Discover your own inner actor! After a brief introduction, you'll be randomly assigned roles to read and guided through a reading and discussion of a play written by one of Shakespeare's contemporaries.

Presented in collaboration with Shakespeare BASH'd.

'Tis Pity She’s a Whore by John Ford - Wednesday, July 17
A rapturous love affair that threatens the quiet religious certainty of a community. This play bubbles with desire and passion just like Romeo and Juliet, only these two lovers are siblings…

Endymion, the Man in the Moon by John Lyly - Wednesday, July 31
A mythic, prosaic comedy about madness and yearning. A deeply enjoyable story of unrequited love between a goddess and a man, which works as a companion to Twelfth Night.

Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher - Wednesday, August 14
A raucous tragicomedy with knights in love, maidens in disguise, and ridiculous encounters and adventures. An enormous success for the playwriting duo, it was either an influencer, or inspired by, Shakespeare’s Cymbeline.

The Convent of Pleasure by Margaret Cavendish - Wednesday, August 28
A rare classic, which is humorous, musical, and ahead of its time, written and published by a woman. This work of utopian fiction tells the story of Lady Happy rejecting social norms to create a “convent” for free women.