BOY MY GREATNESS

Written and Directed by Zoe Senese-Grossberg

"The quick comedians
Extemporally will stage us, and present
Our Alexandrian revels. Antony
Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see
Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness
I’ th’ posture of a whore.”
-Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra, Act Five, Scene Two

What happened to the boys who played Shakespeare's women? At the Globe Theater in the summer of 1606, six boy players warm up, run lines, gossip, and fall in and out of love all in between rehearsals for the premieres of Antony and Cleopatra and Twelfth Night. As the plague and rising religious conservatism threaten their way of life, they are all forced to reconsider their futures on the stage. A play about growing up, gender, and a chapter of theater history we seek to forget.

Content Warning: This play features mature themes including discussions of transphobia, suicide, and child abuse.

Starring: Rae Bell, Sophie Falvey, Leo Lion, Benny Rendell, Eli Wasserztug, and Juli Worth

Creative Team
Writer Director: Zoe Senese-Grossberg
Production Manager: Nick Roblee-Strauss
Production Stage Manager: Jenna Baker Morrissey
Costume Designers: Leo O'Hear
Lighting Designer: Alex Nemfakos
Scenic & Makeup Designer: Katie Homer-Drummond
Props Designer: Max Romanov
Fight Director: Adam Burby
Intimacy Director: Maeve Hogan
Band: Wyatt Camery and Justin Pelofsky

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Boy My Greatness is a masterpiece of intricately woven stories and ruminations on gender, packaged in the likes of six powerful, sympathetic characters in whose world I could happily have spent several more hours. I can’t recommend enough catching this show before the end of its short run.” – PlaysToSee.com

“Sweeping audiences through an engrossing and affecting fusion of tragedy and comedy that never flags throughout its Shakespearean runtime… Boy My Greatness is filled with the well-tuned voices of beauty and sadness, regret and love…” – ThinkingTheaterNYC.com

“Pageantry, entrancing stage pictures, furious fight scenes and enchanting dance sequences … are gloriously on display in playwright Zoe Senese-Grossberg’s absorbing self-directed highly theatrical fantasia…” – Theaterscene.org

The Firebird Project is a grassroots theater production and arts education company dedicated to telling stories that burn. We produce innovative original productions of classic plays and stage new works that examine and deconstruct the popular storytelling canon. We also offer year-round arts education workshops & classes for teen artists, including acting, improv, playwriting, filmmaking, and roleplaying games. Both our production and education wings emphasize lasting diverse and multidisciplinary community, artistic and intellectual curiosity, and a critical approach to the classical canon. 

Founded 10 years ago as a teen-run company, Firebird has always maintained a commitment to platforming young and emerging artists, bringing their voices into the conversation and enabling them to discover what they are capable of. Our close-knit resident ensemble of repeat collaborators creates repertory seasons of multiple works on connected themes, and our education wing fosters the next generation of storytelling artists. Our work is focused on the intersection of the old & new, the mythic and the iconoclastic, examining stories made immortal by Homer, Shakespeare, Austen, Ibsen, and Chekhov whilst exploring new forms including improvisational, immersive, interactive, and site-specific storytelling. We want to tell the stories you know in ways you’ve never seen them before.

More info at www.thefirebirdproject.org