As We Like It

As We Like It follows the story of a woman named Rose, who tries to motivate her family to rehearse in the serenity and privacy of the woods a production of Shakespeare's As You Like It to be performed at the wedding of the Duke and his betrothed, the Fairy Queen. The only problem is there is no Fairy Queen. There is no Duke. They are not in a serene forest. This Midsummer Night's / As You Like It delusion is...

As We Like It follows the story of a woman named Rose, who tries to motivate her family to rehearse in the serenity and privacy of the woods a production of Shakespeare's As You Like It to be performed at the wedding of the Duke and his betrothed, the Fairy Queen. The only problem is there is no Fairy Queen. There is no Duke. They are not in a serene forest. This Midsummer Night's / As You Like It delusion is Rose's shield against a brutal reality she doesn't wish to confront — she and her family are in hiding from the Nazis in the grim forests of Poland during World War 2. Her family is not sure how to snap Rose out of her psychosis and worry of the danger she puts them all in by not acknowledging the realities and dangers of the world around them.

This play probes the isolating effects of living inside self-made echo chambers and how insulation from reality and contrary views can either shield or destroy. At its heart, this play asks: How do we tell the noble lies from the dangerous ones? When does hiding behind a story help or risk everything? And are we willing to sacrifice truth for a fiction whose purpose is simply to make the world… As We Like It?

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As We Like It

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  • Audrey Lang: As We Like It

    A wholly unique take on both a Holocaust story and a Shakespeare adaptation/inspiration. I was captivated reading this play and found it accessible and exciting, even as someone who doesn't typically dive deep into Shakespeare. The playwright balances "large scale ideas" like antisemitism with "small scale ideas" like family and interpersonal relationships in a beautiful, nuanced way. Excited to see the future development and life of this play! #JPP15thContest

    A wholly unique take on both a Holocaust story and a Shakespeare adaptation/inspiration. I was captivated reading this play and found it accessible and exciting, even as someone who doesn't typically dive deep into Shakespeare. The playwright balances "large scale ideas" like antisemitism with "small scale ideas" like family and interpersonal relationships in a beautiful, nuanced way. Excited to see the future development and life of this play! #JPP15thContest

Rose - (24, Female) - A young Jewish woman
Avram - (43, Male) - Rose's uncle
Miriam - (17, Female) - Avram's daughter
Idis - (32, Female) - Another Jewish woman
Roland - (23, Male) - A wanderer. Kurt's brother.
Kurt - (25, Male) - A wanderer. Roland's brother.