NAKED SHAKES | THE ACTOR AND THE WORD
18th Season
THE DEATH OF KINGS
Adapted from the history plays of William Shakespeare by
Irwin Appel
Director and Adaptor | IRWIN APPEL
Costume Designer, Choreographer and Movement Director | CHRISTINA MCCARTHY
Lighting Designer | VICKIE SCOTT
Composer and Musician | JAMES CONNOLLY
Fight Choreographer | SEAN O’SHEA
Throne Designer | GREG MITCHELL
Dramaturg | WŁADYSŁAW WITALISZ
Voice and Text Consultant | JULIE FISHELL
Company Manager and Publicity | KC BULLER
Stage Manager | TRINITY WICKLUND
Assistant Directors| GRACE KIMBALL, JINGLAN “QUEENIE” YANG
Assistant Stage Managers/Crew | INDIGO RUNGE, ABBS STOIBER
This production and tour to Italy is made possible by the UCSB Jody and John Arnhold Production Fund and generous funding from UCSB Summer Sessions and the Summer Sessions’ Summer Events & Entertainment Grant.
We are so grateful for their kindness and generosity!
SPECIAL THANKS
John Arnhold, Dean Daina Ramey Berry, Leesa Beck, Rachel Johnston & UCSB Summer Sessions, Ralph Gallucci, Patricia Morland & UCSB Freshman Summer Start Program, Jim Kearney, John Blondell, Eric Mills, Lisa Strebler, Daniel Herrera, Denise Umland, Taylor Canoles, Cori Montgomery, Clea Miller, Claudia Kashin, Sendy Dang, Tristan Newcomb, Libby Appel, Elina Salminen
Very special thanks to Roberta Zanoni, Vanja Vasiljevic & the Verona Shakespeare Fringe Festival in Verona, Italy
Naked Shakes is traveling to Italy to perform this production of The Death of Kings as the closing act of the Verona Shakespeare Fringe Festival on August 31, 2023!
Naked Shakes is a proud member of the Shakespeare Theatre Association (STA). STA was established to provide a forum for the artistic, managerial, educational leadership for theaters primarily involved with the production of the works of William Shakespeare; to discuss issues and methods of work, resources, and information; and to act as an advocate for Shakespearean productions and training. STA has over 115 member organizations located throughout the United States and all over the world.
CAST LIST
KING RICHARD II
HENRY BOLINGBROKE, LATER KING HENRY IV
PRINCE HENRY (HAL), LATER KING HENRY V
HENRY PERCY (HOTSPUR)
SIR JOHN FALSTAFF
HOSTESS OF THE TAVERN
PISTOL, friend of Falstaff and Prince Hal
LADY PERCY, wife to Hotspur
VERNON, lieutenant to Hotspur
MONTJOY, messenger from France
PRINCESS KATHERINE OF FRANCE
ALICE, maid to Katherine
KING HENRY VI
CHARLES THE DAUPHIN, Prince of France
BASTARD OF ORLEANS, messenger to Dauphin
REIGNIER, lieutenant to Dauphin
JOAN LA PUCELLE (JOAN OF ARC)
EARL OF SUFFOLK , wooer of Margaret
MARGARET OF ANJOU, LATER QUEEN MARGARET
JONAH SPITLER
MICHAEL SEITZ
ANGELO SANTOS
ZACKERY MONDIN
MICHAEL SEITZ
SARA SADJADI
PHOEBE ALVA
NETTA NAKASH
PRESTON JONES
JOAN CHEAM
NETTA NAKASH
JONAH SPITLER
JONAH SPITLER
JONAH SPITLER
HIND JADALLAH-KARRAA
ZACKERY MONDIN
AHLORA SMITH
NICHOLAS ENEA
PHOEBE ALVA
RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK, father to Richard III and Edward IV
PRINCE EDWARD, son to Henry VI and Margaret
King Edward IV
RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, LATER KING RICHARD III
LADY GREY, LATER QUEEN ELIZABETH, wife to Edward IV
LADY ANNE, widow to Prince Edward
RICHMOND, LATER KING HENRY VII
MICHAEL SEITZ
JOAN CHEAM
TRAVERS TOBIS
NICHOLAS ENEA
HIND JADALLAH-KARRAA
AHLORA SMITH
PRESTON JONES
YOUNG ELIZABETH, daughter to Queen Elizabeth and Edward IV
LEAD CHORUS
UNDERSTUDIES
JOAN CHEAM
SARA SADJADI
JOAN CHEAM
PRESTON JONES
SARA SADJADI
TRAVERS TOBIS
JOAN CHEAM
NETTA NAKASH
The Death of Kings is comprised of material from eight of Shakespeare’s history plays: Richard II, Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, Henry V, Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3, and Richard II.
For the full program, scan:
This performance runs 2 hours, including a fifteen minute intermission.
NAKED SHAKES | THE ACTOR AND THE WORD
Since 2006, the mission of Naked Shakes has been to present energetic, exciting, raw, vibrant Shakespeare using the power of the actors and the language. The critically acclaimed, award-winning Naked Shakes has performed at UCSB and transported productions to Southwest Shakespeare Company at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, AZ, the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, Westmont College and Center Stage in downtown Santa Barbara. Past Naked Shakes productions include last season’s Romeo and Juliet, our return to our department’s in-person performance with 2021’s outdoor production of Twelfth Night, the premiere of Immortal Longings, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra, the premiere of The Death of Kings, a two-part adaptation of Shakespeare’s history plays, Hamlet, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale, Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, and The Tempest.
Naked Shakes derives its rather provocative name from the principle that an actor in a bare theatrical space, along with meticulous attention to language, few technical elements and the collective imagination of the audience, can create what Prospero in The Tempest calls “rough magic,” hopefully revealing the heart, meaning, driving force and a fresh re-interpretation of a Shakespearean play. With the inspiration and creative power of our choreographers and designers, Naked Shakes blends wild, actor-generated theatricality with razor sharp attention to language and imagery. As an audience member, one may, at times, experience a veritable visual feast while also being able to close one’s eyes and absorb the sound and text as if one were listening to a radio play or podcast. The barren physical theater space is very important to the Naked Shakes concept; it takes on the identity of whatever locale or particular piece of poetic language is described, and yet always reminds the audience they are in a theater. When Prospero in The Tempest describes “the great Globe itself,” he is not only referring to the entire Earth, but also the “Globe” Theater – Shakespeare’s theater. That duality is what Naked Shakes is all about.
ANOTEABOUTCASTING
Naked Shakes believes strongly in giving young actors the opportunity to stretch themselves and play characters they might not normally get to play in the “real world.” Our Naked Shakes cast is comprised of students from two summer courses, THTR 144A and 144B, and has actors of all experience levels. All that is necessary is a desire to study a great play and have an adventurous, exciting theatrical experience. Some of our actors are non-majors, and some are members of our prestigious Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) Actor Training Program, the only three-year actor training program in the entire UC system. If you are interested in participating, or in learning more about Naked Shakes or the UCSB Department of Theater and Dance, please contact Irwin Appel at irwinappel@ucsb.edu.
PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES
SHAKESPEARE (PLAYWRIGHT) (baptized April 26, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, and died April 23, 1616 in Stratford-upon-Avon) was an English poet, dramatist and actor. He was a prolific writer, composing 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, 154 sonnets, and a variety of other poems throughout his life. With great intellectual agility, perceptiveness, and poetic power, he devoted his talents in portraying human beings and their complete range of emotions and conflicts. His language and expressions are convincing and imaginatively stimulating, and lives on till today, surviving even in times and places remote from his own.
WILLIAM
IRWIN APPEL (ADAPTOR/DIRECTOR, HE/HIM) is Professor and Chair of the Department of Theater and Dance at UC Santa Barbara. As a professional director, Equity actor, and composer/sound designer, he has worked with the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Orlando Shakes, the New York, Oregon, Utah, New Jersey and Colorado Shakespeare Festivals, Southwest Shakespeare Company, The Acting Company, Theatre For a New Audience, Hartford Stage, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, PCPA, both the National Theatre Conservatory and Colorado New Play Summit at the Denver Center of the Performing Arts, the Bread Load Acting Ensemble, and other prominent regional theaters. In Europe, he most recently acted the role of Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 1 for the Prague Shakespeare Company in the Czech Republic, and in Asia, he will be performing the role of Serebryakov in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya with Lit Moon Theatre Company in Yerevan, Armenia in November 2023. Also, for Prague Shakespeare, he played Pandarus in Troilus and Cressida at the renowned Estates Theatre where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni in 1787. He is the founder and artistic director of Naked Shakes producing Shakespeare’s plays at UCSB, in the United States and internationally since 2006. For Naked Shakes, he has created two major adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays: first, The Death of Kings, combining eight Shakespeare history plays from Richard II through Richard III into one event that has been performed in California, Arizona, the Czech Republic and now Verona, Italy. During the pandemic, he combined Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, along with parts of George Bernard Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra into one play entitled Immortal Longings that was live streamed virtually all over the world.
He has also has led workshops and lectured about Naked Shakes in China, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Greece, Switzerland and Czech Republic. In addition to being department chair, Professor Appel teaches all levels of acting, directing and Shakespeare at UCSB. He teaches a groundbreaking team-taught, interdisciplinary course with English Professor James Kearney called “Experiencing Shakespeare” (INT 35LT) that focuses on Shakespeare’s plays from both the performance as well as the literary and historical points of view. This course is part of the exciting Arnhold initiative and intersects with the Naked Shakes courses (THTR 144A and 144B) that welcome students to perform and produce Shakespeare from all different majors, levels of experience and skill. He is a graduate of Princeton University and the Juilliard School in New York City. www.deathofkings.com.
GRACE KIMBALL (ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, SHE/HER/PER/PERS) is a doctoral candidate and teaching associate in the Department of Theater and Dance. She is an Artistic Director with The Public Domain Players (PDP) and a director, dramaturg, and playwright. Some of her recent artistic projects have included writing and directing PDP’s Finding Jud(a)ea, directing David Ives’ English Made Simple in the department’s Spring One Acts, and dramaturging for LAUNCH PAD’s She Wolf, Margaret of Anjou. Grace is currently preparing to direct her adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing with The Public Domain Players this fall.
CAST & CREW BIOGRAPHIES
PHOEBE ALVA (MARGARET, PISTOL, SHE/HER) is a senior Acting BFA student, and is also double majoring in Psychology & Brain Sciences. She has had the honor of performing in several productions at UCSB, including playing Nelson in Waiting, Nana/Robin in Night Night Roger Roger, and Grusha in The Government Inspector. Aside from acting, she plays bass in the band Lemon Generation, and is an Overdose Prevention Peer at Gauchos for Recovery. Everything she does is dedicated to her beautiful big brother, Tristan Becker Alva, an amazing artist who passed too soon.
JOAN CHEAM (MONTJOY, PRINCE EDWARD, SHE/HER) is a third-year BFA
Acting and Economics double major at UCSB. Past appearances include Three Sisters (Olga), Night Night, Roger Roger (Gus Gus Jr.), LAUNCH PAD’s Power Trio (Dahlia), SBCC Theater Group’s The Wolves (#8) and more. Joan loves new play development and has also appeared in new works outside of UCSB including No One Plays Badminton in America (Others), a new play commissioned by Artists at Play LA and Faithless (Rosie) at PlayFest Santa Barbara.
NICK ENEA (RICHARD III,SUFFOLK, HE/HIM) is a transfer student entering his senior year in the BFA Acting program, and he is glad to be returning to Naked Shakes for his second year in a row! Some of his past UCSB performances include Romeo in Romeo & Juliet, The Moony in Night Night Roger Roger, and Butch Honeywell in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. He has also just returned from the Shakespeare Summer intensive with Prague Shakespeare Company where he played Longaville in Love’s Labour’s Lost. Nick also also enjoys Piña Coladas and getting caught in the rain.
HIND JADALLAH-KARRAA (ELIZABETH/LADY GRAY, BASTARD OF ORLEANS, SHE/ HER) was raised in Oakland CA, and is a rising senior in the BFA acting program at UCSB. In addition to the BFA in acting, Hind is in the process of minoring in Applied Psychology. She has acted in various productions at UCSB and most recently made her international acting debut playing Richard III in a production in Prague. She is honored and excited to be able to share this production with Santa Barbara and internationally in Verona, Italy!
PRESTON JONES (RICHMOND, WESTMORELAND, HE/HIM) is a graduating senior majoring in Theatre at UCSB. Preston has previously appeared onstage in multiple plays including The Bones of Contention, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and Freedom Hill, in addition to acting in several television productions. He is excited to be a part of this spectacular and talented cast and would like to thank his family, friends and mentors for their unconditional love, support and inspiration.
NETTA NAKASH (LADY PERCY, PRINCESS KATHERINE, SHE/HER) is going into her junior year of the BFA acting program at UCSB, and is thrilled to be a part of The Death of Kings! She has worked in theater and film all around LA and SB and loves jumping at any opportunity to create art. Netta recently had the honor of spending a month with the Prague Shakespeare Company abroad performing in Shakespeare’s Henry V. Recent credits at UCSB include Masha in Three Sisters and Faye in the LAUNCH PAD preview production of She Wolf Margaret of Anjou. She hopes you enjoy the show and sends love to all! :)
SARA SADJADI (HOSTESS, CHORUS, SHE/HER) is a third-year BFA Acting major. This is Sara’s first time participating in a Naked Shakes production and she is beyond excited! Recently, Sara participated in the LAUNCH PAD Summer Reading Series as an actor, designer, and composer. This past spring, she played Tuzenbach in Chekhov’s Three Sisters. Sara loves being involved with the Theater department and has acted in staged readings, directing scenes, and play festivals. She is in awe of the cast and crew’s talent and hopes you enjoy the show!
ANGELO SANTOS (HENRY V, HE/HIM) is a recent graduate of the UCSB BFA Acting Class of 2023. Angelo has been a part of numerous productions throughout his time in UCSB, including SHE WOLF Margaret of Anjou as Richard, Duke of York. He most recently made his international debut in Prague, Czech Republic, performing in Henry V as King Henry. He is looking forward to embodying even more sides of his character in The Death of Kings and hopes you enjoy the show!
MICHAEL SEITZ (HENRY IV, FALSTAFF, YORK, HE/HIM) is a recent graduate from the BFA acting program. He was seen as Judas (The Last Days of Judas Iscariot), Hlestakov (The Government Inspector), Panch (25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Mr. Nightmare (Spectral
Frequencies), and in Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind for UC Santa Barbara. He has also performed as Trigorin (Stupid F@#!ing Bird), and Andrew Jackson (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) at College of the Sequoias, and Jaime (The Last Five Years), Mortimer (Arsenic and Old Lace), and Bernstein (Dogfight). He’s excited to finish his time with UCSB on such a great note!
AHLORA SMITH (JOAN OF ARC, LADY ANNE. SHE/HER/HERS) is ecstatic to be shaking it up again this year! Past appearances include Titus Andronicus, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Romeo & Juliet, and more! She’d like to thank her dogs for allowing her to act in front of them and her brothers for being constant fight enemies as a kid; they really prepared her well for this.
JONAH SPITLER (HENRY VI, RICHARD II, OTHERS, HE/THEY) is an actor entering his final year in UCSB’s BFA program. Locally, you might have seen them in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Night Night, Roger Roger. Jonah also read in Roni Ragone’s We’re All Girls Here, a semi-finalist in the 47th Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival. They are also starring in the upcoming short film Helena and Jonas Celebrate the End of the World. The Death of Kings has challenged and fulfilled him like no work before it, and he is thrilled to be a part of such a glorious ensemble.
TRAVERS TOBIS (EDWARD IV, JOHN OF LANCASTER, HE/HIM) is going into his second year in the Theater BFA Acting Major. Travers acted in As You Like It in the Prague Shakespeare Company in July and Night Night, Roger Roger in Winter 2023. He’s incredibly excited to be a part of Naked Shakes and continue his work with Shakespeare and the BFA.
INDIGO RUNGE (ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER) is an upcoming third year in the BFA acting program. Her most recent projects include the LAUNCH PAD summer reading series, Three Sisters, and Night Night, Roger Roger. She has interests in every aspect of theatre and is happy to return behind the scenes this summer! This production has been a crazy ride and she hopes you enjoy the show!
ABBS STOIBER (ASST. STAGE MANAGER, THEY/THEM) is a recent graduate from the BFA Acting Program at UCSB and will be attending CalArts
starting this fall for their Master of Fine Arts in Stage Management. They have worked backstage on a variety of productions and readings over the past several years, with most notably being the stage manager for Seaward, a newly developed play written and directed by Cyrus Roberts, in the winter of 2022. Their most notable acting credits at UCSB include “Jesus” in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, “The Hospital Director” in The Government Inspector, & “Benvolio” in Naked Shakes’ Romeo & Juliet. Instagram: @abbs.stoiber
DEPARTMENT OF THEATER/DANCE DONORS
Marc Adelman and Bari Stauber Adelman
Lane Albanese and Barbara Benigni-Albanese
Susan Alexander ‘69
Frank Alvarez
David Anderson ‘65
Irwin Appel & Julie Fishell
Harout Aristakessian ‘13
Jody & John Arnhold ‘75º
Cynthia & Scott Austin
Joel Barsky
Elaine & Todd Bauer
Gloria & John Baytosh
Roderick Becker
Gary & Lisa Beeson
Margaret Bentley
Abbey & Rick Berls
Myrna Bernard
Noreen Bianchi
Jill & John Bishop
Constance Brainin
Deborah Brevoort
Rachel Burnett ‘24
Chuck & Eleanora Burright
Adriana Jo Caballero Rodriguez ‘24
Cynthia Campman ‘84
Cristiana Carusi ‘88
Dan Castellaneta and Deborah Lacusta
Leland & Luiza Yuk Wah Chan
Christine Chien
Chris & Cynthia Chinº
Mimi Chin
John Mike & Marcia Cohen
Nancy Colahan
Mary Cornaby
Corwin Family Foundation
Darlene Craviotto-Levien & Philip Levien ‘09/’94
Lilyan Cuttler & Bernad Seder
Sharon Daly
Michael Davis & Jane Martin
Tonkya De Havia ‘85
Albert & Cynthia DeLima
Randee & Ken Devlin
Barbara & Thomas Dew
Matthew Diamond & Rae Kraus
Allison Diftler & William Goldenberg
Michael Douglas ‘68º
Humphrey Duan ‘10
William Eisenhower
Amr El Abbadi & Janet Head
Elizabeth Engelman
Ann Erickson & Stephen Jacobsen ‘97 /’74
Jordan Finley ‘22
Carolyn & James Flanigan
Allyn Fleming ‘77
Mark & Susan Frink ‘81/’83
Jill & Leonard Fromer
Juliet Fry & Steven Glikbarg
Hallie Georguson ‘22
Karen & Mark Gill
Louis Glass
Edith & Stanley* Glennº
Amelia Gomez & Jeffry Sherbakoff
Leslie Gray
James & Mary Hahn
Anne & Stephen Hahn-Smith
Eva & Yoel Haller
Alicia & Philip Hammarskjold
Harriett Hankins ‘50
James Hanway
Robin & Noah Harpster ‘98
Dorcas & Theodore Hatlen*º
Melissa & Michael Hohmann
Arlene Hutton
Laura Isham ‘01
Elizabeth Isroelit
Heather Ling Isroelit & Todd Isroelit
Sylvia Jackson Arreola ‘72
Jazmyn Jackson ‘26
Jenbenton Jean-Baptiste
Bob Johnson & Lisa Reich
Charlotte Johnson
Jill Kafka
Katya Bloom & Hugh Martin Kelly
Lydia & Ryan Kim
Debbie & James Kimball
Laura & Benjamin King ‘94
Linda & Bill* Kitchen
Nicole Klanfer
Joyce Klein & Gerald Breslauer
Ada Ko
Jill Kohler
Nathan Krachman ‘26
Camille Kurreck
Julie Ladnerº
Natasha Nicholson & Steven Lafranchi
Beverlie & Ronald Latimer
Barbara Lebow
Margaret Leonard & Clare Sheils
Jeanine Lomaintewa ‘23
Pamela & Russell Lombardo, Jr.
Thomas Lousen
Bernard Magier
Reese Manber ‘26
Tara Mandrekar ‘23
Carolina Marroquin
David Marshall & Candace Waid
Cecilia Martini-Muth & Geoffrey
Muth ‘97/’99
Myles Mattenson
Maureen McFadden
Meredith McMinn ‘88
Karen Meena
Michelle Meena
Joseph Michael & Ruth Mercado
Don and Sumiye Minami
Heather Myrick
Lucinda & Thurman Newsome, Jr.
Jane Novak
Michael Novak
Donald O’Dowd
Nancy Okeefe
On Pointe Dancewear LLC
Sharon O’Reilly ‘86
Annie & Scott Osborn ‘77
Kim & Dean Pananides ‘75
Anthony Parnther
Alissa & Walter Parrish
Todd Patrick ‘90
Pauline Paulin ‘80
Chloe Pellegrini ‘25
Emily Hobson & Felicia Perez ‘98
Phyllis Perez
Aurora Perry
Frederick Perry ‘80
Christopher Pilafianº
Gregory & Winoma Plaskettº
Tyler Pon & Alice Youmans
Carol Press & Nicholas Tingle ‘77/’80
Albert Reid, Jr.
Sherry & Todd Reinart
Charles & Joanna Reisner
Kari Riely
Nancy Riesº
Cheryl Riggins ‘82
Susan Rose
Isabel Rose
Charles & Gayle Rosenberg
Richard & Cissy Ross ‘08
Sister Judith Royer ‘83
Pesha Rudnick
Jose Ruiz ‘24
Jan Ruskin
Aristides Salmeron
Jennifer Sams
Rona Sande
Arlene Satterlee
Dawn Schneider
Christopher Sell
Ellen Shadur
Anne Shanto ‘78
Tonia Shimin & Steven Eakin
Antoinette Silva
Maria Silva
Patrick Smith
Tracy Smith
Dale & Gregory Stamos ‘75 /’68
Deborah Steffen ‘71
Jennifer Steingart
Bill & Cheryl Steinkellner
Ellen Sullivan
Alyce & Gary Tanouye g
Alison Tatlock & David Wiater
Elizabet Tessier ‘89
Susan Thomason
Anne Torsiglieri
The Towbes Fund for the Performing Arts
Bickley Townsend
Edward Underhayº
Wendy vanden Heuvel
Victor Gomez Insurance Agency
Renee & Rolando Villesis
Maura Wedell
Dana White
Sabrina Wind
Samah Yasin ‘14
Chi Yeh
Joan & Steven Young
Karen & Thomas Zengel
Molly & Peter Zorba
Seyburn Zorthian
Jan* & Don O’Dowd Performance Fund
Towbes Fund for the Performing Arts, a field of interest fund of the Santa Barbara Foundation
Office of the Dean of the Humanities & Fine Arts
*Denotes donors who have passed away
ºDenotes donors who have established endowed funds to the department
This list refelcts gifts made between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2023. We apologize for any errors or omissions. Contact Leslie Gray, Senior Director of Development.A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR
The Death of Kings began as an epic two-play saga adapted from Shakespeare’s eight history plays from Richard II to Richard III. Part One: I Come But For Mine Own condenses Richard II, Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V, and tells the full stories of the downfall of Richard II, the rise of Henry Bolingbroke as King Henry IV, and the journey of his son, the young Prince Hal to becoming King Henry V. Part Two: The White Rose and the Red encompasses Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3, and Richard III, and depicts the French rebellion led by Joan of Arc, followed by the Wars of the Roses, along with the complete arcs of Queen Margaret and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III. Both plays are self-contained, can be seen in either order, and each runs under three hours. Naked Shakes and the Department of Theater/Dance at the University of California Santa Barbara produced them in repertory in 2016. The Death of Kings garnered six Santa Barbara Independent and seven BroadwayWorld awards for adaptation, direction, design, and performance.
A third play, entitled The Death of Kings: Seize the Crown is a ninety-minute version with excerpts from both parts of the full Death of Kings plays, along with narration and some new material. The Death of Kings: Seize the Crown received its European premiere at the Prague Shakespeare Company’s Summer Shakespeare Intensive in 2017. Later, in 2019, Naked Shakes was invited by the Southwest Shakespeare Company in Mesa, Arizona to bring The Death of Kings: Seize the Crown as part of its full season to perform at Taliesin West, the renowned Frank Lloyd Wright home, in Scottsdale, AZ as well as the Madison Center for the Performing Arts in Phoenix. Originally intended to be a preview, or “trailer” for the two main plays, The Death of Kings: Seize the Crown evolved into a full production of its own and is an excellent introduction and overview of the eight history plays that make up The Death of Kings
Fast forward to the production you are seeing today. This edition of The Death of Kings is an exciting evolution of the material from both the original plays and also Seize the Crown. Material has been revised, additional characters added, and brand new choreography and music abound on stage. Naked Shakes is thrilled to have been invited to perform this version of The Death of Kings as the closing act at the Verona Shakespeare Fringe Festival in Verona, Italy on August 31, 2023. This week-long festival is part of the prestigious European Shakespeare Festival network, and features cutting edge Shakespearean work from England, Sweden, Romania, Macedonia, Georgia and the United States. If you enjoy this production, we hope you will have the opportunity to see the full two-play repertory of The Death of Kings in the future.
In developing The Death of Kings, I am not interested in creating museum piece Shakespeare, or even paying homage to British history. I am interested in creating an allegory for our time. Many people are unfamiliar with Shakespeare’s history plays and even a little intimidated by them, not realizing that they contain some of the greatest and most profound material he ever wrote. On a personal note, we also live in a golden age of episodic entertainment, and I am influenced as much by Breaking Bad, The Sopranos and The Wire as I am by Shakespearean history. In fact, our tag line for The Death of Kings production in 2016 was, “if you like Game of Thrones, come see the original!”
– IRWIN APPEL DIRECTOR AND ADAPTOR CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF THEATER/DANCE