Shakespeare’s Other Women: A New Anthology of Monologues

Costume Renderings slideshow

Open to all at no cost

Time and Location

by Scott Kaiser

Directed by Deb Currier

It’s 1623, and editors John Heminges and Henry Condell have finally finished assembling the Bard’s Complete Works. But what to do with all those surplus women’s monologues they’ve cut out? Shakespeare’s Other Women puts a spotlight on the women in Shakespeare who deserved a bigger voice and more stage time. The play features a large, diverse cast of dozens of strong female characters, with 36 new speeches that Shakespeare should have written for women, but didn’t. 

Photos from the production!

Actor in a frilly, yellow coat and stockings sits atop a writers desk with a quill and candle as the projection behind reads "A Printing House".
Actor in a pink and green dress and a headpiece reaches out longingly.
Bathed in red light, a performer with a large crown smites an actor who is bowed on the ground with arms outstretched.
Actor in a long black dress with flowers and a spiderweb draped like a cape looks to the audience and summons to follow.
Performer in a white and purple dress leans on a stool with a dreamy look as a forest is projected behind.

Director's Note

Welcome to Shakespeare’s Other Women…! As a theatre historian, I have always found it interesting to hear people talk about the “lack of feminism” and truncated roles of female characters in Shakespeare’s plays. Some of this is warranted criticism, but we also tend to forget that Shakespeare was writing every character to be played by a man, as women were not legally allowed to perform on the English stage until 1660, nearly 40 years after Shakespeare’s death. The female characters were generally played by young men or older male actors who had made a career out of their skill and talent in portraying female roles. Imagine yourself as William Shakespeare, bringing these stories to life with the full knowledge that the women characters would always have the disadvantage of the audience perceiving them as “men in dress up,” no matter how skilled the man playing Juliet, or Lady McBeth, or Titania might be. I find it a testament to the will of Will to have written as many female characters as thoroughly as he did! Yes, the sexism of the Elizabethan Age was rampant, but if you consider the conditions under which Shakespeare was allowed to create his women characters, it’s a tremendous feat that they are as well-wrought and fully alive as they are in his plays. 

Scott Kaiser has penned a wonderful collection of empowering, beautifully-crafted, new ‘Shakespearean’ monologues to bring to life – all of them female characters, all of them mentioned or appearing in Shakespeare’s original play texts, and all of them deserving their moment to voice who they are, how the actions of the men around them deeply affect them, and how strong, capable, witty, sexy and independent all women (by birth or identity) are capable of being when they are not relegated to the footnotes and margins of their own stories. 

I hope you enjoy the show as much as I enjoyed directing and working with such an amazing cast and crew to give these characters (the men and women, both) a life in the spotlight, however brief that moment may be.

 

Acting Company

The Men

Logan Hyer-Long as John Heminges 

Jesse Gervais as Henry Condell 

The Women

Shona Carter as Calpurnia/Hippolyta/Venus/Jessica 

Madeline Cooper as Beatrice/Audrey/Nell/Queen Elizabeth 

Tessa Hoyos as Mary Tudor/Cleopatra/Nell

Gracie Johnson as Portia/Dido/Elizabeth Shore 

Anna Olsen as Titania/Ariadne/Rosaline 

Grace Schmitt as Hero/Margaret/Ophelia 

Erin Smith as Anne Boleyn/Imogen/Kate Keepdown/Dorcas

Aidyn Stevens as Juliet/Nemesis/Emilia/Lady Jane Grey

Crew

Sound Board Operator: Kate Dolan

Scene Shop

Lane Burke

Clara King

Evan Schwaab

Production Team

Director: Dr. Deb Currier

Assistant Director: Daniel Hanlon

Stage Manager: Clara King

Assistant Stage Manager: Izzi Cooper

Technical Director: Marc Mixon

Production Manager/Lighting Design: Savannah LeCornu

Assistant Lighting Design: Delaney Pickard and Carmen Fonseca

Scenic Design: Dipu Gupta

Projections Design: Tempestt Carreon

Costume Design: Suzannah Beller and Anna Rose Teachworth

Assistant Costume Design: Camryn Gipe and Haley Daggett

Sound Design: Mike Bajuk

Props Design: Rae Ahern

Costume Shop Manager: Rachel Anderson

Assistant Costume Shop Manager: Amber Pacifico

 

Stitchers

Ady Torres-Garcia

Hannah Fredrikson

Louise Heller

Morgan Mitchell

Suzannah Beller

 

Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival | Kennedy Center (kennedy-center.org)

The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) is a national theater program involving 18,000 students annually from colleges and universities across the country. KCACTF aims to:

  • Encourage, recognize, and celebrate the finest and most diverse work produced in university and college theater programs;
  • Provide opportunities for participants to develop their theater skills and insight, and achieve professionalism;
  • Improve the quality of college and university theater in the United States; and
  • Encourage colleges and universities to give distinguished productions of new plays, especially those written by students; the classics, revitalized or newly conceived; and experimental works.
  • Since its inception, KCACTF has given more than 400,000 college theater students the opportunity to have their work critiqued, improve their dramatic skills, and receive national recognition for excellence. More than 16 million theatergoers have attended approximately 10,000 festival productions nationwide.

Visit KCACTF Resources for resources on anti-racism, self-care, and innovative theatre in the time of a global pandemic.

Disability Accommodations

For disability accommodations, please contact the department presenting the event. Disability access information is available online at Parking Services, and further resources can be found by contacting Western's Disability Access Center.