Adapting Shakespeare to New Forms
Iago: The Green Eyed Monster and Ambition’s Debt
Booking and details
Dates Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 4:30pm
Tickets $20; $15 for Members and Subscribers ($35 - Festival Pass)
Join us at The Reading Room Festival to discuss how Shakespeare’s stories are being adapted into new forms for contemporary audiences, specifically through a musical AR experience, Iago: The Green Eyed Monster, and a post-apocalyptic film, Ambition’s Debt.
4:30pm
Iago: The Green Eyed Monster
5:15pm
Ambition’s Debt film screening
6:45pm
Post-screening conversation
Festival Pass – $35
Access to all Festival open rehearsals, readings, screenings, and conversations.
All-Access Pass – $75
Everything in the Festival Pass, plus invitations to the opening and closing parties.
Students – Free admission to readings and conversations
Admitted free one-half hour before event start time, with a valid ID
Iago: The Green Eyed Monster
Musical AR Experience by Mary Chieffo, Josh Nelson Youssef
Screenplay by Mary Chieffo
Directed by Josh Nelson Youssef, Camila Marturano, Julian Dorado
Produced by Juvee Productions, 3Dar, Verizon
Mary Chieffo shares the story behind Iago: The Green Eyed Monster, a musical AR experience that reimagines one of Shakespeare’s classic villains. From the project’s inspiration to its filming and execution, this illustrated talk will take the audience through the creation process for a behind the scenes look at a remarkable contemporary adaptation.
About Iago: The Green Eyed Monster
This musical prequel to a futuristic take on Shakespeare’s Othello explores the psychology and origin story of the notorious villain Iago reimagined as a woman. Reviewing holographic memories, Iago muses on her schemes in a rock opera villain song that incorporates Shakespeare’s original words into the lyrics. As her song crescendos, Iago is consumed by her jealousy and literally becomes “the green eyed monster,” destroying everyone and everything in her path to vengeance.
Know before you go: Experience Iago: The Green Eyed Monster ahead of this talk by visiting https://greeneyedmonsterar.com/ and using the QR code to download the app on your mobile device.
The Reading Room Festival Q&A: Mary Chieffo and Josh Nelson Youssef
“I was particularly intrigued by the concept of ‘honest Iago’ and what honesty truly signifies in the context of gender roles,” writes Mary Chieffo.
Ambition’s Debt
Screenplay by Devin E. Haqq, Adapted from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Directed by Devin E. Haqq
Set against the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic world, the story follows the downfall of Rome’s most honored citizen, Marcus Brutus, as he conspires to assassinate Julius Caesar in order to forestall tyranny and preserve democracy.
Post-screening conversation
Facilitated by Katie Harroff
Panel: Devin E. Haqq and Mary Chieffo
From a 16th-century outdoor stage to an AR experience accessible through your smartphone, Shakespeare’s works have continued to evolve alongside advances in technology and an ever-changing culture. Devin E. Haqq (Ambition’s Debt) and Mary Chieffo (Iago: The Green Eyed Monster) discuss adapting Shakespeare’s works into new forms for contemporary audiences, closing out the Reading Room Festival by asking: If Shakespeare is a starting point, where are we headed to next?
Who’s who
Mary Chieffo
Mary Chieffo (she/her) is a queer actor/producer known internationally as the Klingon Commander turned Chancellor L’Rell on the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Discovery, returning as her iconic character for the highly popular Star Trek Online. After playing numerous Shakespeare roles including the titular characters in King Lear and Macbeth, Chieffo received her BFA from Juilliard in 2015, along with the prestigious Elizabeth Smith Voice and Speech Prize and the Saint-Denis Prize for “Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Drama.” Mary is a member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA. Recent acting credits include guest star roles on NCIS, Girls5eva, and leading roles in Bespoke Plays’ staged readings ofHeretics by Ellie Pyle in New York, Analogue by Christine Boylan, Lady Face and Systems by Madi Goff in Los Angeles.
Devin E. Haqq
Devin E. Haqq (Ambition’s Debt) is an Emmy nominated producer, a member of the Fiasco Theater Acting Company, an IFP alumni, and a Finalist for the HBOAccess 2020 Directing Fellowship. His feature film, Ambition’s Debt, won the 2017 Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature at the prestigious American Black Film Festival (ABFF) and the 2018 Paul Robeson Award Honorable Mention at the Newark Black Film Festival. Recently, Devin produced the short film Cupids, directed by Zoey Martinson, which had its world premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival as part of the 8:46 Films Initiative sponsored by Procter & Gamble (2022 NAACP Image Award Nominee). Cupids has since gone on to play at some of the top film festivals around the world, including Woodstock, Cambridge, Chicago International Film Festival (Gold Hugo Award Nominee), Riverrun, The American Pavilion at Cannes, and recently aired on CBS & BET networks.