STC Academy’s The Taming of the Shrew, or, Petruchio Is Kated, is virtuoso Shakespeare, with all the glories of his best comedies — catfights, gender-bending, and romantic fireworks. The rip-roaring cast, under the imaginative direction of Shanara Gabrielle, brings an understanding of the text and a flair for gesture that captures the audience right away and never lets them go.
The Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy is a one-year immersive M.F.A. program that trains its students in classical acting. Each year, STC Academy’s Summer Repertory features the graduating class in two plays — this year, King John and The Taming of the Shrew, or, Petruchio Is Kated.
The shrew, Katherine (Maryanne Henderson), is referred to in the play as a “devil,” a “fiend of hell,” and “a rotten apple.” She is even called the “Devil’s Dam,” the Devil’s mother apparently being even worse than her son. In Henderson’s spirited performance, we see a more human side of Katherine. She is weary of the favoritism her mother (in Shakespeare, her father), Baptista Minola (Tracy Coffey), shows to her more biddable sister, Bianca (Reese Cowley). She is epically irritated with the insulting epithets. And she is, quite simply, angry.
The wealthy Baptista, like a stressed-out suburban mother, is eager to get her two girls married off. Katherine, of course, is not marketable, so Baptista sets a condition: Katherine must be married off before anyone can woo Bianca. Petruchio (Michael Burgos) is looking for a rich wife. Any rich wife. Bianca’s suitors will be delighted to fling him into the loving arms of Katherine, who is, well, curst.
What of Petruchio, who hopes to tame (and marry) her? Does he really see anything in this wildcat? Or is he just interested in her mother’s money? Burgos portrays a Petruchio who is scheming, hilarious, and a masterful manipulator. Their relationship, with some strategic script changes, becomes a battle of wits spiced with acrobatic wooing and split-second shifts of mood.
The theme of two sisters, one rebellious, one conventional, goes all the way back to Sophocles’ Antigone. Reese Cowley, as the more traditional sister, adds some adroit shading to their role. Katherine is anything but a hypocrite, blazingly outspoken but seemingly unable to control her own rage. Bianca, by contrast, can be devious. She is not above fake-crying to make sure she gets what she wants. And she is sympathetic, too — she willingly gives in to Katherine when she has to, and Katherine is sometimes not very nice at all. One could argue that both these emotional stances are responses to possessing, well, fewer rights than do others. Men, perhaps?
The gender-bending is ubiquitous and fun. Bianca’s suitor, Lucentio in Shakespeare, becomes Lucentia (Sydney Sinclair). Likewise, Lucentio’s servant, Tranio, becomes Lucentia’s BFF Trania (Elizabeth Loyacana). In this version, it is Lucentia who falls in love with Bianca.
Sinclair’s deftly played Lucentia is variously a romantic (she enjoys the poetry of Sappho), an imposter (disguised as a tutor, she reveals her true identity through a lesson), and a resourceful rival — she faces competition from an older man, Gremio (Eric Lane), Petruchio’s friend Hortensio (Alex Ross), and even Trania disguised as Lucentio. Loyacano is especially adept when she impersonates Lucentio — some of Shakespeare’s “pants parts” such as Rosalind could well be in her future.
The various impersonations and disguises can be somewhat confusing, but the results are never less than entertaining, whether it’s Hortensio disguised as Bianca’s tutor Litio, Lucentia disguised as Bianca’s other tutor Cambia, or the Pedant (also called the Merchant, Alie Karambas) disguised as Lucentia’s mother, Vincentia (don’t ask).
The servants all have their moments, too. Sadie O’Conor as Biondella brings a touch of Gen Z when she puts on earphones to ignore instructions. Grumia (Cammiel Hussey) is one of the few who stand up to Petruchio.
It is all delightfully confusing, but the production never loses its audacity or heart. Neither does the wordplay between Petruchio and Kate.
PETRUCHIO: Good morrow, Kate, for that’s your name, I hear.
KATHERINE: Well have you heard, but something hard of hearing.
They call me Katherine that do talk of me.
PETRUCHIO: You lie, in faith, for you are called plain Kate,
And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst,
But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom,
Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate
(For dainties are all Kates) — and therefore, Kate,
Take this of me, Kate of my consolation;
Hearing thy mildness praised in every town,
Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded
(Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs),
Myself am moved to woo thee for my wife.
In this adaptation, Kate’s ordeal, as Petruchio starves her and deprives her of sleep, becomes mutual. The two evolve as a couple, testing one another at every opportunity. This vitiates the embarrassment often caused by Katherine’s last soliloquy in Shakespeare’s version, a frequent source of critical disputes. In one of her most controversial lines, Kate expresses her shame that women seek “rule, supremacy, and sway, when they are bound to serve, love, and obey.” Here, those lines are given to Petruchio, and Kate expresses her desire to please him, not as a subordinate but as an equal.
The costumes, by Becca Janney, are truly extraordinary — comic, colorful, and ever-changing. There is a priest whose vestment sports a handsome stole in Pride colors. The physical comedy is a thrill a minute (fight director is Robb Hunter). The set, originally from STC’s recent Frankenstein, designed by Andrew Boyce, acquires some lovely pastel highlights. The lighting designer is Minjoo Kim. The sound designer and composer is Matthew M. Nielson. All the technical aspects enhance the quality of the production.
This new Shrew revels in the many varieties of love. And for Petruchio and Kate, instead of submission, there is something much better: equality.
Running Time: Two hours, with one intermission.
The Taming of the Shrew, or, Petruchio Is Kated played July 16 to 26, 2025, in rep with King John presented by the Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy performing at the Michael R. Klein Theatre, 450 7th Street NW, Washington, DC.
The full cast and creative team credits can be viewed here (scroll down).
The Taming of the Shrew, or, Petruchio Is Kated
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Shanara Gabrielle
CAST
Baptista Minola: TRACY COFFEY
Katherine: MARYANNE HENDERSON
Bianca: REESE COWLEY
Widow: LIYALI ALJIRAFI
Gremio: ERIC LANE
Hortensio (later disguised as Litio): ALEX ROSS
Lucentia (later disguised as Cambia): SYDNEY SINCLAIR
Trania (later impersonating Lucentio): ELIZABETH LOYACANO
Biondella: SADIE O’CONOR
Petruchio: MICHAEL BURGOS
Grumia: CAMMIEL HUSSEY
Vincentia: EDIE BACKMAN
Curtis: SAM RODD
Haberdasher: MOLLY MALONE
Tailor: AMBER MAYBERRY
Pedant: ALI KARAMBASH
CREATIVE TEAM
Costume Designer: BECCA JANNEY
Lighting Designer: MINJOO KIM
Sound Designer & Composer: MATTHEW M. NIELSON
Props Director: LISA ANN BELEY
Fight Director: ROBB HUNTER
COVID Safety: All STC spaces are mask-friendly — meaning all patrons, masks and unmasked, are welcome. Read more about Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Health and Safety policies here.
SEE ALSO:
A hip ‘King John’ power play with lip-synched pop tunes from STC Academy (review by Sophia Howes, July 21, 2025)
