Lisa Wolpe's Shakespeare & the Alchemy of Gender

ONE NIGHT ONLY
The Dome - Yale Shwarzman Center

From cross-gender exploration to the legacy of Auschwitz, Lisa Wolpe's internationally triumphant one woman show confirms Shakespeare’s insight into the human condition is as relevant as ever.

Visionary theatre artist Lisa Wolpe’s solo show Shakespeare and the Alchemy of Gender offers a unique celebration of the power of the eloquence of Shakespeare to build empathy and understanding in a world where the unspeakable seems to happen again and again. Wolpe performs Romeo, Hamlet, Richard III, Henry V, Shylock and more, while exploring her growing awareness of her father’s life as a WWII war hero and Nazi resistance fighter. Her work speaks towards liberation from the "gender box" of expectations, and offers a unique and powerful perspective of courage, resilience and hope against her family's troubled background of war, sickness, suicide and despair. Shakespeare and the Alchemy of Gender has toured internationally and throughout the United States to theaters including The Rose Playhouse, King’s College, and Central School of Music and Drama in London, Warwick University and Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust in Stratford-UponAvon, U.K.; Prague Shakespeare Company, Czech Republic; Bremer Shakespeare, Bremen, Germany; Vancouver, B.C., and Stratford, Ontario, Canada; H.E.R.E., NYC; various venues in Los Angeles; San Francisco Shakespeare Festival; Colorado Shakespeare Festival; Utah Shakespeare Festival; Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Orlando Shakespeare Festival; Seattle Shakespeare, Great River Shakespeare Festival, MN; Whittier College, CA, UCSB, Earlham College, IN; Hope College, MI; University of Rhode Island, Statera Conference, SAA Conference, STA Conference, and more. The recording of this performance has been streamed, along with a live Q&A with the artist, to universities including Boston University, University of North Carolina, University of Georgia, University of Colorado, Indiana University, Southwest Shakespeare, Cal State University, & more.

The New Yorker says: Lisa Wolpe’s solo show brings wry humor and Shakespearean insight to a range of wrenchingly difficult subject matters, including sexism, domestic abuse, suicide, and the Holocaust. Weaving monologues from her favorite male Shakespeare roles with reflections on her family history, Wolpe explores her fascination with upending gender conventions as a way to reclaim power in the face of a traumatic past… it’s hard not to credit Wolpe for fearlessness, sincerity, and good humor.

Sponsored in part by CT Humanities, City of New Haven Dept of Arts, Culture, and Toursim and Yale's Shwarzman Center.

Host or Publisher Elm Shakespeare Company