Final Week of Performances! must close April 30th.

"The Family Shakespeare raises key questions around the timely issue of censorship. These larger questions, along with a gifted cast, make for a compelling production... Cotton Wright is wonderful in her portayal of Henrietta, convincingly embodying a woman who is both intelligent and articulate yet also naive and childlike... The intricate, visually dazzling costumes by Rachel Dozier-Ezell add great beauty and authenticity, and often times resemble creations that would wow even on modern catwalks."
-Theatre Is Easy

"Part Shakespeare In Love, part Sam Shepard play in corsets, The Family Shakespeare is an interesting story.  The actors gave solid performances. Eric C. Bailey has some of the show’s best laugh lines, Alexandra Cohen-Spiegler is a delightful Dorcas, and Cotton Wright is an engaging Henrietta. The costumes by Rachel Dozier-Ezell are beautiful, and the set by Blair Mielnik is quite creative in the small theatre space. The show’s director Antonio Miniño has created some delightful staging sequences... It’s nice to see a new play in period costumes about censorship, family and poetry. It’s infinitely better than staying home and watching reruns of the network-approved version of Sex and the City." - nytheatre.com

"The time is right for David Stallings’s new play The Family Shakespeare... Cotton [Wright] is charming, with a naturally evident love of poetry and a contagious sense of play. Corey [Tazmania] is quite the opposite in an equally exciting way. Her harsh and pessimistic look on life is believable without falling into the stereotypes of villain or shrew. Instead, her complex, tortured past is on stage with her at all times. Frankie Seratch as the ten-year-old Fen is also loveable and honest, which is impressive especially at such a young age... The Family Shakespeareis interesting and provocative with an active thesis, which sets it apart from the crowd" - Show Business Weekly

"The performance has excellent production values (especially in Rachel Dozier-Ezell's costumes and Dan Gallagher's lights) and a versatile cast, especially Cotton Wright, whose performance as Henrietta Bowdler is worth the price of admission... The Family Shakespeare offers a pleasant theatrical experience." -OffOffOnline

"It is always risky to create a work of art with an unambiguous message, and an anti-censorship message is no exception. Ambiguity, irony, and multiple meanings are the stuff of good art; an unambiguous message, no matter how right or passionate, risks sliding into agit-prop. Playwright David Stallings’s The Family Shakespeare, which recently opened at the June Havoc Theater in Manhattan, avoids this trap. It comes down decisively on the side of freedom, but also gives Thomas Bowdler, famous for his early 19th century expurgated versions of Shakespeare’s plays, a chance to make his case." -The Free Expression Policy Project.
 


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