocrypha” (works with no clear author sometimes attributed to Shakespeare) like A Yorkshire Tragedy and Arden of Faversham, but also some of the most beloved staples of the Shakespeare canon like The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

(Read more)