Measure for Measure | Flagler College Department of Performing Arts

“Measure for Measure” will be presented in Lewis Auditorium from October 19 through 22 at 7:30 PM and on October 23 at 2 PM. Admission is free for Flagler faculty, staff, and students. General admission is $15 per ticket or $5 for non-Flagler students.

This production is adapted and directed by Dathan B. Williams, Associate Artistic Director of the Harlem Shakespeare Festival. Williams’ “Measure for Measure” adaptation was first performed in 2010 at the Festival. He has redeveloped his original cross-gender, multi-cultural, and inclusive show to be set in 1888 St. Augustine, during the Gilded Age of Henry Flagler.

Along with “Merchant of Venice,” “All’s Well That Ends Well,” and “Troilus and Cressida,” “Measure for Measure” is widely categorized by academics as one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays” which refers to works that deal with controversial social issues, often having an ambiguous tone and quality that make their interpretation and categorization difficult. These plays reflect the reality, complexity, and difficulties of being human.

“Our production of ‘Measure for Measure’ invites you to exam bias and to question the rules of a male-dominated government and a morally corrupt cultural society,” Williams said. “It is a claustrophobic tale of sexual tension and shady ironic humor.”

All roles were played by male actors during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods of Shakespeare, but Williams is again playing with the concept of cross-gender casting. Instead of all men playing all the roles, most of the male characters will be played by actors who identify as female, trans-male or non-binary and most of the female characters will be played by actors who identify as male or non-binary.

“We are challenging the audience to scrutinize their understanding of gender and how it operates in their conceptualization of humanity, mercy, and forgiveness,” he said.

Williams said the audience feedback from this casting decision at the Harlem Shakespeare Festival made them “listen and hear the text in new ways.” This decision is also resonating with the Flagler students involved in the production. “They feel that they are being heard and understood.”