Otherworld Theatre and The Stupid Shakespeare Company Present MERCHANT OF SESAME STREET

Otherworld Theatre, Chicago's premier Science Fiction and Fantasy theatre and, The Stupid Shakespeare Company, a Shakespearen Parody Troupe, proudly present "Merchant of Sesame Street". This virtual parody of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" and "Sesame Street" is stuffed with live action puppet pentameter and is designed specifically for Otherworld's digital platform. "Merchant of Sesame Street" will premiere on Otherworld's YouTube page on September 19th and will be available for FREE.

William's Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice gets a spectacularly goofy and educational twist! When Ernenzo makes his intentions to marry a human girl, Bertsanio finds himself in search of a new best friend and roommate. In an effort to help, Elmonio visits the long tormented Osclar the Grouch to make a dangerous deal: a pound of his felt in exchange for 3000 ducks!

Following the success of Super Richard World III and PickleRickicles, the creative team parodies both the bard & Sesame Street in a production that is hilarious and a critique of Shakespeare's original work. According to Otherworld's Managing Director and show producer Katie Ruppert, "Shakespeare's original play was already pretty stupid. It's one of the only times Shakespeare almost dares to have a thesis, addressing intolerance and racism, but it's such an afterthought compared to the compelling story of Venetian party boys trying to get laid despite their hardships of having blown through a huge fortune prior to the beginning of the play. It's an ultimate example of white privilege, but understandably confusing for an audience member. Grumpy Shylock's tormentors are written as being rich, beautiful, and admired. In case anyone didn't notice Portia and her entourage are raging racists, we've replaced them with literal monsters. Just because someone is cute and fuzzy, doesn't mean they aren't a bigot."

"Merchant of Sesame Street" was produced with special safety precautions for cast and crew during the Covid-19 pandemic. Katie Ruppert explains,"This is a story we always knew we wanted to produce, but during Covid-19 we feel like there are a very limited number of Stupid Shakespeare productions we can responsibly bring to fruition without physical intimacy, or stage combat without seriously inhibiting the potential of the project. What was great about this concept, is that most of the performers could be masked for 100% of the process. For the segments of the play that involved live actors, we never had to have more than 3 people unmasked at a time. To Shakespeare's credit, the play has very segmented A, B & C plots, so there are only 3 occasions where more than one actor appears unmasked. We also felt because of the nature of the parodic source material, we could translate this project to digital media seamlessly." To reduce numbers and keep the process intimate, the cast became the crew, learning new skills and methods to bring the show to life.

The creative team is responsible for previous Otherworld comedy programming including Super Richard World III, PickleRicklicles, Improvised Dungeons and Dragons, and Improvius Commedius. Super Richard World III was named one of the top 50 plays in Chicago for 2019 by Picture this Post, and it earned a coveted spot on the Best Plays in Chicago List along with huge hits such as Hamilton and Six. In the Best of Chicago polls for 2019, The Stupid Shakespeare Company earned runner up for Best New Theatre Company, while it's inagural production was nominated for Best New Play. The creative team also earned a total of three nominations in three individual categories for performance, playwriting and technical design.

Merchant of Sesame Street, Otherworld Theatre's YouTube Digital Platform: www.youtube.com, September 19, 2020. Access is FREE and can be subscribed to via Otherworld's Youtube page here: www.youtube.com. More information as well as a full schedule of events are available at www.otherworldtheatre.org.