The Folger

Vet's Cry "Havoc!" Plays Folger for One Night

The Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C., in association with Promundo-US, will host a one-night-only performance of Stephan Wolfert's Cry "Havoc!" Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. A U.S. Army veteran, Wolfert draws connections between soldiers and military personnel of our day with those of William Shakespeare's works.

Twenty years ago, Wolfert, having completed six years in the Army, stepped off an Amtrak train in the mountains of Montana and came across a life-changing performance of Shakespeare's Richard III. Since that day, Wolfert has been exploring what it means to be a soldier and a citizen through theater.

Using Shakespeare's words and a few of his own, Wolfert performs an interactive play about Shakespeare's soldiers, including iconic figures such as Richard III, Othello, and Henry V. A testament to the healing power of art and human resilience, Cry “Havoc!” reveals how the military men and women of Shakespeare's time wrestled with the same hopes and worries that occupy our modern lives.

Following the performance, Wolfert will be joined in an audience talk-back by Niobe Way of New York University, Gary Barker of Promundo-US, and Michael Witmore, director of the Folger Shakespeare Library.

The timing of this performance is serendipitous, at least, as it plays on the night of the national mid-term elections in the United States, in the days before Veterans Day, and during the run of the Folger's production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. It's an interesting context for Wolfert to revisit Mark Antony's speech from that play, “Cry ‘Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war.”

Founded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1997, Promundo works internationally to promote caring, non-violent, and equitable masculinities and gender relations. Promundo's independently registered organizations in Brazil, the United States, and Portugal,and its representatives in Rwanda and Burundi collaborate to achieve this mission by conducting research to build the knowledge base on masculinities and gender equality; developing, evaluating. and scaling-up gender transformative interventions and programs; and carrying out national and international advocacy to achieve gender equality and social justice. For more information, see www.promundo.org.br

Tickets are $20 and available at the Folger box office (202-544-7077) or online at www.folger.edu.

October 16, 2014

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