Lauren M. Gunderson’s A Room in the Castle Flips the Script on Hamlet with A Feminist Twist
A Room in the Castle
Folger Shakespeare Theatre
Jordan Wright
March 11, 2025
Special to The Zebra
 Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, Burgess Byrd, and Oneika Phillips in Folger Theatre’s world premiere of A Room in the Castle, written by Lauren M. Gunderson, directed by Kaja Dunn, co-produced with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, on stage at the Folger Shakespeare Library, March 4-April 6, 2025. (Photo/Erika Nizborski) In A Room in the Castle playwright Lauren M. Gunderson flips the script on Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Hamlet. In her version the women get to be empowered, join forces and abandon the murderous prince. That’s novel, right? Gunderson, as America’s most produced American playwright, is known for her empowered females. Gals with strut and guts – smart cookies who could rule the world and dress nicely too.
In these original portrayals Ophelia is a confused, lovestruck teenager who composes songs to Hamlet with whom she is betrothed. Although, she’s not at all certain she should go through with her wedding. She’s miffed by his lack of attention to her. Queen Gertrude is a glamorous, power-mad diva who defends her son, yet eventually decides to bag it all and rescue our poor ingenue. “I am your protector now,” she tells Ophelia. Anna is Ophelia’s wise, tough-talking and supremely confident handmaid who has Ophelia’s back in matters of life and love. Together these unlikely compatriots plot to save Ophelia from marrying Hamlet and to whisk her off to parts unknown.
 Oneika Phillips, Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, and Burgess Byrd (Photo/Erika Nizborski) You may ask about the Prince. In this three-hander Hamlet’s actions are imagined through video projections depicting which Act and Scene they relate to. It’s up to you to suss it out. As a huge fan of Shakespeare’s works, Gunderson seeks to reinvent the story from a woman’s angle in order to reimagine how these women might truly react to Hamlet’s madness, the interminable wars, the palace intrigue and the murders that surround them, to finally take charge of their own destinies.
 Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, Oneika Phillips, and Burgess Byrd i(Photo/Erika Nizborski) The women banter about how much power the men have over them, “All of it!” exclaims Anna, and the three of them get tanked on bottles of wine while plotting their escape. Sitting together in Ophelia’s tiny bedroom, lightly furnished with a desk, a single bed and her treasured guitar, they eagerly trash-talk the men in their lives and bond over discussions of male domination and sex. “Do you like sex?” Ophelia quizzes the Queen. This feminist viewpoint of Shakespeare’s classic work is an interesting approach written with humor and wit. Yet, after all is said and done between these newly empowered women, it doesn’t turn out so great for Gertrude, but I leave it you to imagine her denouément.
 Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, Oneika Phillips, and Burgess Byrd (Photo/Erika Nizborski) The excellent cast consists of Oneika Phillips as Queen Gertrude, Sabrina Lynne Sawyer as Ophelia and Burgess Byrd as Anna.
Directed by Kaja Dunn; Scenic Design by Samantha Reno; Costume Design by Nicole Jescinth Smith; Assistant Director and Dramaturg Shana Laski; Lighting Design by Max Doolittle; Sound Design and Composer Sarah O’Halloran. In a co-presentation with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.
Through April 6th at the Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 544-7077 or visit www.Folger.edu.
Winning Cast in a Must-see, Superbly Designed and Brilliantly Written Play at Arena Stage
The Age of Innocence
Arena Stage
Jordan Wright
March 9, 2025
Special to The Zebra
 Delphi Borich (May Welland), A.J. Shively (Newland Archer), and Shereen Ahmed (Countess Ellen Olenska) in The Age of Innocence at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater running February 28 – March 30, 2025. (Photo/Daniel Rader) Karen Zacarías’s brilliantly imagined stage adaption of Edith Wharton’s classic novel is an absolute gem with Tim Mackabee’s elaborate set replete with floating chandeliers, theatre boxes that jut out above the stage from all four corners to reveal high society opera attendees dressed to the nines in Victorian splendor, and a separate center stage that rises and falls with each new intimate scene. If you are wistful to see this novel come alive, you’ll swoon for it. It’s sophisticated and elegant, as expected, wrapped around a tragic story of unrequited love.
The Age of Innocence is brilliantly cast with huge Broadway actor and local beloved Felicia Curry in the starring role of Granny as well as serving as the story’s narrator, the ravishing Shereen Ahmed, another Broadway luminary as femme fatale Countess Ellen Olenska and the very debonair and impressive actor A. J. Shively as the impassioned lover, Newland Archer. He will sweep you off your feet!
 A.J. Shively (Newland Archer) and Delphi Borich (May Welland) (Photo/Daniel Rader) Intrigue abounds in the salons of New York high society and this story has it in spades. The “Old Four Hundred” as they were known in the Gilded Age, ruled like royalty. Four hundred families set the tone for proper manners and acceptable behavior in society. These strict societal edicts were etched in stone like the sermon on the mount and impossible to adhere to due to the vagaries of love and human emotion.
Slimy mountebanks with questionable titles swept in from overseas to relieve these august families of their wealth or young heiresses of their dowries. Pretentious fops and empty-headed debutantes fill out the inner circle. It wasn’t as unruffled as it seemed to those looking in from outside the gates. And that’s exactly what makes this fast-moving plot so delicious. Because in this microcosm of the well-to-do, gossip reigned supreme and these elegant dowagers are superb at taking each other down.
 Shereen Ahmed (Countess Ellen Olenska) and Delphi Borich (May Welland) (Photo/Daniel Rader) Only Newland Archer seems to rail at society’s hypocrisies “Women ought to be free,” he announces to one and all. Everyone else just goes along with the unspoken rules imbuing Granny as the arbiter of all family disputes. When Ellen appears at a dinner Granny refers to her parents as “Continental wanderers” (Heaven forfend!) alluding to her failed marriage to a brutal Count. You may recall Newland’s sister, Janey, who poses the query, “We can’t behave like people in novels, can we? We can’t be vulgar.”
Fabio Toblini’s costumes are drop dead fabulous. Outstanding is Ellen’s full-length red satin dress that calls to mind John Singer Sargent’s portraits of the period.
This is a winning cast in a must-see, profoundly creative, superbly designed and written play.
Highly recommended!
 Shereen Ahmed (Countess Ellen Olenska) and A.J. Shively (Newland Archer)(Photo/Daniel Rader) With Regina Aquino as Mrs. Archer and Others; Delphi Borich as May Welland; Lise Bruneau as Mrs. van der Luyden; Anna Theoni DiGiovanni as Janey Archer and Others; Paolo Montalban as Julius Beaufort and Others; Noah Mutterperl as Valet and Others; Anthony Newfield as Sillerton Jackson and Others; Natalya Lynette Rathnam as Mrs. Welland and Others; and Jacob Yeh as Dallas Archer and Others.
Expertly directed by Hana S. Sharif; Lighting Design by Xavier Pierce; Wig and Hair Design by Tommy Kurzman; Original Music and Sound Design by Charles Coes & Nathan A. Roberts; Dramaturg Otis-Ramsey-Zöe.
Through March 30th at Arena Stage, 1101 6th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 488-3300 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
Shucked is the Perfectly Corn-Fueled Laugh-a-Thon at the National Theatre
Shucked
The National Theatre
Jordan Wright
February 26, 2025
Special To The Zebra
 Jake Odmark as Beau and Danielle Wade as Maizy in The North American Tour of SHUCKED (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman) You could see Shucked for the love story of Maisie and Beau in a plot with more twists and turns than a country road. Or maybe it appeals for the downhome guffaws and “corny” puns. What I liked best is that Shucked is a non-stop laugh-a-palooza set to a super catchy score by the brilliant composing duo of Grammy, CMA and 2023 Tony nominee Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally whose multi-Grammy awards and Number #1 hits have had him writing for and/or producing for Kelly Clarkson, Dolly Parton, Blake Shelton and Kenny Chesney to name just a few of the country music superstars he’s written for. McAnally also wrote the mega-hit “Fancy Like” which very much captures the vibe in Shucked. It’s no small wonder the show earned nine Tony Award nominations!
 The Cast of The North American Tour of SHUCKED (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman) Described in the show as “farm to fable”, Cobb County could be any farm town, USA. Maisie is a corn-fed cutie whose love story with the strapping farmer Beau is, let’s just say it’s complicated. The corn is dying, and the townsfolk don’t know why. Maizy volunteers to fly to the exotic city of Tampa, Florida and soon falls into the arms of a grifting chiropodist, Gordy, who cures “corns”. In her naivete, Maizy decides Gordy will be the savior to the farmers in Cobb County and convinces him to go back with her, much to Beau’s chagrin.
 Maya Lagerstam as Storyteller 1 and Tyler Joseph Ellis (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman) There are magical and dangerous rocks involved; Maizy’s liberated corn liquor-producing cousin Lulu, “I’m independently owned!”; Beau’s hayseed-hilarious brother, Peanut, a king in the land of non sequiturs; Tank the town meth head; two narrators to explain the silliness and provide endlessly giddy puns; Grandpa, a man of soul and wisdom, and a cast of thousands – not numerically but seemingly.
In true Vaudevillian style there are silly jokes and spoofs, goofy set ups and a raft of corn-centric tunes, all geared to a denim-filled, hee-haw hilarious show that will guarantee your funny bone will cheer on this terrific cast. Cue the clever choreography of Rockettes-inspired dancing corn cobs, a drunken bong party and 17 perfectly themed tunes. Let’s just say that Maizy gets her man, and we get a crazy-wonderful musical perfectly tuned to lift our spirits.
 Quinn VanAntwerp as Gordy and Miki Abraham as Lulu (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman) With Danielle Wade as Maizy; Jake Odmark as Beau; Miki Abraham as Lulu; Quinn Vanantwerpas Gordy; Mike Nappi as Peanut; Erick Pinnick as Grandpa; Kyle Sherman as Tank; Tyler Joseph Ellis as Storyteller #2; Maya Lagerstam as Storyteller #1. Ensemble of Zakiya Baptiste, Cecily Dionne Davis, Ryan Fitzgerald, Jackson Goad, Erick Pinnick, Celeste Rose, Kyle Sherman and Chani Wereley.
Book by Robert Horn; Directed by Jack O’Brien; Music Supervision, Orchestrations and Arrangements by Jason Howland; Scenic Design by Scott Pask; Choreography by Sarah O’Gleby; Costume Design by Tilly Grimes; Lighting Design by Japhy Weideman; Sound Design by John Shivers and Wig Design by Mia Neal.
Highly recommended for rib-tickling hilarity!
Through March 2nd at Broadway at the National Theatre, and if you miss it there it comes to the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore April 1st through April 6th. For tickets and information at the National Theatre, DC call the box office at 877-302-2929 or visit www.ShuckedMusical.com.
A Historic Confluence of Shakespearean Mega Actor Ed Gero and Pre-Eminent South African Actor and Playwright John Kani Star in this Epic Drama at the Shakespeare Theatre Company
Kunene and the King
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Jordan Wright
February 22, 2025
Special to The Zebra
 John Kani and Eward Gero in Kunene and the King at Shakespeare Theatre Company. (Photo/Teresa Castracane Photography) Set during South Africa’s post-apartheid regime, two men find themselves in an untenable relationship in the U.S. premiere of Kunene and the King. Jack Morris (Ed Gero), one of the world’s leading white Shakesperean actors, is living in his home in Killarney, South Africa. Recently diagnosed with Stage 4 liver cancer, he is rehearsing his lines for an upcoming performance of King Lear. Black African Lunga Kunene (John Kani) has been assigned as his nurse during the final days of Jack’s life. What begins as two men at sword’s length results in a begrudging respect cemented over their mutual admiration for the works of Shakespeare.
This extraordinary two-hander gifts us with two of the greatest stage actors in the known world. Ed Gero universally admired for decades of his portrayals of Shakesperean leads and John Kani, one of the greatest and most respected actors, activists and playwrights to emerge from the shadows of apartheid.
 Edward Gero (Photo/Teresa Castracane Photography) It is 2019 when they meet at Jack’s home and immediately launch into verbal gymnastics. Jack, a divorcé with a distant son, is not accustomed to having a Black man in his home as anything other than a servant. “You’re not what I was expecting,” he snips. Kunene has been sent by a local agency to be Jack’s oncology nurse. Their first set-to is over the word “maid” with Kunene deftly insisting the correct word is “helper”. He wins that argument as well as Jack’s insistence he sleep in the servant’s quarters. “I stay in the house, or I go!” he retorts. Eventually, Jack capitulates. It will soon be apparent that he caves to Kunene repeatedly. I might add Jack is an insufferable racist and arrogant twit to boot. They joust about nearly everything especially Jack’s intransigence and refusal to quit drinking – his bottles and flasks are hidden everywhere.
Quarrels arise over African culture vis à vis British culture with Kunene scoring points despite Jack’s vehement protestations. The horrors of Robben Island, Mandela’s election and DeClerk’s ending of apartheid put things in their proper perspective as the two men start to bond over their respective admiration for Shakespeare’s plays. Kani weaves this dichotomy into the play with the knowledge that Mandela studied Shakespeare during his stay on Robben Island. “In the old South Africa it wasn’t politics, it was life or death,” Kunene states. During all these tête-a-têtes, Jack’s physical suffering is palpable and Kunene does his best to attend to his duties, as lowly as they are, never wavering in his professional commitment to the job at hand.
 John Kani (Photo/Teresa Castracane Photography) Woven between scenes Isithunywa (Ntebo), a beautiful African dancer and chanter, appears, breaking the fourth wall with the haunting echoes of lives lost and the human toll of nearly a half century under the apartheid system.
Written by Tony Award-winner, John Kani, who in 2023 was awarded an honorary OBE from the British government after this play made its debut at the Royal Shakespeare Company, it is directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, a well-established, Broadway multi-Tony Award winner and multiple theatre award nominee, as well as an accomplished actor in his own right. If I had to list his entire bio plus the bios of Kani and Gero, it would take pages – and it does in the playbill. Ditto for that of the two leads’ understudies and Ntebo too. The glue that brings Santiago-Hudson, Gero and Kani together is their work on and mutual respect for Shakespeare and the pre-eminent anti-apartheid playwright, Athol Fugard.
 Edward Gero and John Kani (Photo/Teresa Castracane Photography) The confluence of these relationships in this extraordinary production, make this political drama an unforgettable moment in theatre history. Miss it and you’ll wonder why those that bore witness will be talking about it for years to come.
Scenic Design by Lawrence E. Moten III, Costume Design by Karen Perry, Lighting Design by Rui Rita, Sound Design by DJ Potts, Dialect and Vocal Coach Deborah Hecht, Fight Consultant Sierra Young, Dramaturgy by Drew Lichtenberg, Music Consultant Ntebo, Additional Music by Romero Wyatt.
Highly recommended!
Through March 23rd at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Klein Theatre, 450 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 547-1122 or visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org.
Sarah Silverman’s The Bedwetter Musical Is the Hilarious High We All Need
Sarah Silverman’s The Bedwetter – A New Musical
Arena Stage
Jordan Wright
February 16, 2025
Special to The Zebra
 Emerson Holt Lacayo (Abby), Elin Joy Seiler (Amy), Aria Kane (Sarah), and Alina Santos (Ally) in Sarah Silverman’s The Bedwetter – A New Musical at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater (Photo/T Charles Erickson Photography) What kid doesn’t have issues? And what parent doesn’t try to figure out how to find solutions?
In Sarah Silverman’s semi-autographical story, The Bedwetter, reflecting her difficult childhood, we meet Sarah (Aria Kane), her divorced parents, an older sister, Laura (Avery Harris) who snarkily ignores her, her agoraphobic mother, Beth Ann (Shoshona Bean), her father, Donald (Darren Goldstein), and her feisty grandmother, Nana (Liz Larsen). We also learn of the two elephants in the room, little Sarah’s bedwetting and a baby brother who has died.
Ten-year-old Sarah’s coping mechanisms are humor highlighted by a potty mouth that she gets from her serial-cheater father and Nana. Blessed by the uncanny ability to do celebrity fart impressions, Sarah’s comedic talents and sharp-as-a-tack comebacks eventually win over a gaggle of schoolgirls, Abby (Emerson Holt Lacayo), Amy (Elin Joy Seiler) and Ally (Alina Santos) who decide to accept Sarah into their tight-knit group.
 Emerson Holt Lacayo (Abby), Alysha Umphress (Mrs. Dembo), Elin Joy Seiler (Amy), Aria Kane (Sarah), and Alina Santos (Ally) (Photo/T Charles Erickson Photography) Excited by an invitation to Amy’s birthday party, where she entertains her new friends with dirty jokes, Sarah is shocked to learn the party is also an overnight pajama party to watch the Miss America pageant (cue Bert Parks). Sarah’s anxiety kicks into high gear and she calls her mother, hoping she’ll tell her to come back home. Uncharacteristically, Beth Ann tells her to “have fun”. Despite Sarah’s efforts to stay awake all night, the inevitable happens. Somehow, she doesn’t get caught out. Not yet. It’s only later when Sarah has her girlfriends over and Nana arrives helpfully offering jumbo packs of diapers at Sarah, that the girls catch on and turn their backs on her.
Based on the advice of one of his lovers, Donald decides to take Sarah to a nutty hypnotist who tells her, “Imagine a stream in a forest.” Sarah asks him, “Is that the best analogy for a bedwetter?”. After that fiasco, he then takes her to Dr. Grimm (Rick Crom who plays seven roles in five different wigs – I asked.), a therapist who prescribes massive amounts of Xanax – cue the life-sized, tap-dancing, yellow capsules.
 Liz Larsen (Nana) and Aria Kane (Sarah) (Photo/T Charles Erickson Photography) At school, Sarah is repeatedly scolded by the prim and proper Mrs. Dembo (Alysha Umphress) who is organizing a talent contest once won by her former student who became Miss New Hampshire (Ashley Blanchet). Hailing from the same state, the girls are enamored of the beauty queen who appears in several fantasy sequences.
Through it all, there is laughter and poignancy, gags and pratfalls, coupled with touching moments from an outstanding cast of Broadway luminaries that shines brightly both vocally and comedically. I promise you will fall in love with little Sarah, her goofy, well-intentioned, salesman father, her Manhattan-swilling grandmother, her adoring mother and her at-arm’s-length sister.
 Avery Harris (Laura), Shoshana Bean (Beth Ann), and Aria Kane (Sarah) (Photo/T Charles Erickson Photography) Written by the irrepressible comedian, Sarah Silverman with Joshua Harmon and super-charged by uber-successful composers Adam Schlesinger and David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit) to include the high-wattage choreographer, Danny Mefford of Dear Evan Hansen fame, Book by notable Joshua Harmon, award-winning Director, Anne Kauffman and backed by famed Tony and Olivier Award-winning Broadway producers – Tom Kirdahy of Hadestown fame, and Broadway royalty Barry and Fran Weissler of Fiddler on the Roof, Gypsy, Chicago, La Cage aux Folles and Waitress, this production has all the signs it will go straight to Broadway.
Based upon “The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee” by Sarah Silverman. Lyrics by Sarah Silverman and Adam Schlesinger; Orchestrator and Arranger, David Chase; Set Design by David Korins; Choreography by Danny Mefford; Costume Design by Kaye Voyce; Lighting Design by Japhy Weideman; Sound Design by Kai Harada; Video Design by Lucy MacKinnon; Hair and Wig Design by Tom Watson.
Highly recommended!!!
Through March 16th at Arena Stage, 1101 6th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 554-9066 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
A Riveting “Job” Reveals the Dangers of Our Digital Age at Signature Theatre
JOB
Signature Theatre
Jordan Wright
February 7, 2025
Special to The Zebra
 Eric Hissom (Loyd) and Jordan Slattery (Jane) in JOB at Signature Theatre. Photo by Christopher Mueller At first glance Jane (Jordan Slattery) presents as a young woman in the throes of a nervous breakdown. When this hyper-intense psychological thriller opens, she is aiming a revolver at Loyd (Eric Hissom), a therapist whom her tech company has mandated she see before being approved to return to work. “I’m not afraid of you,” he tells her. “Maybe you should be,” she replies. Jane is bright, articulate, sensitive, and coming off a failed romance. Suddenly, she turns the gun on herself.
Loyd eventually settles her down in his cozy San Francisco office. Ultimately, Loyd convinces Jane to reveal her innermost feelings. As she begins to open up to him, she pulls out her cell phone and shows him a viral video taken by a co-worker filmed in the heat of her workplace freakout. During their session we learn her family is well educated – her father an artist, her mother a professor who both ignore her. “In the real world nobody has time for me,” she tells him. She seems dissociative and out of control. This is no ordinary freak out. Jane’s facial features contort each time she loses her grip on reality. As she spirals downward the lights on the set, and in the theater itself, flicker, crackle and fail before coming back on to reveal a fresh scenario.
 Jordan Slattery (Jane) Photo by Christopher Mueller Jane has a dystopian view of the world. She frowns on capitalism and believes the rich make all the rules. But as their convo progresses, you’ll wonder if it isn’t Gen Z who are setting the rules. And though Jane claims a lot of her personal satisfaction comes from social media, she admits it causes her paranoia.
In this two-hander the dialogue is micro-focused on each characters’ fears. Loyd’s, that she will kill him, and Jane’s, that she will. We learn this because Jane probes Loyd with personal questions about his family life. When Loyd learns her job as a social media content monitor flagging videos that reveal the depths of the world’s depravity, her psychosis begins to come into focus.
 Eric Hissom (Loyd) and Jordan Slattery (Jane) Photo by Christopher Mueller What’s so fascinating about playwright Max Wolf Friedlich’s taut thriller is how cleverly it addresses the generational differences between Loyd and Jane. She, consumed by the internet in work and social interactions and Loyd living a private internet life. Just when you think you’ve figured out where this edge-of-your-seat story is headed, it literally flips the script. As the playbill describes it, “Job explores who is online, how much screentime is too much, what is real versus perception, the psychological damage of it – and who or what benefits from the exposure.” That’s a question we all need to ask ourselves. Hissom’s and Slattery’s sharp portrayals, give this intense new work the heft it needs to be totally convincing.
As a fan of true crime in all its peculiarities, I found the twists and turns riveting. Brilliantly directed by Matthew Gardiner, it is not for the fainthearted, but it is unforgettable and important. As playwright Friedlich posits, “What is the human cost of our internet?”
Recommended for its revelations into the psychological effects of our digital age in an ever-shifting landscape.
 Eric Hissom (Loyd) Photo by Christopher Mueller Scenic Design by Luciana Stecconi, Costume Design by Alexa Cassandra Duimstra, Lighting Design by Colin K. Bills, Sound Design by Kenny Neal.
JOB runs through March 16th at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Avenue in Shirlington Village, Arlington, VA. For tickets and information call the box office at 703.820.9771 or visit www.SigTheatre.org.
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