Brave Spirits Theatre is devastated to announce that we cannot continue with Shakespeare’s Histories at this time. Given the long preparation time required, our small performance space, and the current COVID models, we are unable to guarantee the safety of our company and audiences on a timeline that would allow us to perform as scheduled.
Until we can safely perform in person, we plan to focus on expanding our anti-racism and inclusion work, and we hope to continue our mission of exploring early modern theatre through a modern feminist lens in ways that are safe for our cast, crew, and audiences.
We’d like to thank the theatre community for supporting us through our unprecedented Histories project, and we join with our community in urging you to support the arts through this unprecedented time in our own history.
The board and artistic leadership of Brave Spirits Theatre is so proud of the work the acting ensemble and production and design team accomplished during Shakespeare’s Histories. Prior to the spread of coronavirus, this project was an unquestionable success. We were meeting fundraising benchmarks ahead of schedule, and the first four productions opened to positive reviews. Ticket buyers for the Histories came from 24 states, and the project sold more in the first 24 hours than any previous BST production. For the four plays of The King’s Shadow, the 18 members of the acting ensemble rehearsed for 590 hours, learned 8,914 lines, and portrayed 151 characters. The production team designed and created over 500 costume pieces, 160 props, and 48 set pieces, composed 21 pieces of music, choreographed nearly 18 minutes of fights involving 33 weapons and over 45 minutes of movement and intimacy choreography, and wrote 358 light cues. The Histories team were on their way to an American theatre first, made all the more remarkable by doing it on BST’s small budget size.
Please join BST in a hearty round of applause for the artists and administrators who worked on Shakespeare’s Histories: Abi Franklin, Amanda Forstrom, Annette Mooney, Brendan Edward Kennedy, Brianna Goode, Caolan Eder, Caroline Johnson, Casey Kaleba, Charlene V. Smith, Charley Cobb, Claire Kimball, Dean Carlson, Duane Richards, Emily MacLeod, Emily Sucher, Florence Babatunde, Gary DuBreuil, Hannah Fogler, Ian Blackwell Rogers, Jacqueline Chenault, Jason Aufdem-Brinke, Jen Katz, Jen Rabbit Ring, Jenna Berk, Jessica Aimone, Jillian Riti, John Stange, Jordan Brown, Jordan Friend, Joshua Williams, Justin Schneider, Kavita Finn Mudan, Kimberlee Bolton, Kirra Sharpe, Kristen P Ahern, Lisa Hill-Corley, Mara Sherman, Marshall B Garrett, Megan Behm, Megan Holden, Micaela Lell, Micaela Mannix, Michael Bannigan Jr., Mitchell Parker, Molly E. Thomas, Musa Gurnis, Nick Hansen, Nicole Ruthmarie, Paige C Washington, Robert Garner, Ryan Musil, Sydney Moore, Tom Howley, Yaritza Pacheco, and Zach Brewster-Geisz.
We celebrate the considerable accomplishment of rehearsing and opening the four plays of The King’s Shadow in 2020 and the preparation and discussions that were already underway during the table work process of The Queen’s Storm. Over the next few months we hope to find ways to share and commemorate these accomplishments with our audience. We are so grateful for your support and belief in this epic project.
If you are currently a ticket-holder for performances in 2021, we will be contacting you soon.