The Underground Update

July 2025 (Volume 1.1)

Author

Kiera Egan
July 20, 2025

Spotlight On:

The First Annual Juneboree!

Company founders pose for a picture after the Juneboree. From left to right: Fiona Egan, Kiera Egan, Jessie Kay, and Laura Clinton

On June 7th, the Underground Theatre Alliance hosted an event that we hope to celebrate for many more years to come: the first annual Juneboree fundraiser and variety show. A night of jam-themed drinks and desserts, the UTA mixed and mingled with the patrons that make this theatre company possible, as some incredible acts showcased their talents in music, improv, and more!

Thank you to our special guests, stand-up comedians Bailey Whitehead and Mark Little, for your participation in this event and for concluding our lovely evening with some hilarious musical theatre jokes.

To all of the returning UTA alliance members who helped make this magical night happen: Julia Cahn, Laura Clinton, Kelly Clinton, Fiona Egan, Kiera Egan, SG Egan, Jessie Kay, Jim McMahon, Paolo Ragusa, Charley Walton, Daniel Walton, and Megan Twamley— thank you for lending us your talents once again. And, a very warm welcome to the NEW alliance members we gained that night: Juan Carlos, Erin Clinton, Alex Spurlock, and Mariana Perez — we are thrilled to have you join our silly little group.

Alliance Member Daniel Walton reprises his role as Sir John Falstaff in an improvised mime act

Whether you performed or helped behind the scenes (or both!), we are beyond grateful you were a part of this special event and look forward to future collaborations!

And finally, a big congratulations to our raffle basket winners, Kevin Jacobsen, who took home the second-place basket, and Sidney Reeves, who took home the first-place basket.

Check out our Instagram to see some pictures and videos from the night!

Party with Us:

August 22nd — Roast of William Shakespeare

The Underground Theatre Alliance is proud to announce our next fundraising event, the Roast of William Shakespeare, will be on August 22nd at 8 PM, at The Rat in Dumbo.

Please email us or DM us on Instagram if you are interested in participating or have any other inquiries!

Purchase your tickets online here!

Be there or be SQUARE!

poster created by Daniel Walton

Word on the Street:

Audiences Rave About Julius Caesar!

Pictured left to right: Julia Cahn, Zaina Shariff, Fiona Egan, and Audrey Owen. Photo credit: Alicia Vnencak

On January 10th and 11th, the UTA girl bossed the hell out of Shakespeare’s classic, Julius Caesar. Set at a college sorority house, Caesar was transformed into a sapphic, Juicy Couture-wearing Queen Bee— the likes of which could put Regina George and Heather Chandler to shame.

From a pillow fight turned suffocation, to a self-imposed curling-iron branding, to the iconic and well-known assassination made anew with knitting needle stabs and cherry-scented blood, this production was full of campy, girly gore.

Pictured left to right: Kiera Egan, Fiona Egan, and Lily Lipman. Photo credit: Stephanie Roberts

And, on January 5th, the cast of Julius Caesar held an open dress rehearsal at Dominican Academy High School on the Upper East Side, where company member Kiera Egan (Brutus) works as a teacher. The performance was attended by over 40 members of the school community, and it is now official— Julius Caesar is a hit with the youth.

But don’t take it all from me (the writer of this newsletter, who may or may not be the aforementioned Brutus), take it from these three individuals who attended the show:

❝

Julius Caesar was a hilarious yet thrilling take on the Shakespeare classic. Depicting great Roman emperors as petty and scheming teens, the adaptation made the story feel surprisingly relatable and fun, showing that drama and power struggles aren’t just a thing of the past… Me and my friends had such a great time!

Delilah L., High School Senior

Pictured: Lily Lipman. Photo credit: Stephanie Roberts

❝

I was absolutely blown away… As a queer Classicist it was so exciting to see a lesbian Brutus, [and] relegating the Battle of Phillipi to a spat between warring sororities was an absolutely exquisite choice. The actors’ performances were electrifying! Can’t wait to see what else they do!

Lyla C., Latin Teacher

Background (left to right): Lily Lipman, Kiera Egan, and Zaina Shariff; foreground (left to right): Amelie Eckhart and Laura Clinton. Photo credit: Stephanie Roberts

Pictured (left to right): Lily Lipman, Audrey Owen, Fiona Egan, and Zaina Shariff. Photo credit: Alicia Vnencak

❝

After reading about the play online, I was drawn to see it due to its setting and because Julius Caesar is my favorite Shakespeare play—I was certainly not disappointed… I am constantly thinking of how Shakespeare's works can be performed in today's world in a way that both honors their origins and modernizes them to apply them to the present day—this production was a great blend of those factors and I was very pleased to be able to see it!

Esme W., Shakespeare Scholar

Pictured (left to right): Julia Cahn and Sasha Rechler. Photo credit: Alicia Vnencak

The cast of Julius Caesar poses for a picture during the show. Left to right (kneeling): Audrey Owen, Kiera Egan, Laura Clinton, Julia Cahn, Fiona Egan. Left to right (standing): Lily Lipman, Zaina Shariff, Sasha Rechler, and Amelie Eckhart.

Double, Double, Trolling & Trouble:

4 Things the Bard Did That Deserve Some Roasting

In honor of our Roast of William Shakespeare next month, company founder and alliance member Kiera Egan shares some of his most roast-worthy moments:

#1: He took almost all of his plots from other texts. Romeo and Juliet? Not his plot. Twelfth Night? Not his plot. Hamlet? Not his plot. It would actually take less time to list the plays he did NOT borrow plots from: The Tempest (which I cannot in earnest roast) and Love’s Labour’s Lost, a play which is barely enjoyable unless you happen to know a heck of a lot about the four Elizabethan noblemen he parodied.

#2: The only thing he gave his wife (of almost 40 years) in his will was the “second-best bed.” While Billy might have an excuse for this part of the will (she was older and expected to die first, the “second-best bed” could be their marital bed, blah blah blah), it is still COLD as this is the ONLY document in which Shakespeare directly addresses his wife. This man was arguably the most romantic and skilled poet ever to exist, and yet none of those 154 sonnets are addressed to her. And, to make it worse, most of the mothers/wives in his canon are either dead at the start, dead by the end, or are manipulative whores. You deserved better, Anne.

#3: He burned down the Globe theatre with some wicked pyrotechnics. Ever wonder why the Globe Theatre is only about 30 years old? That would be because our Billy boy thought it would be very cool to set off literal cannons in his all-wood theatre for his production of Henry VIII. Gotta appreciate the commitment to the bit, but at what cost?

#4: He spelled his own name a different way in every signature of his found. Before all the Shakespeare nerds come for me, I know that spelling wasn’t standardized in his time. But, I also can understand why people question if he wrote it all when the man literally didn’t spell his name the same way in any of the 6 surviving signatures. William Shakespeare? Nah, that man is Willm Shakp, Wm Shakspe, William Shaksper, Willm Shakespe. Ya know what, what IS in a name? Maybe the Bard was cooking… let’s normalize spelling names by vibes again??

What Willy Said

“Good company, good wine, good welcome, can make good people.”

~ William Shakespeare, unprompted, after drinking three (3) Ginberry cocktails