#thetaming

There are over 40 readings so far, here are a few who have published their details. If you are producing a reading that isn’t listed let me know and thanks for your bravery and artistry! 

All royalties I receive from purchased script copies will go to Planned Parenthood. 

Read Charles M. Blow’s “The Anti-Inauguration” in the NYTimes here before you see a #TameTrump reading and join the resistance! As Meryl said: take your broken heart and go make art. 

And check out our article on Bust.com, “#TameTrump: The Radical Inauguration Day Readings Of Lauren Gunderson's 'The Taming'! 

- Lauren

AKRON, OH - Rubber City Shakespeare - 

ATLANTA, GA - The Weird Sisters Theatre Project in Association with Synchronicity Theatre and 7 Stages - 7pm

AUSTIN, TX - The New Movement - 4:30pm

BENTONVILLE, AR - ArkansasStaged - 7pm

CARRBORO, NC - The ArtsCenter

CHARLOTTE, NC - Donna Scott Productions - 7pm

CHICAGO, IL - The Comrades - 10pm

CINCINNATI, OH - Sheatre - Cincinnati Women’s Theatre @ Know Theatre- 7pm 

COLUMBUS, OH - The Tipping Point Theatre Co - 8pm

DENVER, CO - LG - Noon

ELKINS PARK, PA - Pulley and Buttonhole - 7pm

EVANSVILLE, IN - ThinkPink Productions - 8pm

FAIRFIELD, CA - Roving Shakespeare - 8pm

GRAND HAVEN, MI - Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Co - 7pm

HOUSTON, TX - Main Street Theater – 10am and 7pm

HOUSTON, TX - Queensbury Theatre 

IOWA CITY, IA - Riverside Theatre

NASHVILLE, TN  - Tennessee Women’s Theatre Project - 1pm

NEW YORK, NY - The Night Shift - The Drama Book Shop Inc. - 8pm

NEW YORK, NY - The Lady Business (Jan 18, 8pm) 

NEW YORK, NY -  Jimmy's No. 43 Backroom Cabaret Lounge - 7:30pm (doors open at 6:30pm)

OMAHA, NE - Shelterbelt Theater - 7:30pm

OMAHA, NE - Creighton University Theatre, Alph Psi Omega- 7:30pm

OWENSBORO, KY - Brescia University

PITTSBURGH, PA - Pinnacle Productions

PORTLAND, OR - Salt and Sage Productions / Portland Actors Conservatory - 8pm

RALEIGH, NC -  Bare Theatre - 7:30pm

ROCHESTER, NY - Aspie Works - *Jan 19th* 7:30pm

REDWOOD CITY, CA - Dragon Productions - 8pm

SACRAMENTO, CA - California Stage R25 - 7pm

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - Pussycat Productions 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - EXIT Theatre - 8:30pm

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - 250 Van Ness Ave - 7pm

SEATTLE, WA - With Interesting People @ ACT Theatre - 8pm

SPRINGFIELD, MO - Missouri State University

TAMPA, FL - Silver Meteor Gallery

WASHINGTON, DC - Third Floor - 8pm

WATERTOWN, MA - Flat Earth Theatre - 8pm

WILLIAMSTON, MI - Williamston Theatre, 7pm

PREVIEW: At Shakespeare & Co. ‘The Taming’ is funny and brave

By Ann St. Clair

Lenox — No one ever accused Nicole Ricciardi of being a timid theatre director. Last year, at Shakespeare & Company, she and actors Tod Randolf and Bridget Sarancino gave us a brilliant and searing “The How and the Why.” This year, in the midst of one of the most surprising and disturbing presidential election seasons ever recorded, she and three New York actors (Maddie Jo Landers, Tangela Large, and Lucy Lavely) are bringing Lauren Gunderson’s “The Taming,” a Red State/Blue State romp to our region for the first time.

In an interview last week, Ricciardi mused over the fact that Gunderson is clear that she is not a fan of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” yet she uses it as a launch pad for “The Taming,” particularly its play with sexuality, and its wild physical comedy. Shakespeare lovers will recognize the characters’ names (Bianca and Katherine, and Patricia for Petruchio). And of course, there are the animals! But the director advised me not to spend time looking for other links. This satire meets us in the sociopolitical here and now, challenging our preconceptions, knocking the laughter out of our bodies as it knocks down mental and psychological walls.

The first scene in an Atlanta hotel room shows us a locked-in beauty queen, a hide-bound, overworked Senator’s assistant, and a cranky liberal activist and blogger. All hell breaks loose. Then, in a seeming blink, we are transported to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The three actors, all women, play eight roles, and three additional off-stage voices. Three of their characters are men: Charles Pickney of South Carolina, and James Madison and George Washington of Virginia. Among verbal jousts and pillow fights, threats and bargains lurk school civics lessons in dazzling new light. We see, for example, that the Electoral College was deliberately put in the Constitution because it is undemocratic. We’re reminded that only property-owning, white men were originally permitted to vote. By the time “The Taming” travels to the Miss Georgia Pageant, the audience is ready to look into Gunderson’s version of the future.

The play highlights differences and animosities among the founders, their worries that the new system they were bringing into being might not even last a generation, and their belief that the Constitution should be revised by amendments and future constitutional conventions. The founders themselves were anything but reverent about the Constitution; they craved opposition and dissent to ensure a vibrant, healthy republic. “If a majority of us don’t understand the process of our government, it’s never going to improve,” says the director. She and Gunderson want laughter to disarm us, to remind us of the constant limitations of extreme partisanship. While noting the necessity of compromise to get things done, it recognizes its pitfalls and unintended consequences. Nobody’s “sacred cow” is sacred.

One of the sly pleasures of “The Taming” is watching its female characters grow wiser and stronger before our eyes. Katherine, for example, begins by being an unrecognized, crabby assistant, totally defined by and bitter about her job, and ends as a fully realized human being. “The Taming” premiered in San Francisco in 2013, making it prescient for today’s nearly unprecedented electoral competition. Interestingly, its sexual and gender givens would have been remarkable ten years ago, but emerge here as simple realities—so accepted that they can be laughed at. Nicole Ricciardi smiles at the end of our meeting. “This is the hardest play I’ve done so far,” she says. “And it’s only funny because it’s true.” She shakes her head, and matter-of-factly goes back to her cutting edge work.

________

THE TAMING has just been published at Playscripts! Oh man what fun this show was. A feminist political farce for the whole family. Especially if your family argues about politics. 

AWESOME expo/takedown of Miss America "scholarship" competition that refuels my love for #TheTaming, including a lovely mention of butt glue.