Queen Margaret

Co-Producers Josephine & Jim O'Brien

Queen Margaret

by Jeanie O'Hare
adapted from William Shakespeare
directed by Abby Weissman

Monday, April 14th @ 7pm
The Proscenium at the Drake

Hungry for power and angered by their king, the nobles of Henry VI’s court plot and scheme against each other. As Henry wavers and the factions split, Queen Margaret is determined to hold on to power and protect the crown that will one day belong to her son.

Using Shakespeare’s orginal lines, alongside new text, Jeanie O’Hare retells the Wars of the Roses through the eyes of the Queen. A captivating exploration of an iconic moment in British history.

"Jeannie O'Hare has built a very credible parallel to the Shakespeare canon... this is a dramatic construction with all the depth of a Shakespeare history play, the best of its richness of language, the intelligence to weave that respectfully with modern perspectives, the inventiveness to use new technologies to excite new responses." -- The Reviews Hub

Tickets to our Reading Series are always FREE!

DESIGN/PRODUCTION TEAM

Director: Abby Weissman

CAST

Queen Margaret - Izzy Sazak
Joan of Arc - Pax Ressler
York - Tai Verley
Warwick - Jessy Gruver
Henry VI - Cassandra Alexander
Hume - Eli Lynn

Somerset/Richard - Sarah Stryker
Gloucester/Tutor - Mariah Ghant
Suffolk/Clifford - Vanessa Sterling
Edward IV/Cardinal - Satchel Williams
Bagot/Prince Edward/Rutland - Brittany Onukwugha

Abby Weissman - Director

Abby (she/her) is a director, intimacy professional, educator, arts administrator (and more!) based in Philadelphia. She is a company member of Revolution Shakespeare, and a proud alumnus of Northwestern University and the Arden Professional Apprentice Program. Most recently, she has spent her time teaching consent at colleges across the country with Speak About It, directing Shakespeare with Del Shakes, and coordinating free performing arts programming for teens with Opera Philadelphia. She is over the moon to finally be working with PAC! Love to the BBLGS.

Directing credits include: Delaware Shakespeare, Penn Singers, People's Light. Intimacy credits include: 1812 Productions, Arden Theatre Co., Delaware Theatre Co., Hedgerow Theater, Philadelphia Theatre Co., Montgomery Theater, Wilma Theater.

"With Queen Margaret, Jeannie O’Hare has given us a great Shakespearean history - there are political machinations, battle scenes, creative deaths, and more than a few devastating one-liners. But more than that, this play gives us a push to consider how our political systems shape us - both civically and personally.
Margaret arrives in England unaware of the complicated histories and designs of the people surrounding her. She strives to learn and better the land she has been sent to, starting out with deep care and attention paid to the English subjects. As time moves on and players threaten her loved ones, she evolves to beat them at their own game - striving for power for power’s sake and becoming ruthless in the process.

By employing a cast of women and gender non-conforming actors, we get to experience the ways in which these folks can embody ambition, force and anger which have historically been reserved only for white cis men. It is, in that way, a reclamation.

And yet, just because we have the capacity to wield immense power does not mean that is the best thing for us. Joan of Arc, a spectral reminder of deadly consequences, looms over Margaret throughout the play. We come to wonder what is lost for these people as they prove their power in a world of men. What would have happened if Margaret had been able to shape England to her ways, instead of adapting so well to theirs? How can we shape our governing systems instead of letting them shape us?"
- Abby