←Recommendations of What Happened While Hero Was Dead

I fell in love with this piece as soon as I read it. It's fun and flirty, feminist and sex-positive, and Hero's monologue at the end just wrecks me every time. Great play!

This play is gorgeous and hilarious, and it raises some excellent points about society and the agency of women (or lack thereof) at the time "Much Ado About Nothing" is set - and today as well. What a well-crafted, wild ride of a play. I would love to see that sex ballet on stage!

This play is absolutely hilarious and uses such sharp and biting satire to shine a light on the social structures that negatively impact women, on the ways society pits women against each other and themselves, and on the narratives told around female desire, intimacy, independence, and more. Super brilliant use of the source text that skewers its glaringly bizarre and misogynistic aspects. There are also these quiet and subtle moments of tenderness that break up the supremely well-paced hilarity throughout. I'd love to see this read, developed, staged, produced far and wide.

I decided to read a play to cheer myself up and I am SO GLAD I stumbled upon this one! This play is as laugh-out-loud funny as it is addictively charming! At a certain point I started reading it out loud because I was having too much fun! This is the redemption arc that every Shakespearean heroine deserves - you don't need to be a Bard Buff to enjoy this feminist companion to Much Ado. In a world in which "princess culture" reigns supreme, this clever play is the antidote. Come for the great writing, stay for the... sex ballet!?!?

Oh, wow. What a brilliant, fearless, hilarious piece this is. It's the kind of play you read and as you do, all the pieces start falling into place about just HOW MESSED UP Hero's situation is in "Much Ado" - and Meghan Brown doesn't shy away from a single moment of it. Here, Hero finds herself in her tragedy and becomes a complete, complex, brave woman we ache for. Her final monologue alone needs to be read by everyone. Read this. Produce it: although be warned: you'll never read "Much Ado" the same way again.

Heroines from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing come to vivid life in this comedic romp of self-discovery. An audience member stated, “Great farce is challenging to write. Great farce that riffs on Shakespeare triply so. Meghan Brown has created a unicorn.” Director Holly L. Derr says this play “...gives one of Shakespeare’s famously underdeveloped women characters a chance to take up space and come into her own in a way that is exciting, funny, and sexy." Here at ANPF we are excited to support What Happened While Hero Was Dead by Meghan Brown as an ANPF 2021 winner.

Clever, raunchy, unapologetic, and surprisingly emotional, this play is a terrific romp. Yes, of course, the Shakespeare fans out there will have a particular interest in this feminist reimagining of that poor orange, Hero (and will appreciate all the nods to the Bard throughout the play) but it's such a delightful romp that there's no truly Shakespearean pre-req necessary to enjoy the show. Highly recommend.

Funny, irreverent, raunchy. This play gives Hero the opportunity to reclaim her autonomy, even when we all know it still must be restricted in the end. Despite the quick wit and humor throughout the piece, Brown still manages—powerfully—to highlight the tragedy overlooked within this beloved Shakespeare comedy.
Also, special thanks to all those involved in the fantastic reading at the 2021 Ashland New Plays Festival.

This sexy, theatrical, and snarky spin on Hero's plight heals the withered plot of the original. It offers notably terrific roles for Hero, Margaret, Benedick, and Beatrice. I congratulate the playwright for simultaneously offering a catalyst for discussions of intimacy, autonomy, and consent, along with songs, dances, giddy masked orgies, and snicker-worthy humor. What a ride.

I have never been satisfied with Hero's storyline in Much Ado, so when a friend told me about this play, I was unsure I wanted to read it. But wow, I'm so glad I did. Meghan Brown's reimagining of Hero's "life after death" is absolutely hilarious, feminist, thrilling, tantalizing. I LOVED this play. I would absolutely love to see it on stage. In the end, Hero's fate is the same, but she has forever changed, and beyond the edges of the play there is hope for her yet. So good. So, so good. Put this play on!!!