TAME.
A searing adaptation of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew that centers on
a young queer poet and her nemesis — a firebrand youth minister.
Produced with Capital Fringe/Blind Pug & Avant Bard
“There is no escape to … only out”
TAME. is set in 1960s Texas about a wildly creative and spirited young poet named Cat. Grieving the suicide of her lesbian lover, Cat goes home to her religious parents, who are dead-set on forcing her to submit and conform. They hire a firebrand minister named Patrick to try to tame her — but Cat fights back. A rejoinder to The Taming of the Shrew from a woman's point of view, TAME. is every bit as darkly comic and enthralling as the Shakespeare play that provoked it.
Jonelle wrote TAME. as her first full-length play; first play to be produced professionally; and first play to be nominated for a major award. (Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Play or Musical Adaptation, 2017) The play was originally produced by Blind Pug Arts Collective at the 2014 Capital Fringe Festival and had its world premiere at Avant Bard Theatre in 2016.
“Vivid, artfully unnerving … Ingeniously crafted, right up to its shocker ending, “TAME.” echoes Shakespeare while also depicting distinctive characters locked in a psychologically plausible battle of modern values and ideas”