Theater of Others Updates 400-Year-Old Comedy THE ROARING GIRL 6/16- 7/2

Theater of Others continues its fearless foray into the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries with Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker's 1611 comedy, The Roaring Girl, or Moll Cutpurse. Moll is a dramatization of the life of Mary Frith, a carouser, cross-dresser, pickpocket, and street brawler in the lower depths of 17th century London. Gaby Schneider directs a cast of fourteen at the Theater of Others' home, the Kelly Cullen Community Auditorium, 220 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco. The Roaring Girl, or Moll Cutpurse runs Thursdays through Sundays, June 16-July 2. As with all Theater of Others productions, admission is Pay-What-You-Will.

In the 17th century, "roaring boy" was slang for a young man who caroused publicly, brawled, and committed petty crimes. Middleton and Dekker mischievously applied the term to their heroine. Producer Glenn Havlan says that, despite her brazen ways, under the surface, Moll sticks to a strong moral code. When her goal is to help unite a pair of young lovers against family wishes, she resists being thrown off track by attempted entrapment and even physical threat.

As a feminist who is naturally dawn to activities traditionally reserved for men, Moll defies the gender and sexual norms of her time. But neither does she neatly fit any of today's categories. Is Moll trans? Genderfluid? Agender? Asexual? Director Gaby Schneider, who has studied the play over the past six years, concludes that the only sexual identity Moll definitively claims is "not being treated like a whore." Her fascination lies in her defiance of all assumptions. As she says, "I please myself and care not else who loves me."

Moll is played by Arcady Darter, who is no stranger to gender-bending roles. Last year she was Benedick in Theater of Others' gender-reversal production of Much Ado about Nothing. The year before, she played the title role in TOO's production of Macbeth. In Moll, Darter engages in rapier combat when she challenges a male rival to a duel. She also sings and plays the dulcimer.

Costumer Bethany Deal has created costumes that reveal close parallels between the dandies and low-lives of Moll Cutpurse's London and modern-day hipsters, biker chicks, and street punks.

CAST

Nick Chapman (Goshawk), Jody Christian (Mrs. Prudence Gallipot, Yeoman Hanger), Sheila Cress (Dame Davina Dapper, Dame Gwen Fitzallard), Arcady Darter (Moll Cutpurse), Irina Dianova (Mrs. Openwork, Sgt. Curtleax), Greg Gutting (Sir Alexander Wengrave), Glenn Havlan (Mr. Openwork, musician), Polina Litvak (Gull), Nick Moore (SebastIan Wengrave), Ryan Nielsen (Jack Dapper), Emma Nadine Onasch (Mary Fitzallard / Sir Beauteous Ganymede), Heren Patel (Laxton), Gaby Schneider (fellow with a long rapier), Laurel Scotland-Stewart (Lord Noland), Ian Wilcox (Neatfoot, Trapdoor)

CREW

Bethany Deal (costumer), Richard Gutierrez (graphic designer, creative services), Glenn Havlan (producer, assistant director, composer), John Hull (scenery designer), Eric Nelson (sound designer), Dave Maier (fight choreographer), Gaby Schneider (director, dramaturg), Paul Seliga (lighting designer)

Director Gaby Schneider

Gaby Schneider is the dramaturg for Theatre of Others. She adapted their modern-dress, gender-reversal Much Ado about Nothing, in which she played Hero. She also played Portia in the recent production of The Merchant of Venice. Schneider is passionate about The Roaring Girl, which she first encountered while studying abroad at The Globe in London, and later made the basis of her senior honors thesis at Washington University in St. Louis. She has also interned at Marin Shakespeare Company and Marin Theatre Company. Besides directing Moll, she wields a mean rapier and plays the fiddle in the production.

Others with Theater of Others:

Sheila Cress is appearing in her fourth show with Theater of Others, last seen in King John. Greg Gutting makes his sixth appearance with the company, most recently in The Merchant of Venice. Ryan Nielsen was previously seen in Macbeth and Cymbeline. Glenn Havlan is the founding member of the company and has acted in and/or directed all eight of its shows. Paul Seliga is the company's Technical Director and has coordinated tech on every show. Bethany Deal costumed Cymbeline last year.

Theater of Others https://www.facebook.com/theaterofothers is a San Francisco theater company with a special mission: To add a fresh cultural resource in the City's Tenderloin district, offering classical theater with a pay-what-you-will admission. All performances are open to the public in the beautifully refurbished Auditorium at the Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco. Theater of Others is a project of the local Theater Residences, Incorporated, an umbrella organization for small theater companies.

Theater of Others, founded in 2014, is managed by Glenn Havlan. It is dedicated to operating as a Tenderloin community resource and as a regional classical theater company. Theater of Others produces Elizabethan and Jacobean plays that are rarely seen (Measure for Measure, Cymbeline, King John, The Roaring Girl), or takes a fresh and modern look at more familiar pieces (The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream). Theater of Others is fortunate to have the venue, talent, and community support to put timelessness on stage.

Glenn was also the founder of the San Francisco Free Civic Theater in 2000 as a San Francisco Rec/Park adult program to utilize City facilities and resources to create a producing repertory company. In ten years with SFFCT, Glenn produced twenty-five full-scale mainstage productions and a dozen showcases, directing most of them. SFFCT presented professional-level theater as a free public resource.

Coming Up Next at Theater of Others

Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Alison Sacha Ross October 6-22

For Calendar Editors

The Roaring Girl, or Moll Cutpurse Middleton and Dekker's 17th Century comedy in street-punk dress. The adventures of a notorious London carouser, thief, brawler - and woman. Directed by Gaby Schneider. June 16-July 2. Preview June 15. Opens June 16. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays 8:00 pm; Sundays 2:00 pm. Kelly Cullen Community Auditorium, 220 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco. All performances are pay what you will. http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2706436