The day following National Day of Patriotic Devotion, the cast and crew of Seattle Shakespeare and upstart crow collective’s joint production Bring Down the House had a decision to make. They could demonstrate along with the roughly 175,000 people marching in support of women’s rights in Seattle or they could rehearse for their all-female production of William Shakespeare’s Henry VI plays.
After a company discussion, director Rosa Joshi, who distilled Shakespeare’s historical trilogy into a two-part adaptation along with Kate Wisniewski, says everyone decided to double down on the political action they were already participating in. “We’re about to launch a two-month women’s march with our production,” she told the crew. “So we need to be in this room right now doing this work.”
