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WONDER OF OUR STAGE by Monica Cross

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  • Aili Huber:
    22 Sep. 2023
    “ I had the privilege of directing the world premiere of this inventive and delightful script. Monica Cross's use of language is deft and powerful. The story is a delight, a meditation on what makes one human, while also being a romp through Elizabethan London. Other deep themes include the challenging relationships between parent and child as the child is growing into their own person. Easter eggs abound for those well-versed in Shakespeare, but none so obtrusive as to be a distraction.

    Our audience included people ages 10-80 and they all had a great time. Strong recommend. ”
  • Chelsea Frandsen:
    25 May. 2023
    “ What if Shakespeare was an automaton? an intriguing question, and one that Monica Cross fantastically answers. It grabs your interest from curtain up and keeps you entertained until the very last page. This Bard Fangirl/bookworm/sci fi geek girl is very very happy! ”
  • Christopher Soucy:
    26 Dec. 2022
    “ I read this ages ago! Just getting around to recommending! Highly, highly, highly recommend! A feat of Shakespearean knowledge mixed with proper Elizabethan era sorcery. It’s a precursor to steam punk… wood punk? It’s amazing and could easily sit on my shelf next to my Complete Works and Yale Shakespeare collection! ”
  • Duncan Pflaster:
    19 Jul. 2022
    “ A fun and fascinating piece of alternate Shakespearean history, positing that Dr. John Dee created William Shakespeare as an automaton to be a husband for Queen Elizabeth, but when she doesn't find him human enough, hires actors to instruct him in humanity. Clever and well-researched. ”
  • Jarred Corona:
    24 May. 2022
    “ To be perfectly frank, I have no love for Shakespeare. If one claimed I hate his plays and their ever presence, how they are taught to school-age children, I could not quarrel with them. I say all of that to make it quite clear: for me to clear that hurdle... Monica Cross, as far as I'm concerned, has transcended the crutch of Shakespeare. In making him inhuman, she has made him more human than ever before. I forgot my dislike. He became a young man struggling for belonging, acceptance, love. I rooted for him.
    Now I root for Monica Cross. ”
  • Toby Malone:
    4 May. 2021
    “ An utterly stunning, intricate, and wise take on the Shakespearean authorship question, in a sense. Monica Cross gives us a wonderfully nuanced historical sci-fi piece peppered with references for the knowing, which suggests that Shakespeare's sudden appearance and abrupt end on the London theatre scene came because he was not born, but made. I was continually thrilled with Cross's clever incorporation of elements from the era, including quotations, events, and rivals: the justification for the Q1 'Hamlet' text made me laugh with glee. This is such smart writing, efficient yet ambitious. I had a thoroughly great time. ”
  • Paul Donnelly:
    29 Sep. 2020
    “ Wonder of Our Stage offers an intriguing fantasia on the genesis of the writer we know as William Shakespeare. In this wondrous play, the monster far outgrows his Dr. Frankenstein and comes to a higher understanding of human nature that gives him a fulfilling and successful life. ”
  • Ky Weeks:
    18 Sep. 2020
    “ A fun, clever insight on science, the arts, and how the two can become intertwined. Uses magic and the imagination to explore Shakespeare while acknowledging the unanswerable mysteries surrounding him, a premise that's astounding and plays out in such a way that it just makes sense. ”
  • Daniel Prillaman:
    16 Jul. 2020
    “ Shakespeare was so good it's inhuman. No, literally. Shakespeare was a robot. Think about it. Cross, deftly arranging her genre influences into perfect harmony, gifts us with a stupendous, powerful character study that instantly transports us back in time and affixes marvel in our brains. Even though dressed in Elizabethan garb and language (the latter never feeling like the barrier it could so easily be, a testament to Cross's skill), the classic themes of stellar science fiction sing out and loud, and watching young William find his identity is a journey artists and audiences of any background will gleefully devour. ”
  • Doug DeVita:
    4 Jun. 2020
    “ This work of art fires and succeeds on so many levels my head is still spinning from the magical rush of wonder it gave me. A deeply affecting, wildly inventive spin on the Pygmalion and Galatea myth – positing William Shakespeare was actually an automaton created to become QE1's consort –it captures its Elizabethan era so perfectly the anachronisms become a natural part of the world Cross has created, and while all the characters are brilliantly conceived, I defy anyone not to fall in love with the Automaton: he is the irresistible heart and soul of this play. ”

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