Karen Stephens is Kate and Noah Levine is Petrucio in a reimagining of William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" now set in a 21st century workplace. (Photos courtesy of Nicole Stodard)
In Nicole Stodard's take on Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew," a company in modern day has hired a troupe of actors to come into its workplace. The office staff is dealing with an alpha male CEO who also has a bit of a drinking problem. And that's not his only flaw.
Beverly Blanchette as Baptisa and Bill Schwartz as Christopher Sly in Thinking Cap Theatre's "The Taming of the Shrew." (Photos by Nicole Stodard)
"It's a DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) workshop," explains Karen Stephens, who plays Kate in Thinking Cap's "Shrew." "The premise is that the office workers take on the roles of the characters as our workshop. The purpose for the workshop is to make our boss, Christopher Sly, come around . . .you know, teach him a lesson about decorum and equality . . ."
Thinking Cap Theatre's "The Taming of the Shrew" is in the Abdo New River Room at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, opening Friday, March 22 through Wednesday, April 3.
" 'Taming of the Shrew,' " says Stodard, "is a frame play . . . there's an outer play and then it uses the play-within-a-play structure."
The original, written between 1590 and1592, is one of Shakespeare's earliest plays. "Scholars don't agree on whether it was his first, second, or third play," she says.
In the original outer play, a character named Christopher Sly is in a public square in Padua, Italy. He's drunk and rambling about the alehouse that tossed him out of the pub. He's approached by a group of actors who tell him that they are going to put on a play for him. And that's when the actual "The Taming of the Shrew" begins.
LEFT: Karen Stephens is Kate in Thinking Cap Theatre's adaptation of "The Taming of the Shrew" through Wednesday, April 3, in the Abdo New River Room at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. (Photos courtesy of Nicole Stodard) RIGHT: Karen Stephens as the shrewish Kate in Thinking Cap Theatre's "The Taming of the Shrew." (Photos by Nicole Stodard)
Katherine (Kate) is notoriously difficult, especially with men, which makes no man want to marry her. Petrucio decides he'll marry her and tame her because he wants her family's money. He's determined to conform her to become what society expects – a submissive wife. There's a secondary plot about Kate's kinder sister, Bianca, who can't marry until her older sister does; she has met the love of her life.
"We set it in modern times and it works," says Stodard. "Because Shakespeare's plays are ultimately about basic things – human relationships, which are work relationships, family relationships . . . So for audiences to connect to Shakespeare, I want people that think they might not like Shakespeare to walk away saying, 'I understood that and I've also been entertained by it.' "
Karen Stephens with Noah Levine as Melissa Ann Hubicsak looks on in Thinking Cap Theatre's reimagining of William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." (Photos courtesy of Nicole Stodard)
The play is performed using Shakespeare's text, adapted by Stodard. Performing Shakespeare is no easy task, but Stephens says, while she hasn't done a full production as Kate in "The Taming of the Shrew," she's had experience in a play reading of Kate with Peter Galman's Shakespeare Troupe of South Florida." "The only full-fledged Shakespeare production I've done was with Florida Stage at (West Palm Beach's) Kravis Center as Rosalind (in 'As You Like It' around 2009-2010)."
Stephens says that while rehearsing Thinking Cap's production, she's realized how, while there is a challenge to Shakespeare, both for audiences and actors, the intent of the scenes and what is being said leaves no doubt about what's happening.
She says audiences will see societal traditions challenged. "Roles that society thrusts upon us and through Nicole Stodard's concept of that through a traditional Shakespeare comedy. I think that's what's fun."
Stodard says that the comedy is a perfect fit for her company. "It is one of Shakespeare's most memorable and controversial plays because of the power dynamic between men and women in the play. It has divided audiences since Shakespeare's time. There has been a sense that ultimately, the play puts women back in their place at its end."
Phillip Andrew Santiago as Lucentio, Cameron Holder as Tranio, and Melissa Ann Hubicsak as Bianco in Thinking Cap Theatre's "The Taming of the Shrew" in the Abdo New River Room of the Broward Center Performing Arts. (Photos by Nicole Stodard)
The reimagining of the classic is part of Thinking Cap's "The People vs. Shakespeare's Shrew," which Stodard describes as a multifaceted project that will invite audiences to explore perceptions of the play, including a 1611 response play by John Fletcher. "He writes a very different ending and we're doing a staged reading of that after 'Shrew' closes to give audiences a chance to experience a work by one of Shakespeare's contemporaries that took the same storyline and treated it very differently."
From a casting standpoint, Stodard also took a different approach. "I did something I've never done before. I did not assign parts to the actors until I had cast all 10. And I did that because I wanted a diverse cast — along gender, age and race lines. One of Thinking Cap's priorities is diversity on stage and behind the scenes," she says, adding that "with this play especially, because of our concept, it was important to me that we were putting actors on stage that represent the diversity of society. Also, to make us think about how power and gender and race come into play in workplace settings and how people struggle to navigate across those lines."
There were many sources the director and her actors used to help navigate how "The Taming of the Shrew" would translate into a 21st-century workplace setting.
"We watched a lot of episodes of 'The Office.' "
IF YOU GO:
- WHAT: Thinking Cap Theatre's adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew"
- WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 3 p.m. Saturday, and Sunday. 7: 30 p.m. performance Monday, April 1. Through April 3.
- TICKETS: $45 general admission, $25 for students not including fees.
- WHERE: Abdo New River Room at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale.
- INFORMATION: (954) 462-0222 or BrowardCenter.org. Tickets at www.ticketmaster.com/thinking-cap-theatre-taming-of-the-tickets/artist/3059551?brand=broward&venueId=107373
