A playful two-woman adaptation of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, As We Like It features music, puppetry, dance and wrestling. Celia and Rosalind devise sports and play pretend. They take on all the roles, including themselves, as they explore love and their Daddy issues. The text is exclusively Shakespeare’s but the show belongs to Rosalind and Celia. These effervescent debutantes play games.
“If you like Shakespeare, OR if you kinda HATE Shakespeare, then this show is for you. In good humor and with fabulous ‘acting’ (or is it ‘playing’), Messenger Theatre Company brought As You Like It, to life!”
As We Like It
Devised by Emily Rainbow Davis and Sara Zimmerman with Words by William Shakespeare
Directed by Eva Burgess
2013 production at IATI Theater:
Rosalind - Emily Hartford
Celia - Emily Rainbow Davis
“Under the Greenwood Tree” Composed by Scott Ethier
Fight Direction: Dan Renkin
Puppets: Marte Ekhougen and Emily Hartford
Paper Elements and Design Consulting: Marte Ekhougen
Costume Design: Heather Lanza
Ballroom Choreography: George Henik
Make-up & Hair Design: Sevrin Mason
Poster and Postcard Design: Ashanti Celeste
Publicity Photography: Marcelo Añez
Stage Management: Rachel Chatham
ASM: Maureen Gonzalez
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Thank you to our additional Artistic Contributors:
Scott Ethier, Heather Gilbert, Marija Krtolica, Michelle Milne
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2012 productions at the Chicago Fringe and Wilmington Fringe
Featured Sara Zimmerman and Emily Rainbow Davis
“Among all the ribbons and hatboxes, this show is a pretty little package. Emily Davis and Sara Zimmerman devise and perform their two person adaptation of the Shakespeare classic. Clad in ball gowns, Davis and Zimmerman play an energetic and stylish game of dress-up as a classic. As cousins, Rosalind and Celia or lovers, Orlando and Rosalind, their antics are sweet adorability. The two ladies slip paper makeshift hats, belts, skirts on and off as they slip into a different Shakespearean character. Animated paper sock puppets fill out the rest of the ensemble. The whole story swirls forward with an impromptu make-believe vibe. It’s easy to believe we are watching kids pretend. They giggle. They sing. They chase ribbons. They kiss using their hands. Davis and Zimmerman sip from age-defying elixir and ta-da, they captivate! It’s that pure innocence that makes this story a delightful charmer. Just as I like it, AS WE LIKE IT is a fun-loving frolic! ”
“Messenger Theatre’s As We Like It distills Shakespeare’s play down to its essence, exploring the construction of individual identity as well as the – at times – messy construction of human relationships. Emily Davis and Sara Zimmerman construct the set and their costumes as they deconstruct the play, turning Shakespeare’s twice cross-dressed exploration of the self alone and in relationship to others back on itself to see how it might have played out differently if Shakespeare had a sister (or two) performing the same narrative. This production from the fringe reminds us that Shakespeare himself wrote plays from the margin of London, setting a modern cultural icon firmly back on his original edge.”
As We Like It was made possible in part with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
As We Like It was made possible in part with public funds from the Fund for Creative Communities, supported by New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.