New World Shakespeare Company produces classic scripts with modern interpretations to relate to audiences more directly. Each production benefits a charitable campaign for a local cause that relates to the theme of the show.
New World Shakespeare Company presents Antony & Cleopatra as a
literary spotlight on the Trans Lifeline – 877-565-8660, translifeline.org
and Live On Utah & the Utah Crisis Line in association with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Call 988, liveoneutah.org
Ranging over the Mediterranean world from Egypt to Rome to Athens, Sicily, and Syria, Antony & Cleopatra presents a whirlwind of global conflict focused around the tremendous passion of two people. The effect is a dizzying rush of events, wherein the examination of two complex, fascinating characters gets an unusual treatment for a classical tragedy: rather than conclude with the prescribed pity and terror as seen in pieces like Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and King Lear, Anthony & Cleopatra ends very differently with pity and triumph, as the title lovers, who have lost the world, enact a kind of triumphant marriage in death. Losing everything, they manage to win much more by choosing to love over worldly power.
This modern version of the rarely produced Antony & Cleopatra defies comfortable gender roles and deconstructs basic, presumed categories to promote the diversity and the autonomy of the individual. “Our production is gender-fluid, power-fluid and time-fluid”, says producer/director, Blayne Wiley. “We chose non-binary and unexpected casting to hep to portray surprising and ever-changing power dynamics while telling a quasi-historical story.”
Antony & Cleopatra contains suggestive humor, verbal abuse, violence, death, and suicide and may not be suitable for all viewers. New World Shakespeare Company and this production are proud to support the Trans Lifeline – 877-565-8660, translifeline.org and Live On Utah & the Utah Crisis Line in association with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
If you or anyone you know has thought about or are considering suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text the Crisis Text Line (text HELLO to 741741). Both services are free and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Calls are routed to the Lifeline center closest to your area code that can provide you with local resources. All calls are confidential.
Antony & Cleopatra will be performed at The Alliance Theater, Sister Dottie S. Dixon Blackbox at Trolley Square 602 East 500 South, Suite E101, Salt Lake City, UT. Free underground parking is available. The run time for the play is approximately 2.5 hours. Tickets are $20 and may be purchased at the door or pre-purchased at newworldshakespeare.com
Performances:
Thursday, August 10, 7:30
Friday, August 11, 7:30
Saturday, August 12, 7:30
Sunday, August 13, 2:30 show, 5:00 audience discussion
Thursday, August 17, 7:30
Friday, August 18, 7:30
Saturday, August 19, 7:30
Sunday, August 20, 2:30
In 2012, a group of artists came together to create New World Shakespeare Company, a theater troupe dedicated to bringing the bard's work alive in fresh and innovative ways to make classic theater just as relevant and evocative in our modern world as it was in the days of William Shakespeare. The first NWSC production was Romeo & Juliet featuring two women in the titular roles, which set the stage for a decade of diversity and acceptance of all people. In the ten ensuing years, New World Shakespeare Company has become a refuge for actors who might not otherwise get their big moment on stage or voices that might not otherwise be heard. New World has fostered creativity, cultivated talent, and carved a path for people from all walks to rediscover anew that Shakespeare is for everyone.
Antony & Cleopatra - August 2023
M Smiley as Antony
Elizabeth Hanley as Cleopatra
Cami Rozanas as Enobarbus
Genesis Eve Garcia as Iras / Pompey
Elise C. Hanson as Charmian / Lepidus
Tami Anderson as Alexas / Menas / Octavia
Sierra Shepard as Agrippa
Mia Dora LaPlante as Octavius Caesar
Jesus Dominquez as Mardian
Joey McDonough as Soothsayer/ Eros / Clown
Eddie Garcia as Messenger
Directed by Blayne Wiley