Naked Shakespeare Presents CROSS-DRESSERS

Naked Shakespeare, Acorn Productions' performance series dedicated to presenting the works of the Bard in accessible ways for contemporary audiences, continues its third season of First Friday performances in The Ballroom at Mechanics Hall with "Cross-Dressers."

The adaptation, created and directed by Michael Levine, features scenes from three plays along with the two seldom-performed Induction scenes from The Taming of the Shrew.

Shakespeare loved to upend gender roles by dressing his heroines as men to allow them the freedoms that were denied to them in his time. Naked Shakespeare's performance blurs gender lines by eschewing the tradition of dressing women in men's clothing, instead choosing to let each character stand on their own regardless of gender.

This gender neutrality extends to the casting and pronoun use, many of which have been changed to "they/them" in order to reflect the non-binary nature of gender for these characters. This performance includes selections from the following plays: As You Like It, Twelfth Night, and Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Shows take place in Mechanics Hall on Thursday, November 30th and First Friday, December 1st, with the start times pushed back to 7:30pm to allow audiences more time to take in the First Friday art walk before enjoying the show. Both shows are pay-what-you-can with a $10 suggested donation. As a continuation of a new program designed to bring the company's performances into non-traditional establishments. "Cross-Dressers" will also be performed at Bull Feeney's in Portland's Old Port on Monday, December 4th in a pay-what-you-can show. For more information, audience members are encouraged to visit Acorn's website at www.acorn-productions.org.