About BST
[Brave Spirits has a] kick-ass mission.
— David Siegel, DC Metro Theater Arts
Mission
Brave Spirits Theatre stages visceral and intimate productions of Shakespeare and his contemporaries with a focus on female artists and feminist perspectives.
Vision
Through a rigorous commitment to both scholarship and modern theatre practice, BST seeks to become a regional and a national leader in the Shakespeare industry. Our programming is guided by three main initiatives:
- To introduce overlooked early modern plays to new audiences and to encourage other companies to produce them.
- To enrich these classic plays with nontraditional casting and provide access for marginalized voices.
- To build a company training program to enhance the skills of our ensemble and provide learning opportunities for DC area actors.
Values
BST is dedicated to plays from the era of verse and violence which contrast the baseness of humanity with the elegance of poetry. Our six values are the heart of how we rehearse and why we perform these plays.
Verse
The defining feature of these plays is their linguistic inventiveness. Iambic pentameter was the language of this era of theatre; that structure provides a wealth of information for artists and audiences. Our rehearsals begin with in-depth tablework, which we see as a delicious process, full of joy and discovery. Download the BST Text Analysis Packet
Violence
Early modern theatre was often shocking and gruesome. BST’s productions tear down the perception of these plays as proper and intellectual and instead use them to explore the boundaries of acceptable behavior. By leaning into these darker aspects, BST creates theatre that contains the full spectrum of human experience.
Shakespeare’s Contemporaries
Early modern England gave us one of the richest periods for drama that the world has ever known. BST is dedicated not only to Shakespeare, but also to the other playwrights writing in the same era, who have been unfortunately ignored in the wake of Shakespeare’s genius. We believe in the dramatic worth of these works and we love sharing these rarely produced gems with our audience.
Representation
BST’s productions are implicitly and explicitly feminist. In order to address the disparity of the female presence in early modern theatre, we engage in cross-gender casting and the re-gendering of characters. Our productions seek to critique patriarchal constructs and move beyond heteronormativity. BST is committed to giving voice in these plays to LGBTQ narratives, to BIPOC, and to artists of all backgrounds.
Actors
The actor is at the center of the theatrical process. We aim to create a collaborative rehearsal room driven by the input of actors. Our productions employ doubling and a sense of ensemble in order to highlight the talents of performers and the theatricality inherent in these plays.
Audience
The early modern theatre was a communal artistic experience. In keeping with that aesthetic, there is no fourth wall in BST productions and the audience is actively present in the world of the play. By playing with the audience rather than to them, BST creates a sense of intimacy and connection that heightens the power of these plays and the audience’s response to them.
Land Acknowledgement
Brave Spirits Theatre acknowledges that we perform on the traditional land of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe. Historically, they inhabited the coastal tidewater of Virginia on the north side of the James River near Chesapeake Bay. Scholars estimate that various distinct cultures of Native Americans occupied this part of the mid-Atlantic coast for more than 10,000 years before European contact.
Brave Spirits Theatre is proud to be a part of the diverse theatrical landscape that is the DC Metropolitan region and a member of theatreWashington. Together, with the region’s dynamic professional theatre community, theatreWashington creates and invigorates audiences, strengthens the region’s theatrical workforce, and celebrates excellence on Washington stages to build an even more vibrant community for all.
Brave Spirits Theatre is a proud partner of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection and to major collections of other rare Renaissance books, manuscripts, and works of art, the Folger serves a wide audience of scholars, visitors, teachers, students, families, and theatre- and concert-goers.
Brave Spirits Theatre is proud to be a member of The Shakespeare Theatre Association (STA). STA was established to provide a forum for the artistic, managerial, educational leadership for theatres primarily involved with the production of the works of William Shakespeare; to discuss issues and methods of work, resources, and information; and to act as an advocate for Shakespearean productions and training.