| RED BULL THEATER presents NY Premiere of THE DARK LADY with Jessica B. Hill and Matthew Rauch, one night only: Monday November 18 at the Sheen Center | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 08:55 pm EDT 10/28/24 | |
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| RED BULL THEATER Announces The Next Revelation Reading: The New York Premiere of The Dark Lady by Jessica B. Hill Directed by Rodrigo Beilfuss Featuring Jessica B. Hill and Matthew Rauch Live Music Composed & Performed by George Bajer-Koulack LIVE IN-PERSON ONLY Monday November 18th at 7:30 PM ET Sheen Center Shiner Theatre Red Bull Theater (Jesse Berger, Founder and Artistic Director; Martin Giannini, Executive Director) today announced the next Revelation Reading would be the New York Premiere of The Dark Lady by Jessica B. Hill, directed by Rodrigo Beilfuss. Hill is making her Off-Broadway debut opposite Matthew Rauch (Red Bull Theater's The Duchess of Malfi - Actors Equity Award/Joe A. Callaway Award, The Revenger's Tragedy, Edward II, God's Spies, Antony and Cleopatra, The White Devil; Broadway: The Great Society, Junk, The Merchant of Venice, Prelude to a Kiss; TV: "Partner Track" - Netflix; "Banshee" - Cinemax; "Blue Bloods" - CBS). With live music composed & performed by George Bajer-Koulack. "New York audiences are in for a treat with this remarkable play. A leading lady at Canada's Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Jessica B. Hill has also wowed audiences as an playwright. This play is particularly meaningful for audiences who are interested in Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and the tantalizing real life story of Emilia Bassano, considered by many to be the "dark lady" of Shakespeare's sonnets. Joining Rebecca to play the role of Shakespeare in this romantic drama is the one and only Matthew Rauch, who we are thrilled to welcome back to the Red Bull stage! You will be glad to be with us to witness these two powerful performers explore this remarkably poignant and moving play," said Red Bull Theater's Founder & Artistic Director Jesse Berger. What if all the women in Shakespeare's plays were based on the love of his life? What if she happened to be a writer herself? Enter Emilia Bassano: trilingual, multiracial, and the possible 'Dark Lady' of Shakespeare's sonnets. When Emilia meets Will, it's a meeting of minds that sets their hearts and pens ablaze. But while Emilia struggles to leave her creative legacy, she's also watching their love and art slowly turn Will into Shakespeare. The live in-person performance at Sheen Center Shiner Theatre (18 Bleecker Street, between Mott and Elizabeth) will premiere for one-night-only on Monday, November 18th at 7:30 PM. For tickets and more information, visit redbulltheater.com/the-dark-lady. ABOUT THE PLAY Emilia Bassano was a trilingual, multicultural musician and ambitious poet. Scholars have named Emilia a top contender for being the mysterious 'Dark Lady' in Shakespeare's sonnets. Here's what's remarkable: Emilia's life story seems to encompass the breadth of Shakespeare's work. Compounding coincidences, historical timelines, characters in his plays, mirroring verse lines, friends in common...it's all too astonishing to ignore. Writing this play often felt like uncovering a 400-year-old secret. But it was reading her own poetry that truly floored me. Her message jumps off the page, searingly white-hot: an appeal to be taken seriously, an appeal for women to be seen as equal to men. A fervent female voice that immediately made me think of Kate, Beatrice, Viola, Rosalind, Juliet, Paulina and Cleopatra, all in one. Her infinite variety. Emilia Bassano came from a family of Venetian court musicians. She was half Italian, very likely secretly Jewish, possibly with North African ancestry. Shakespeare wrote plays based on Italian novellas that had never been translated into English. Emilia and her family spoke Italian and would have known the stories, if not owned those very books. Many of Shakespeare's beloved plays heavily feature music, musicians, dancing: he likely would have worked intimately with some of Emilia's family members. In fact, there's proof one of her cousins composed several songs in The Tempest. Shakespeare was a man of his time, yet that's the very fact that makes his expansive humanism so profoundly remarkable and timeless. He often subverts stereotypes, defends the Other, and invites his Elizabethan audience to see the human heart first, above all. "Hath not a Jew eyes?" "Is Black so base a hue?" "Ay but I know - too well what love women to men may owe" "Mislike me not for my complexion" "No face is fair that is not full so black" What if these two great minds did more than cross paths? What if they learnt from and influenced one another? What if they fell in love? Emilia was one of the first women in England to publish her own poetry. She was likely the very first to call herself a professional poet and actively seek patronage. She aspired to create a community of female patrons and readers, at a time when such a concept didn't even exist. One of the themes of this play is legacy. What lives on, whose story gets told, what can never be destroyed? Musicality runs deep in Emilia's genetic line, all the way up to this present day. Quincy Jones is a relative of hers. So was Tennessee Williams. So is the most recent head conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, Peter Bassano. You might be related to her and not even know it. Perhaps that's the legacy she's left for us. And perhaps one day we'll be able to prove that she really is all over Shakespeare's work. ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT Jessica B. Hill is an actor, playwright and educator. She has starred for several years at the Stratford Festival of Canada, most recently coming off a flagship season where she was featured as Viola in Twelfth Night. Past Stratford credits include Helen in All's Well That Ends Well, Lady Anne in Richard III and Emily Brontë in the world premiere of Jordi Mand's Brontë: The World Without. Jessica made her debut as playwright in 2023 with two plays: Pandora, a one-woman show about myth, meaning and quantum mechanics; and The Dark Lady, which has since won six theater awards across three Canadian provinces. Both plays were published this past spring, The Dark Lady will be part of Bard on The Beach's 2025 season, in Vancouver. Originally from Montreal, Jessica is fluently bilingual and works in both English and French on stage, screen, voice work and videogames. She trained at Stratford Festival's Birmingham Conservatory, and holds a BA in English from McGill University. Jessica is currently playwright-in-residence with Necessary Angel Theatre in Toronto, and is commissioned across three theaters for three new plays from 2024-'26. She is a visiting instructor at the National Theatre School of Canada, where she has taught Chekhov and Shakespeare. She's the first recipient of the Elsa Bolam Award, a twice recipient of Stratford Festival's Mary Savidge Award, a recipient of National Theatre School's Bernard Aymot teaching award, and has recently won a SATA award for her premiere performance in The Dark Lady. ABOUT REVELATION READINGS Red Bull Theater's Obie Award-winning Revelation Readings are a celebrated series known for bringing to life the most compelling and seldom-seen classics of the stage. Each reading showcases an exceptional ensemble of talented actors, directors, and playwrights who breathe new energy into these timeless works. Held in an intimate setting, audiences are given the unique opportunity to experience the raw, unembellished power of great drama. With a focus on dynamic storytelling and captivating performances, Revelation Readings offer an enriching and exhilarating theater experience, making them a favorite among theater enthusiasts eager to witness the revival of neglected masterpieces. The series not only honors the rich legacy of classical theater but also fosters a deeper appreciation for the art of dramatic literature, ensuring that these important works continue to inspire and resonate with contemporary audiences. ABOUT RED BULL THEATER Red Bull Theater, hailed as "the city's gutsiest classical theater" by Time Out New York, brings rarely seen classic plays to dynamic new life for contemporary audiences, uniting a respect for tradition with a modern sensibility. Named for the rowdy Jacobean playhouse that illegally performed plays in England during the years of Puritan rule, Red Bull Theater is New York City's home for dynamic performances of great plays that stand the test of time. With the Jacobean plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries as its cornerstone, the company also produces new works that are in conversation with the classics. A home for artists, scholars, and students, Red Bull Theater delights and engages the intellect and imagination of audiences, and strives to make its work accessible, diverse, and welcoming to all. We value and practice inclusiveness, equity, and diversity in all of our activities, and are committed to antiracist action. Red Bull Theater believes in the power of great classic stories and plays of heightened language to deepen our understanding of the human condition, in the special ability of live theater to create unique, collective experiences, and in the timeless capacity of classical theater to illuminate the events of our times. Variety agreed, hailing Red Bull's work as: "Proof that classical theater can still be surprising after hundreds of years." Since its debut in 2003 with a production of Shakespeare's Pericles starring Daniel Breaker, Red Bull Theater has served adventurous theatergoers with Off-Broadway productions, Revelation Readings, and the annual Short New Play Festival. The company also offers outreach programs including Shakespeare in Schools bringing professional actors and teaching artists into public school classrooms; Bull Sessions, free post-play discussions with top scholars; and Classical Acting Intensives led by veteran theater professionals. During the pandemic, Red Bull created several new and ongoing programs to serve audiences and artists with our mission: RemarkaBULL Podversations, Online Readings, Seminars, and more. "The classics-shaking Red Bull Theater," as Time Out NY has called it, has produced 24 Off-Broadway productions and over 200 Revelation Readings of rarely seen classics, serving a community of more than 5,000 artists and providing quality artistic programming to an audience of over 65,000. The company's unique programming has received ongoing critical acclaim and has been recognized with Lortel, Drama Desk, Drama League, Callaway, Off-Broadway Alliance, and OBIE nominations and Awards. For more information about the Revelation Readings, or any of Red Bull Theater's programs, visit www.redbulltheater.com. |
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