Spotlight On:

All’s Well That Ends Well, at G-Gallery this October!

The Underground Theatre Alliance is proud to announce that their next production, All’s Well That Ends Well, will be at G Gallery in SoHo on October 3rd and 4th!

As with all UTA productions, All’s Well That Ends Well will not be your typical boring, stuffy Shakespeare show. But instead of mimes or a sorority sleepover, we are bringing you a kind of two-for-one entertainment experience: All’s Well That Ends Well will be both a theatrical play AND an art gallery you may visit before, during, and after the show!

Artistic works inspired by the characters, plot, and overall themes of the play will be on display at the beautiful G Gallery for the entirety of the show’s run at the space on October 3rd and October 4th. Every piece of art has been created by alliance members, in the cast or otherwise — a massive collaborative project complete with references to art history and movements. It’s a love letter to Shakespeare, and a love letter to visual art, in one incredible event at G Gallery.

Returning alliance members in this amazing cast include: Julia Cahn as Helena, Jim McMahon as Bertram, Paolo Ragusa as Parolles, Audrey Owen as Diana, as well as Zaina Shariff, Matthew Fay, and Lily Lipman as soldiers. The UTA is also proud to announce some new alliance members joining us for this production: Renee Hapeman (Widow), Clarissa Hernandez (Countess), Neysa Lozano (King), and Rebecca Wolf (Lafeu). Laura Clinton and Daniel Walton will also be reprising their role as your favorite director duo.

Stay tuned for more information about how to buy your tickets, and follow us on Instagram to see fun behind-the-scenes moments!

Party with Us:

Roast of William Shakespeare THIS FRIDAY AT 9 PM!

Word on the Street:

Interview with Artistic Director Laura Clinton

What inspired you to do a sorority-themed Julius Caesar? 

There’s a certain je ne sais quoi about the power dynamics that emerge in a sorority, where young women are desperate to find some sort of structure and social safety. When that gets threatened, it really can feel like warfare. To me, there was a really natural fit with this theme that allowed us to explore the interpersonal dynamics and power shifts of these characters through an accessible lens. Also, the cuntiness of the text is undeniable. The way that these characters speak to each other is dripping with subtext, and playing with that sass was just ✨FUN!✨

Was this your first all-woman show? What are some of the strengths or challenges of having an all-woman cast for a play like Caesar?

WE ❤️ ALL-WOMEN SHAKESPEARE IN THIS HOUSE.* There’s a beautiful irony in working with all-female casts given that these plays were originally performed with all-male casts. It feels like a karmic rebalancing every time we get to work with only women. Especially with Caesar, there was a massive advantage in having so many different female perspectives, as well as a few nonbinary perspectives in the room (including my co-director, Daniel Walton!). Gender is a weird construct and I try not to assign too much meaning to it, but our company is certainly built on a lot of feminine energy.

*i.e., our 2017 burlesque-themed production of Antony & Cleopatra, our 2016 production of Hamlet, and our 2018 production of The Comedy of Errors.

And of course, you were not just the director, but also the titular role! What was the most fun thing about playing such a well-known character?

I LOVED being able to reinterpret such an iconic character. There’s a real gravitas associated with this role and it was a blast to turn that on its head. I loved the idea that she leads through charm, confidence, and beauty, not through overt domination or military skill. Regina George was (of course) a huge inspiration, and the way she switches between warmth (Omg I love your sweater where did you get it) and ice (That is the fugliest sweater I’ve ever seen) is so disorienting in the best way, I loved trying to recreate that in Caesar.

As many close to you know, you have a personal goal to direct all of Shakespeare’s canon, of which you’ve already done 11. What remaining show(s) are you most excited to give the Laura Clinton spin?

That's a great question. I've been really fortunate to tackle a lot of the big hits already, but I still haven't directed Romeo & Juliet. There's a lot of pressure on that one since the story is so embedded in our culture. I'd really want to find something new to say about it, but I haven't experienced the personal trauma that I think would push me into that world yet. I also haven't tackled any of the history plays yet, and those I'm just excited to get really weird with -- I have no respect for British history, so you can expect that a lot of royals will begin rolling in their graves as we work our way through them.

Well, we know the next show is All’s Well That Ends Well, coming this October, can we expect Romeo and Juliet after that?

That depends, what kind of trauma are you planning to inflict upon me over these next few months?

All That Did NOT End Well:

Shakespeare’s Worst Endings

In honor of our upcoming production of All’s Well That Ends Well, as well as the Roast of William Shakespeare THIS FRIDAY, members of the alliance share the Shakespeare plays whose endings they believe are, to put it kindly, rough:

What Willy Said