Just for the single night, legendary Shakespearean performer, director, and activist, Lisa Wolpe, came to Merced to perform her insightful and heart-wrenching, one-woman show “Shakespeare and the Alchemy of Gender” at UC Merced’s Lakireddy Auditorium on April 16.
Although she was physically alone on stage, she brought out an entire cast of loved ones and characters who have shaped her and helped her understand the world as well as herself.
Wolpe is a truly generational and groundbreaking artist who has touched the lives of those around her through embracing her passion for the arts and ultimate desire to dissect and understand humanity as well as teach others what she has learned along the way.
Among her many accomplishments, one of the most notable is the founding of her all-women and multicultural theater company in 1993 named the Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company. Additionally, she is well-known for performing more leading male roles in professional Shakespearian production than any other woman in history. Other than her performance of her one-woman show, Wolpe is here in California upon request of longtime associate Dr. Katherine Brokaw in order to assist and mentor the Shakespeare in Yosemite’s production of Romeo and Juliet in Yosemite National Park this upcoming Earth Day weekend (April 20-23).
“It’s such a pleasure to be a part of the UC Merced/Yosemite Shakespeare community of artists and conservationists,” Wolpe told the Times. “Katie Brokaw is an absolute game-changer, and I’m delighted to be invited to work and play here with her incredibly talented, hardworking, mindful students and colleagues. Performing my very raw and personal solo show, ‘Shakespeare and the Alchemy of Gender’ for this group of people is a wonderful way for me to explain and also demonstrate what I love about Shakespeare, why I continue to enjoy the work of adaptation and interpretation, what solace I seek in community, what kind of speaking and listening my soul needs and enjoys. Reciprocally, I am completely inspired by the heart-centered group of artists currently creating ‘Romeo and Juliet in Yosemite’. The hopeful, deeply musical, radically joyful adaptation of this classic tragedy is truly innovative, and I am so happy to meet, work, and play with these artists who are advancing culture and championing the natural world in Katie’s life-affirming project.”
Wolpe’s “Shakespeare and the Alchemy of Gender” is an absolute emotional rollercoaster that will take you through some of the artist’s highest moments and suddenly drop you down to her lowest, offering you raw look into the psyche of a woman who found herself through transforming herself into others.
If you missed her performance and want to learn more, or simply want to see more of her work, you can visit her website: lisawolpe.com. Additionally, you can find interviews as well as a limited selection of her past work on YouTube.