Ellie McBride plays Amelia in the World Premiere of Eva Suter's Hold Me Well for Shrewd. Why are you excited to be working on Hold Me Well? When Eva's version of Hold Me Well was put up at UT for the New Works festival in 2014, I was fortunate be be invited to work on that version, as Amelia. I love working on new plays in the throws of development, and it was a wonderful opportunity to be part of Hold Me Well's evolution. When Rudy asked me to join the Shrews production, I was super excited to see where Eva had taken the play and Amelia, and where Rudy's concepts for the show would take things. It's been a wonder revisiting this with different people and seeing how every touch, by every
Playwright Eva Suter on the world premiere of her play, Hold Me Well. What are you most excited about for the premiere of Hold Me Well? Writing this play was like writing a novel -- and only showing a little bit. I take a lot of joy in the project of world building, of all the side stories and settings just out of sight. Seeing Hold Me Well up on its feet woke that world up again, and starts my mind spinning on what's next. Where else to be explored. I worked with Rudy early on in the initial development and world building of Hold Me Well, it's such a rad blessing to have his sharp brain and heart leading up this world premiere! I've dug Shrewd's work in town for a nice while now and am stok
Emily Rankin plays Casey in the World Premiere of Eva Suter's Hold Me Well for Shrewd. What drew you to Hold Me Well? I was drawn to Eva Suter’s Hold Me Well in part because I found it fascinating to see the classic themes in Othello—jealousy, desire, suspicion, and fear—played out in an atmosphere free from gender bias or the too-rigid ideas found in the gender binary. In an all-female cast, these themes are freed from their conventionally stereotypical gender roles and become universal. Watch the video below for more thoughts from Emily on creating Casey. About Emily Emily Rankin is an actor, director, and stage manager who’s worked with several companies in and around Austin, including P
Taylor Flanagan plays Raquel in the World Premiere of Eva Suter's Hold Me Well for Shrewd. What drew you to Hold Me Well? I love Shakespeare. So initially I was drawn to this show because I heard it was kind of like the Othello story, but set after the apocalypse. So that caught my eye. And I hadn't gotten the chance to work with Rudy as a director before. So that was another plus. Then I heard it was all-female and I thought: a show entirely comprised of talented, badass women?! Yes and PLEASE! And then I got to read Eva's script and I was like: y'all...gimme this. About Taylor This is Taylor Flanagan's second show with Shrewd. She played Amiens, Le Beau, William, and Hymen in Shrewd'
Hayley Armstrong plays Des in the World Premiere of Eva Suter's Hold Me Well for Shrewd. Why are you excited to be working on Hold Me Well? Before auditioning for “Hold Me Well,” I read through the play synopsis, and I just knew that I wanted to be a part of it. First off, it’s an adaptation of my favorite Shakespeare play, Second, it features an all-female cast and is written by a rad female playwright, (Seriously, as a woman, who wouldn’t want to feed off of the awesomeness of other women?) and Third, Rudy Ramirez is directing, which was just the icing on the cake, the guy’s brilliant. So, initially I was lured in by those aspects, but what has kept me intrigued and challenged throughout t
Rudy Ramirez directs the World Premiere of Eva Suter's Hold Me Well for Shrewd. Why this play? Why now? Why Shrewd? I began working with Eva Suter on this play in the fall of 2013; she brought me on board to help her think through the queer ramifications of a world in which "all the men are dead." A big part of my journey with this play, particularly as a queer artist, is working to represent that a biological agent can't eliminate a sociological construct: it might kill people with Y chromosomes, but that means that a number of women will die and number of men will live, so our characters must mourn the loss of women as well as men even as they navigate a landscape where the sociological
