The Who, What, Where, When, and Why…

Who?

We are actors who agree with Hamlet’s definition of the purpose of theater: “to hold a mirror up to nature".

For us, that nature is Chicago's, so our actors look and sound like Chicago, with African-American, Asian, European, Mexican, Native American and Puerto Rican heritages.

What? 

What we do is make Shakespeare come alive for everyone! Undergirding all our work is the fact that Shakespeare is a playwright. "Wright" means “one who constructs”; a playwright writes the text that becomes the blueprint to be "constructed" on stage in performance. This is work that anyone can do, making sense of the language by using their own senses of sight, sound, and imagination. You will find a sample of things we found in the construction of a performance of Romeo and Juliet's first conversation under "Studies" on the home page.

Where?

Classrooms and conference rooms, parks and church basements, in libraries and at street fairs, as well as in traditional theaters.  We've been to most neighborhoods in the city from Rogers Park to the Far East Side, from the Gold Coast to Dunning, from Englewood to Sauganash.  We've worked in surrounding communities as varied as Berwyn, Decatur, Joliet, Lake Forest, Northbrook, Streamwood and Villa Park.  While our on-site work was on hiatus these past few years, we have developed work accessible on-line for classroom use.  You will find that material under “Studies” on the home page.

When?

In 1994, two Chicago actors met working on a production Romeo and Juliet, and realized what they were learning about acting in verse would be helpful to high school students reading the play.  They created a lecture/demonstration in which professional actors would perform selections from Romeo and Juliet, introducing each scene with the demonstration of a technique that had helped them understand Shakespeare's language.  In 1996, Chicspeare incorporated as a 501(c) 3 non-profit theater, to present productions of the plays and educational programs on the works.

In the present, at just about any time of day.  We've performed at 7:30 a.m. in high schools, at noon for book editors on their lunch break, at 3 p.m. with kids in afterschool programs, at 6:30 p.m. for pre-schoolers at a library story time, and at 7:30 p.m. in a storefront theater.  

Why?

Because it's fun! Yes, Shakespeare can be difficult, but so is basketball or the drums, if you want to play them well.  But anyone can have fun at a sport or an instrument even when they’re just playing around.  So it is with Shakespeare.  When you play around with what he’s written -- what it sounds like, what you look or feel like when you say it, whether there’s a rhythm in a line -- you find it unleashes your imagination in cool ways.

Because Shakespeare's plays provide a mirror that helps us reflect on who we are, even as 21st century Chicagoans.  The London of Shakespeare's time was struggling with a changing economy, moving from being a market town to a center for international trade.  There were migrants moving to the city and a mix of accents and dialects on the city's streets.  There were concerns about how power was transferring from one administration to the next. There were families separated because of war or work (Shakespeare's own being one of them). There were people living in great poverty not far from those living in splendid palaces. And there was a recurrent plaque, that threatened the public’s health. All of those concerns and circumstances arise in Shakespeare's plays; by working with them, we find ways to think about, and maybe the words to talk about, the concerns we have in Chicago now.