GERTRUDE
a new play by Grant MacDermott
directed by Katie McHugh
GERTRUDE was streamed live to this page and our Facebook. You can watch the stream below.
JUNE 30 @ 7PM EDT
(6 PM CDT)
Join the live chat below
Gertrude takes place in between all the scenes that Shakespeare gives us, digging into the character of Gertrude in Hamlet, one of Shakespeare’s most inactive and highly debated characters. Who is Gertrude and why does she do what she does? More importantly, why does she so often do nothing? An exploration of her innermost thoughts and desires, Gertrude gets at the truth of why this woman is so tragic and tries to understand her passivity in a world full of action.
ABOUT THE TEAM
Playwright - Grant MacDermott
Director - Katie McHugh
CAST
Elke Van Dyke
Elke Van Dyke is a New York based teacher, director, actor, aerialist and producer of theatre and Shakespeare. She is the Co-Founder and Core Faculty of the New York Teen Shakespeare Intensive of YWTC, Co-Founding Director of the Teen Shakespeare Conservatory NYC at the Actors Movement Studio and Co-Founding Artistic Director of Gotham Shakespeare Co. She trained as a teacher and actor at Shakespeare & Company with Founders Tina Packer and Dennis Krausnick and is a graduate of Brooklyn College 's MFA Performing Arts Management and The New School University's BA Theatre programs.
Alejandro Oliva
Alejandro Oliva is a Mexican actor internationally known for his roles in television, film and theater. He has an MA in Classical Acting for the Professional Theatre from the world-renowned London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. He first studied Acting at Casazul Artes Escenicas, one of the most prestigious acting schools in Mexico. He has taken Work- shops and Master Classes with great artists such as the likes of Alejandro González Iñárritu, Benedict Cumberbatch, De- clan Donnellan and James Shapiro. He is currently based in Mexico City where he continues to perform and create with different artists.
Robine Kaseka
A self-taught actress, Robine participated in the Ateliers ouverts à la diversité of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde and was a mentee at the Black Theater Workshop. She was also a candidate for the Auditions de la diversité. In 2019, she was cast as Helena in Yonder Window's Shakespeare's Midsummer Night Dreams in 2019. She was also cast as Gloria in It felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now in 2019 presented at the National Theatre School of Canada. Robine has played in Theatre sans fil Mwana and the Turtle's Secret presented at the 2020 Philadelphia International performing arts for youth. You can catch her this fall in Théâtre des petites âmes Hermanitas , Thomas Duret's En survolant la mer Égée and Théâtre Motus' Baobab. Robine also dances for the Afro-Colombian dance crew Tribu Kumbé.
Daniel Strausman
Daniel Strausman is a New York based actor, who graduated from CalARTS in 2019 with a BFA in Acting. Since then he has been working on projects for both the stage and screen. You can see his latest role, in the short film Shadows, on his website: www.danielstrausman.com Daniel is honored and excited to work alongside his first acting mentors, Katie and Elke. He met them in their 3-week Shakespeare summer program in his freshman year of high school. They helped him harbor his passion for Shakespeare and for the art of performance. Katie coached him for college auditions and now he’s ecstatic to be working with her as an adult.