• ARTS & CULTURE •
Mike Lew’s ‘Richard III’ will stream digitally By Bliss Bowen Pasadena Weekly Contributing Writer
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ransposing Shakespeare’s plotlines and themes into contemporary settings is not a new trick; think of “West Side Story” (a musical twist on “Romeo and Juliet”), the BBC’s “ShakespeaRe-Told” series, or “10 Things I Hate About You” (a high school version of “The Taming of the Shrew”). “Teenage Dick” by playwright Mike Lew (mikelew.com) is set in Roseland High School — with Shakespeare’s “Richard III” reimagined as a bullied whiz kid hellbent on getting elected president of the student body in his senior year despite being physically disabled by cerebral palsy. Richard Gloucester is portrayed by actor Gregg Mozgala, who also has cerebral palsy and who Lew credits with suggesting both the concept and the cheeky title of “Teenage Dick.” Speaking while on a break from rehearsals at La Jolla Playhouse for the world premiere of “Bhangin’ It,” a musical he co-wrote with his wife, Rehana Lew Merza, Lew described “Teenage Dick” as “the fruition of multiple long-term collaborations” between him, Mozgala and director Moritz von Stuelpnagel. “There’s something about this production specifically that the three of us having a long-term conversation has yielded,” the San Diego native said. “Gregg’s politics around disabled representation and access in the theater dovetailed with my advocacy on behalf of Asian American artists and some of the stumbling blocks that we’ve shared.” Corruption and perception are core themes of Shakespeare’s play and in “Teen-
“Teenage Dick” WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 3, to Sunday, Feb. 27 WHERE: Virtual through Pasadena Playhouse COST: Digital tickets on sale soon INFO: 626-356-7529, pasadenaplayhouse.org
Photo by Walter Kurtz
Playwright Mike Lew’s “Teenage Dick,” a provocative reimagining of Shakespeare’s “Richard III” that was originally scheduled to open on the Pasadena Playhouse stage, will instead be streaming digitally, a move prompted by the latest COVID-19 surge.
age Dick.” But rather than grafting a contemporary morality tale about politics onto Shakespeare’s original text (as has often been done), Lew said the play shines light on “prejudgments” we apply to people by examining “the dual tropes of ‘you’re disabled, therefore you’re a devil’ versus ‘you’re disabled, therefore you’re an angel’ … this idea that you’re a saint because you’re disabled and overcoming your circumstance and you’re some kind of avatar of persistence. Those two extremes leave very little room for being human.” That psychological analysis extends to Shakespeare’s female characters. Rather than honoring his depiction of widowed Anne Margaret (Zurin Villanuena) as a mere foil showcasing Richard’s dazzling manipulations, Lew chose to “complexify” the role. More notably, he transformed Shakespeare’s Duke of Buckingham into Richard’s sarcastic, wheelchair-riding sidekick Buck — Barbara Buckingham, portrayed by actress Shannon DeVido, who, like Mozgala, has been with the play since its world premiere in 2018 at New York’s Public Theater. Lew said he “really embraced” Mozgala’s idea of casting another disabled actor, because it injects “multiple perspectives” into the play and prevents “just one person being the avatar” for disability. “As somebody able-bodied, I’ve had the real benefit of having Gregg and Shannon’s lived experience, but I also have to be held accountable,” he explained. “They’ve been really generous and they didn’t really have to be, and I don’t take that lightly, both because of the power dynamics but also because of the business side of things. Actors aren’t always going to speak up if they see something in the script that rubs against their experience, so you have to really care about the play to say anything, on their part. I really value that the two of them have stuck with this play since its inception.” At the top of the play, Richard derides Eddie (Louis Reyes McWilliams), the bullying football quarterback and class president (“He makes sport of governance, whereas I am one who is not shaped for sports”), and advises the audience: “I will vault past my current inglorious station not by campaigning, not by a pity vote, but by systematically destroying the competition. … I will hold dominion over all of this school.” In classroom scenes and a Sadie Hawkins dance, Lew “smashes together contemporary high school speak and higher Shakespearean language” to show Richard deploying language as a weapon — a way to distinguish himself from and, when possible, verbally demolish his peers. In contrast with Shakespeare’s “deterministic” presentation (“He’s evil because he’s disabled”), Lew explores the “environmental context” that darkened Richard’s psyche. (“Do people treat me this way because I’m disabled or just because I’m a dick, or do I act like a dick because they treat me this way?”) Lew likens Richard’s Machiavellian philosophy and its corrosive effects to “a coat that is too big for him that he’s trying on, and by the end of the play, he fits the coat.” The production, which was originally scheduled to open on the Pasadena Playhouse stage, will instead stream digitally beginning Feb. 3, a move prompted by the latest COVID-19 surge. Co-produced by the Pasadena Playhouse, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and Huntington Theatre Company, the performance was recorded several weeks ago in Boston. Playhouse Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman noted in a press statement that streaming will allow the theatre to still honor its “commitments to pay the artists and crew who have worked so hard to make this show happen during these challenging times.” Lew expressed disappointment that the cast will not have the opportunity to feed off of live audience response but said that “the capture of it is really good and the spirit of the play is in there,” so he is excited that streaming will introduce the play to a broader audience. “Within the disabled community, access to the theater is a huge issue. What I love about the streaming is it takes down a lot of barriers to being able to see the work. So, I hope it becomes a more permanent feature if it lets more people experience theater.”
22 PASADENA WEEKLY | 01.27.22
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