Both as a playwright and as a critic, I frequently get invited to review many shows – and also get chances to present my own plays – in many theatre festivals in New York. Many of these shows that I’ve seen featured in these festivals are a beautiful tribute to the diversity and multiculturalism that is reflected throughout America. However, it’s not every day that I see a festival that not only commits itself to capturing such vibrant diversity through the works that they curate, but also does so through film, music, and poetry, in addition to theatre. Yet over the next five weeks in lower Manhattan, that’s exactly what the Downtown Urban Arts Festival is aiming to achieve.

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It goes without saying that throughout history, very few playwrights are as renowned, studied and frequently produced as William Shakespeare. Some of the most famous comedies, tragedies and love stories in theatre have been credited to his name. Even just over the past year, I’ve probably reviewed more plays by Shakespeare than by any other playwright.

However, a new production coming to Brooklyn this weekend seeks to get audiences to view his work in a very specific lens, in the hopes of starting a conversation on issues that have been getting more and more attention, specifically over the past couple of years.

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Since 2005, Manhattan Repertory Theatre has made a name for itself as being a home for playwrights craving to find space to bring their original work to life in the heart of New York City. Under the leadership of co-founder and Artistic Director Ken Wolf, thousands of one-act and full-length plays have been presented and produced through Manhattan Rep’s wide variety of programming, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

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For many people, professional wrestling can often come across as so theatrical and over the top, they are led to believe that it is actually just actors faking it for the sake of pure entertainment. Indeed, many people have actually argued that wrestling – in and of itself – can be considered a genuine form of “pop theatre”, so to speak. Yet a new show being produced down in Orlando, Florida, seeks to cast aside that notion, by merging these two forms of art and entertainment together in a brand new show.

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