Play On Shakespeare
Re-imagined for current audiences, ACMRS Press is proud to publish these modern verse translations of thirty-nine of Shakespeare’s classic plays.
Play On Shakespeare is a non-profit company promoting and creating contemporary modern translations of Shakespeare’s plays. Since its inception in 2015, Play On has commissioned dozens of contemporary playwrights and translators to translate 39 Shakespeare plays into modern English, with a majority of the commissions being helmed by BIPOC and womxn playwrights. Far from a paraphrasing exercise, each playwright was tasked with matching Shakespeare’s linguistic rigor as they approached the text, preserving rhyme, rhythm, metaphor, meter, imagery, symbolism, rhetoric, and the structure that make Shakespeare’s plays engaging and accessible to today’s audience. Play On partners with artists and organizations across the globe to deliver and advocate for these translations through different channels, including theatrical productions, podcasts, publications, and film. For more information, visit playonshakespeare.org.
Play On Shakespeare is made possible through generous support of the Hitz Foundation.
If you need a Shakespeare script that's not cloaked with Renaissance arcana nor slathered with modern slang, try these editions.
— Ron Charles, Washington Post
Translations?
It’s been difficult to define precisely. It turns out that there is no word for the kind of subtle and rigorous examination of language found here. We don’t mean “word for word,” which is what most people think of when they hear the word translate. We don’t mean “paraphrase,” either.
This project looked at Shakespeare’s plays through the lens of the English we speak today. How much has the English language changed since Shakespeare? Is it possible that there are conventions in the early modern English of Shakespeare that don’t translate to us today, especially in the moment of hearing it spoken out loud as one does in the theater?
How might we “carry forward” the successful communication between actor and audience that took place 400 years ago? “Carry forward,” by the way, is what we mean by “translate.”
Contemporary Modern English
The Play On Shakespeare project aimed to tease out what we mean by contemporary modern English, and a matrix of writers was created who embodied many different lived experiences: age, ethnicity, gender-identity, experience with translations, geography, English as a second language, knowledge of Shakespeare, etc.
What the playwrights had in common was a deep love of language and a curiosity about the assignment. Not everyone was on board with the idea and I was eager to see how the experiment would be for them.
The Festival
To celebrate the completion of the translations, all 39 plays were presented in a staged reading format at a festival in June 2019 in partnership with The Classic Stage Company in New York. The blend of Shakespeare with another writer was seamless and jarring at the same time. Countless actors and audience members told us that the plays were understandable in ways they had never been before.
The Book Series
Now it’s time to share their work through this exciting new book series. These editions are based on the festival readings. They mark a moment in time. The translations aren’t definitive; they never will be. The original commission asked for two drafts, which is enough to put the ball in play. The real fun with these texts is when there are actors, a director, a dramaturg, and the playwright wrestling with them together in a rehearsal room.
More Information
For information on release dates, reviews, publicity, or other inquiries, please contact acmrs@asu.edu
Full Title List with Playwright “Translator”
Please look for all 39 titles in the Play On Shakespeare series, and the playwright who wrote the translation. Publication of all titles are scheduled to be complete by early 2024.
All's Well That Ends Well
— Virginia Grise
Antony and Cleopatra
— Christopher Chen
As You Like It
— David Ivers
The Comedy of Errors
— Christina Anderson
Coriolanus
— Sean San José
Cymbeline
— Andrea Thome
Edward III
— Octavio Solis
Hamlet
— Lisa Peterson
Henry IV (Parts 1 & 2)
— Yvette Nolan
Henry V
— Lloyd Suh
Henry VI (Parts 1, 2, & 3)
— Douglas P. Langworthy
Henry VIII
— Caridad Svich
Julius Caesar
— Shishir Kurup
King John
— Brighde Mullins
King Lear
— Marcus Gardley
Love’s Labour’s Lost
— Josh Wilder
Macbeth
— Migdalia Cruz
Measure for Measure
— Aditi Brennan Kapil
The Merchant of Venice
— Elise Thoron
The Merry Wives of Windsor
— Dipika Guha
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
— Jeffrey Whitty
Much Ado About Nothing
— Ranjit Bolt
Othello
— Mfoniso Udofia
Pericles
— Ellen McLaughlin
Richard II
— Naomi Iizuka
Richard III
— Migdalia Cruz
Romeo and Juliet
— Hansol Jung
The Taming of the Shrew
— Amy Freed
The Tempest
— Kenneth Cavander
Timon of Athens
— Kenneth Cavander
Titus Andronicus
— Amy Freed
Troilus and Cressida
— Lillian Groag
Twelfth Night
— Alison Carey
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
— Amelia Roper
The Two Noble Kinsmen
— Tim Slover
The Winter’s Tale
— Tracy Young
Performance Demos
Watch these short demos of translations in action!
King Lear
Macbeth
Romeo and Juliet
The Demos Discussed
Please visit the Play On Shakespeare YouTube Channel for more videos related to these exciting translations:
www.youtube.com/@PlayOnShakes