Reframing Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure in the American South in the 1950s

Can you share your vision for Measure for Measure set in the South during the 1950s? What about this time period resonates with Shakespeare’s play?

Shakespeare’s play deals with different aspects of power and how different people grapple with power. Looking at Measure for Measure through this lens of the segregated South gives us a deeper and more nuanced take on the play and it also gives us a different vantage point of looking at that historical period as well. In terms of this production, the addition of race adds another factor in the navigation of power, and I think that’s something that we, as Americans, can all connect with because it’s such a persistent component in our culture.

Looking at the play through the lens of this specific time and place in America also gives us a unique opportunity to understand the play in a different way and test the malleability of one of Shakespeare’s so called “problem plays.” I’ve been surprised at how the ideas of the play have been energized by thinking about them through this historical lens, and, at the same time, I was also surprised at how my understanding of that chapter in American history has also been transformed.

There will be certain visual cues that will anchor us in that world. The actors will be in period-specific costumes by Mika Eubanks [Helen Hayes nominated costume designer for Metamorphoses]. In that era, regardless of class, there was a certain elegance that the clothes had. In terms of the music, sound designer Matt Nielson and composer KOKAYI are using the music of that era as a jumping off point. In this production, we will have a chance to think about the history and evolution of American music—the appropriation and appreciation of Black music. The set, by Debra Ann Booth, is inspired by the Mississippi courtroom where Emmett Till’s murder trial took place.

You often direct more contemporary plays. How are you approaching your Shakespeare directorial debut?

I’m approaching Measure for Measure like I would approach any play—it’s about telling a great story and giving the audience a satisfying experience in the theater. We have Tony Thomas, one of my longtime collaborators, on this show (Helen Hayes Award-winning choreographer for Metamorphoses). As someone who loves the storytelling power of movement, I’m excited to collaborate with Tony, yet again, as we explore the possibilities for movement in this production of Measure for Measure.

For example, the ending of the play where the Duke of Vienna proposes marriage to the nun Isabella is one of the points of contention. Through movement, we can explore Isabella’s relationship with hierarchies of power and status. My approach to this play is to support it like a new work and like a play that must speak to our current era.

I think it’s important to honor what Shakespeare wrote, while looking at the story in a way that honors the spirit of where we are now.

How do you find that balance between preservation and adaptation, especially in a work like Measure for Measure, with tragic and comic elements?

It’s about respecting the material, Shakespeare’s words, and the intentions of the writer. This play does a brilliant job of mashing up comedy and tragedy. That’s one of the things that appeals to me—there’s this ability to really go wide and broad with humor and then delve deep into the soul of tragedy. I’m going to lean into both.

I think this interpretation will animate and supercharge themes of the play that have been there for 400 years and also allow us to recognize the play in a new way than we may have in the past.