​As theaters begin to tentatively reopen across the world, we’ve all been left with a peculiar choice: Do we dust off the scripts that have been sitting for 2 years or do we forge ahead in a new direction? Is the creative fire still burning for an old project after so long, or is it better to rage ahead with something new and exciting? Uneasy lies the head that plans a season.

I had this ambitious project pencilled in for this season some time ago, so for me the question wasn’t necessarily whether or not to recover our lost projects, but whether or not I wanted to wait any longer for the War of the Roses. Frankly, I’m sick of waiting. We will be bringing back most of the titles that were lost, but for this moment: I really wanted to do the kind of ambitious season that only a fringe company like New Muses can do in this region. There are certainly advantages to being small and flexible.

You’ve probably never seen the Dukesbay Theater stripped to the bare walls before. This series, this saga of five plays and nearly 400 characters, tells a story of glorious scenery, magnificent battles, and luxurious appointments. But the roots, the text written to be performed before a restless crowd, to stride upon a wooden O, not unlike our own, lives on its own. As it was hundreds of years ago, there are no barriers between the actor and the audience, no walls to hide behind. Our wooden O becomes a grassy plain, or a lavish court, or the fields of France. The actors watch from the shadows, but the characters ascend the boards. Thank you for joining us. Please enjoy the War of the Roses.

The advantage of adapting the two parts of Shakespeare’s Henry IV into a single play is that Part II is an immediate sequel, so really all we had to do was condense the world into two hours. The mix of comedy and action is unique to this particular play and I think it sets the world off nicely. The theme which runs throughout the show is expectation, and I think Shakespeare has done a marvelous job of showing three sides of the coin. King Henry IV is breaking under the weight of a crown he never really wanted, watching his alliances crumble as he struggles to keep his promises intact. His son, Hal, thrust into the spotlight as heir to the crown, deliberately destroys his own image to soften the expectations he faces. And an old knight, Falstaff, far from his glory days with Henry’s father shows the burdens of a life trapped in low expectations. This isn’t a play about rising above. This is a play about coping under enormous pressure, and not always succeeding.