Measure for Measure

adapted from WILLIAM Shakespeare

directed by Madeline Wall, with associate direction by William Edson

Toured the Twin Cities September 27th-October 21st, 2024

Sarah Broude
Gillian Constable
Isabella Dunsieth
William Edson
Eva Gemlo
Arcadia German
Joni Griffith
Gillian Mueller
Eliana Meyerowitz
Annie Schiferl
Madeline Wall
Seth Campbell (Stage Manager)
William Edson (Text Consultant / Associate Director)
Emily Garst (Production Photographer)
Joni Griffith (Music Consultant / Arranger)
Madeline Wall (Adaptor / Director)

SYNOPSIS

Long-considered one of Shakespeare's thorniest "problem plays," our Measure for Measure is the story of a moral panic, a transfer of power, a city in chaos, and a birth in a prison.

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR’S NOTE

Measure for Measure is often called a problem play: one of Shakespeare’s works that, from a theatre-maker’s perspective, resembles a twisted piece of glass. Fragile, curious, hard to make…most directors, when attempting this piece, try to massage the twist out of it, and de-problematize the play, making it easier on the eyes. We went the other way, and kept twisting until it broke, reveling in the beautiful shards that remain, and adding our own glue to make the stained glass mosaic you’re seeing tonight.

- William Edson

PRESS QUOTES

“...puts the focus on this forgotten woman who is quietly (or not so quietly) giving birth while the other actions of the play swirl around her…makes one wonder what other birth stories are hiding in the background, waiting to be told.” -Jill Schafer, Cherry and Spoon

AUDIENCE QUOTES

“Intimate, enveloping, but wholly accessible Shakespeare.”

“It was like your company attacked Measure for Measure and wrestled with it.”

“I felt that performance in my pelvis, it lives there now.”