New York Shakespeare Exchange announces the next Freestyle Lab ARMOR AS STRONG: Trans Warriors through a Shakespearean Lens

New York Shakespeare Exchange
announces the next Freestyle Lab
ARMOR AS STRONG: 
Trans Warriors through a Shakespearean Lens
in partnership with the 53rd Street Library 
Tuesday, May 28, 2019 at 6:30pm

New York Shakespeare Exchange announces the next Freestyle Lab, ARMOR AS STRONG: Trans Warriors through a Shakespearean Lens, on Tuesday, May 28, 2019 from 7-9pm (doors open to audience at 6:30pm) at the 53rd Street Library Theater (18 W. 53rd Street, NYC). This event is free.
 
Coming on the heels of Memorial Day and right before the start of Pride Month, ARMOR AS STRONG will feature a group of actors from New York’s trans/gender non-conforming community performing speeches and short scenes featuring some of Shakespeare’s best known soldiers. The performance will be followed by a town hall conversation about society’s understanding of gender identity, and how our limitations can lead to broken and inhumane policies. What truly makes a soldier? Why are names and pronouns so vitally important? How can visibility in art be a catalyst for change?
 
Performers:
C Bain (he/him), Izzy Castaldi (they/them), Bowie Dunwoody (they/them), Elliot Frances Flynn (they/them), Jordan Ho (she, her, xe/xem/xyr), Dani Martineck (they/them), Teddy Qin (they/them), Marcus Xavier Stewart (they/them) 
 
Curated by:
Cristina Lundy (she/her), Taylor Marie Rasmussen (they/them) & Ross Williams (he/him)
 
New York Shakespeare Exchange is internationally known for The Sonnet Project (in which more than 1,500 volunteer filmmakers from around the world have joined the discussion by creating short films in New York locations based on all 154 Shakespeare sonnets). NYSX produces at least one mainstage production a year.  In 2016, NYSX produced Hamlet10, in which 10 actors played the Danish Prince, and a stunningly relevant period-adaptation of Shakespeare’s epic poem, “The Rape of Lucrece,” which delved into sexual violence against women.  In their 2017 season, NYSX staged a critically acclaimed, smartphone-obsessed Much Ado About Nothing, which plugged into the zeitgeist of fake news and alternative facts. Their most recent production, a new adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was conceived and directed by Brendan Averett and ran in January/February 2019 at the Secret Theater in Long Island City, NY. The company also presents ShakesBEER, NYC’s original Shakespearean Pub Crawl, several times throughout the year. After Labor Day, NY Shakespeare Exchange will return with a number of new exciting community-based events. www.NYSX.org