Lewisville Playhouse to Present ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD Through a Queer Lens
Directed by Chris-James Cognetta, the Tom Stoppard classic stars Mikey Abrams as The Player alongside a company of queer artists and allied performers.
Lewisville, TX - Lewisville Playhouse is proud to present Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Tom Stoppard's iconic existential comedy, directed by Chris-James Cognetta and re-examined through a queer lens. Performances run April 10-26, 2026 at Lewisville Playhouse.
A cornerstone of modern theatre, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead flips Shakespeare's Hamlet inside out, placing two minor characters at the center of a story about fate, identity, friendship, performance, and the absurdity of existence. In this new production, Cognetta explores how queerness-both explicit and coded-deepens the play's themes of liminality, longing, chosen family, and the search for meaning in a world that refuses easy answers.
"This play has always lived in the in-between," says Cognetta. "Between life and death, certainty and confusion, center stage and the margins. Looking at it through a queer lens is not about imposing something new on the play. It is about recognizing what is already there-ambiguity, performance, identity, desire, alienation, and the ache of not quite fitting the roles the world hands you."
The role of The Player is performed by Mikey Abrams. The production features a company of queer artists and allied performers.
For LGBTQ+ audiences, this production offers a resonant reading of a classic work through the lens of marginality, coded intimacy, and identity lived in the shadow of larger cultural narratives.
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