“Play On”… Feste, Orsino, Viola, Olivia, Illyrians (Ensemble)

“Word on the Street”… Illyrians

“Tell Her”… Orsino, Viola

“If You Were My Beloved”… Viola, Olivia, Orsino

“If You Were My Beloved” (Reprise)… Antonio

“Viola’s Soliloquy” …Viola

“You’re the Worst”… Feste, Andrew, Fabian, Toby, Maria, Malvolio, Illyrians

“Is This Not Love?” …Feste

“Count Malvolio” – Part 1… Malvolio

“Count Malvolio” – Part 2 … Malvolio, Illyrians

“I Am She” … Olivia, Viola

“Word on the Street II”… Illyrians

“Count Malvolio” (Reprise)… Malvolio

“What Kind of Man Are You Gonna Be?”… Toby, Viola, Andrew, Illyrians

“Viola Soliloquy” (Reprise)… Viola

“Greatness”… Malvolio

“Sebastian’s Soliloquy”… Sebastian

“Word on the Street III”… Illyrians

“Viola’s Soliloquy” (2nd Reprise)… Viola, Sebastian

“Tell Her” (Reprise)… Orsino, Viola

“I Am She” (Reprise)… Olivia, Viola

“Malvolio’s Exit”… Malvolio

“Is This Not Love?” (Reprise)… Illyrian Officiant & Company

“Eyes of Another”… Company

In the original dramatic production of Twelfth Night in 1602, the character of Viola emerged from the depths of a storm to the shores of an island called Illyria. Since then, this theatrical moment has propelled audiences across the world into her story of finding a sense of identity in a new community. There are many layers of context and history that contribute to this narrative: when the play was originally written (the 17th century), when it was adapted into musical form (2016), and the state of our world right now. It also features queer and trans undertones and overtones, as characters find new ways to love each other and express themselves expansively. As a company, we have been interested in unpacking what the space of “Illyria” means to us.

Creators Shaina Taub and Kwame Kwei-Armah purposefully set this adaptation without designating a specific location and have expressed their intention for Illyria to represent a mythical island. However, Kwei-Armah and Taub do incorporate different cultural influences and a community-centric ethos that mirrors locations in our world. For example, they include musical references to New Orleans where a convergence of African, Caribbean, and European cultures led to the development of jazz, pioneered by Black artists, in the early 20th century. In fact, the emphasis on Illyria as a multicultural city reflects the original context in which the musical adaptation was created: The Public Theater’s Public Works initiative. This participatory theatre program involves hundreds of people who belong to community centers and other organizations in New York City performing in yearly productions. Though our production isn’t taking place in the same context, the script still reverberates from the contributions of New Yorkers who brought their life experiences to the original iteration of the piece.

Uncovering the many layers of the setting, in addition to the thematic layers of this piece, has helped us build our own Illyria as a community in the rehearsal room. Our Illyria is multi-dimensional, allowing characters to explore new parts of their identities. Because of this, we are not restricted to one musical genre or dance style, and we have the freedom to incorporate jazz and soul music, as well as the Lindy Hop and vogue. Likewise, our characters aren’t restricted and have the freedom to change. After all, it is natural for them to change; they can’t remain the same after the massive storm they all experience in different ways at the beginning of the show. This storm pushes them into new situations where they have to reconsider how they experience significant aspects of human life, like grief, ambition, gender, and love. We hope that you will also find your own meaning in this story about individuals changing in community with each other as we all try to do the same outside the walls of the theatre. 

—Sari Bovitz, with gratitude to Ty Amsterdam, Reese Leif, and Karin Waidley for their feedback and contributions

With all the tumult of today’s world, now is the perfect time for Shaina Taub’s joyfully tuneful adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. This show is a gift of love from us to our community, a celebration of shared humanity that poses enduring questions about freedom of choice, the nature of love, cruelty, gender, social norms, and grief.

The Illyria of our production is set in a sort of “magical now,” a mythical city on an island, untethered to any specific time or place, a utopia where all cultures are welcome and residents and visitors discover their most authentic selves.

We invite you to share the beautiful Illyria our students have created, asking, “Is this not Love?” And we hope you leave with empathy and joy in your hearts.

Always,

Jess Bogart

William Shakespeare (writer) was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birthday is most
commonly celebrated on April 23, which is also believed to be the date he died in 1616.

Shakespeare wrote Julius Caesar in 1599 or 1600, probably for the opening of the Globe Theatre, on the south bank of the Thames. Altogether Shakespeare’s works include 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, 154 sonnets, and a variety of other poems. No original manuscripts of Shakespeare’s plays are known to exist today. It is actually thanks to a group of actors from Shakespeare’s company that we have about half of the plays at all. They collected them for publication after Shakespeare died, preserving the plays. These writings were brought together in what is known as the First Folio (‘Folio’ refers to the size of the paper used). It contained 36 of his plays, but none of his poetry.

Shakespeare died in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23, 1616 at the age of 52. He is buried in the sanctuary of the parish church, Holy Trinity.

—Courtesy of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Kwame Kwei-Armah (concept) is a British actor, playwright, director, and broadcaster. In 2018 he was made artistic director of the Young Vic, where he has directed Twelfth Night and Tree.
From 2011 to 2018 he was the artistic director of Baltimore Center Stage, where he directed Jazz, Marley, One Night in Miami, Amadeus, Dance of the Holy Ghosts, The Mountaintop, An Enemy of the People, The Whipping Man, and Things of Dry Hours. Other work as a director includes Tree (Manchester International Festival), Twelfth Night, Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, Detroit ’67 (Public Theatre, New York), The Liquid Plain (Signature Theatre, New York, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Porgy and Bess (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra), One Night in Miami (Donmar Warehouse, Olivier-nominated for Best New Play, 2016), and One Love (Birmingham Repertory Theatre).

Shaina Taub (music & lyrics) is a Vermont-raised, Brooklyn-based songwriter and performer. She has won the Jonathan Larson Grant, the Kleban Prize, the Fred Ebb Award, the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award, and the ASCAP Lucille and Jack Yellen Award. Taub has starred in her musical adaptations of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and As You Like It at the Public Theater’s Delacorte in Central Park, commissioned and produced for their Public Works initiative. Her most recent work, Suffs, won 2024 Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score.

02 – Twelfth Night program

Anishinaabeg gaa bi dinokiiwaad temigad manda Michigan Kichi Kinoomaagegamig. Mdaaswi nshwaaswaak shi mdaaswi shi niizhawaaswi gii-sababoonagak, Ojibweg, Odawaag, minwaa Bodwe’aadamiig wiiba gii-miigwenaa’aa maamoonjiniibina Kichi Kinoomaagegamigoong wi pii-gaa aanjibiigaadeg Kichi-Naakonigewinning, debendang manda aki, mampii Niisaajiwan, gewiinwaa niijaansiwaan ji kinoomaagaazinid. Daapanaming ninda kidwinan, megwaa minwaa gaa bi aankoosejig zhinda akiing minwaa gii-miigwewaad Kichi-Kinoomaagegamigoong aanji-daapinanigaade minwaa mshkowenjigaade.

The University of Michigan is located on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe people. In 1817, the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Bodewadami Nations made the largest single land transfer to the University of Michigan. This was offered ceremonially as a gift through the Treaty at the Foot of the Rapids so that their children could be educated. Through these words of acknowledgment, their contemporary and ancestral ties to the land and their contributions to the University are renewed and reaffirmed.