OTHELLO

By: William Shakespeare

SHAKESPEARE WITH A NON-TRADITIONAL CAST RETURNS!

Babes With Blades Theatre Company brings you the biennial production of BWBTC Shakespeare: productions which solely feature actors who identify as female, trans, and gender-nonconforming, providing the opportunity for audiences to perceive these classic stories through a new lens.

Now, we bring our take on the Bard’s classic tale of jealousy and manipulation.

A white woman embracing, from behind, a black woman with her eyes closed

About the Show

Othello is a brilliant general with the support of the Venetian government and an army behind him. But when he promotes Cassio over Iago, madness and jealousy take over as Iago slanders and schemes to destroy Othello utterly. Events spiral madly out of control as prejudice, pride, and paranoia all clash in one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies

WHERE Factory Theater
1623 Howard St, Chicago, IL
WHEN April 11, 2019 – May 25, 2019
SHOWTIMES Thursdays, Fridays
and Saturdays at 8:00pm
Sundays at 3:00pm
PREVIEWS April 11 – 19
PRESS OPENING April 20, 2019 at 8:00pm
OPEN CAPTIONING May 9 -12
CLOSING NIGHT Saturday, May 25 at 8:00pm
PAST PRODUCTIONS

Reviews

About the Script

Cast & Staff

Events & Discounts

Venue & Dining

AUDIENCE ALERT
This production uses realistic staged violence in the telling of the story.

RUN TIME
2 1/2 hours with intermission

DIRECTOR
Mignon McPherson Stewart

FIGHT DIRECTOR / INTIMACY DESIGNER
Samantha Kaufman*

* Denotes BWBTC Ensemble Member

***Ticket sales end 3 hours before curtain. Seats may still be available even if it says no longer available.***

BWBTC will be collecting charity donations for Teen Living Program closing week of the run.

PLAYWRIGHT: William Shakespeare

DIRECTOR: Mignon McPherson Stewart

FIGHT DIRECTOR / INTIMACY DESIGNER: Samantha Kaufman*

CAST: Sarah Liz Bell (Desdemona), Deveon Bromby (u/s Othello), Brianna Buckley (Othello), Meredith Ernst (Cassio), Ashley Fox* (Aemilia), Kim Fukawa* (Montano), Kimberly Logan+ (Duke/Lodovico & u/s Iago), Michelle McKenzie-Voigt (Brabantio), Izis Mollinedo* (Ensemble & u/s Montano/Roderigo/Aemilia), Rachel Mock (Roderigo), Hilary Schwartz (Bianca), Mary Eliza Willingham (Ensemble & u/s Cassio/Desdemona/Duke), Kathrynne Wolf* (Iago)

STAFF: Samantha K. Barr* (Primary Production Manager), Libby Beyreis* (Tech Week Production Manager), Lauren Brady (Stage Manager), Lauren Valice (Assistant Stage Manager), Erin Gautille (Scenic Designer), Sarah Riffle (Lighting Designer), Leigh Barrett* (Sound Designer), Carlie Casas (Costume Designer), Lacie Hexom (Props Designer), Hayley Rice* (Dramaturge/Script Adaptor)

* = BWBTC ensemble member
+ = BWBTC emeritus member
BWBTC's Othello 2018 poster
Cassio lunges at Montano in a rapier duel
Othello sitting on the edge of a bed next to sleeping wife
Montano and Lodovico restrain a raging Iago
Cassio stands accused by Bianca who holds another's handkerchief
17th Century Italian woman sitting
Othello grips Desdemona's chin
Othello walks away from Desdemona who is touching her face after being struck. Iago looks on.
Desdemona and Aemelia embrace
Othello sits contemplating over a sleeping Desdemona
Iago attempts to silence Aemilia.
Iago laughs with Roderigo
General Othello stands under a light
Iago sits peering out from behind a curtain
Desdemona stands under a light
Montano, a soldier, stands in the dark
Desdemona stands before her elder and husband, stroking the handkerchief with strawberries sewn on it
Iago talks to Cassio who is holding a handkerchief
Bianca turns away from Cassio who holds a handkerchief
Desdemona embraces Aemelia
Othello holds a dagger pointed at Aemelia; Desdemona lies dead on the bed behind Othello
Iago looks up intensely
Aemelia stands behind Desdemona who is preparing for bed
Othello grips Iago while Iago submits with open hands
Desdemona lovingly holds Othello by the chin while sitting on Othello's lap
Othello holds Desdemona's face by the chin while Desdemona graps Othello's wrist
Iago and Othello stand chest to chest in heated discussion
Othello shoves Iago away
Iago menacingly gets in Aemelia's face while gripping her from behind
Desdemona smiles at Aemelia
Aemelia tends to Desdemona in her nightgown
Iago misleads Roderigo in a plot
A white woman embracing, from behind, a black woman with her eyes closed
A white, young woman (Desdemona) tips her head back playfully while in an embrace with her black husband (Othello) who smiles at her. Iago, smiles at the two lovers with a twinkle of envy and mischief.
Desdemona, a woman in white smiling in front of Othello, a woman with a contemplative look on her face, in front of Iago, a woman whispering into Othello's ear.

Press photos taken by: Steven Townshend.

Brave Lux logo
Production photos by Joe Mazza/Brave Lux

“In one of the strongest, visceral productions of Shakespeare running in this city now, the Babes With Blades production of Othello feels devastatingly contemporary.” — CHICAGO READER

This “Othello” is exceptionally good at forcing you to look at your own biases in the context of what happens onstage. Babes with Blades is asking you to look inward, and that is at the heart of truly compelling theater. —THEATRE BY NUMBERS
Read more reviews of Othello!