Scottsdale-based theater company All Queer Shakespeare recently launched its second season. The group seeks to reflect diversity of all kinds — from sexuality to gender to racial identity — in both its cast and crew with every production.
There’s a long tradition of reimagining and reinterpreting Shakespeare plays to explore fresh cultural perspectives — but in their new show, All Queer Shakespeare is stepping away from the Bard.
The play is called "Six Rounds of Vengeance," by the Vietnamese playwright Qui Nguyen. It tells the story of Jess December, an outlaw in post-apocalyptic Lost Vegas, trying to rescue her sister from a band of supernatural monsters that have taken over the city.
All Queer Shakespeare partnered with two other organizations for the production — Ronin Theater and Pantheon Movement Arts, the latter of which specializes in stage combat. That’s a key part of "Six Rounds of Vengeance," which has almost as much on-stage swashbuckling and gun-fighting as it does dialogue.
Ahead of the show’s last run of performances this weekend at Scottsdale Neighborhood Arts Place, The Show caught up with Pantheon Movement Arts co-owner Marshall Vosler, who’s also an actor in the play, and Monica Sampson, the All Queer Shakespeare artistic director.
Full conversation
MONICA SAMPSON: The queerness in the story is just part of the narrative, and as a queer company, something that’s really important for us is that we’re showing that queer people are out there, right? We’re just living life. And part of this narrative is that there’s sword fighting and there’s gun fighting, and there happens to be a queer love story.
SAM DINGMAN: Right. One of the main characters, he’s a police officer, and his partner is a bartender. And the bartender has fallen victim to these evil forces that have taken over the town of Lost Vegas.
SAMPSON: The show takes place in a post-apocalyptic world called Lost Vegas but does flashbacks to Las Vegas. So, yes, there’s a love story between two of our leads that shows that they were together before the apocalypse. And then kind of explores what it means as two people explore power and identity in that timeline.
DINGMAN: What do you think the philosophy that informs the casting and the production adds to a story like that?
SAMPSON: Really, our companies are processed-based companies and instead of product-based companies. So one of the things that we wanted to be specific about in telling the story was our appreciation for the land that we’re on. You know, this land is stewarded by the Piipaash and Tohono O'Odham peoples.
And so we actually brought in a cultural coordinator named Robert Stone, who is fifth-generation Indigenous to this area. He came in to consult with our cast about some of the monsters in our story, which are based on Indigenous folklore and specifically Indigenous folklore of the Southwest.
So I’m not going to say the name of the monster out loud, because that’s one of the ways that you summon it. But in the original script, it actually does call for that monster’s name being said out loud. And we chose not to do that in order to protect our cast, and also to pay respect to this land.
DINGMAN: I’m very interested in this. Was that a recommendation that Robert made to you, or was it an offering that he made, like, “Just so you know, if you say the name of this monster, you are summoning it.” And then you guys as a company decided to change the name?
SAMPSON: So, in my first read of the script, that was something that I noticed was very important. And my job as the artistic director is not only to tell these stories, but to uphold the values of All Queer Shakespeare. And so for me, part of in a company that honors people is that we also honor people from all different traditions, backgrounds and heritages.
DINGMAN: I am curious, as you’re reading the script, you notice the use of this word. And you think that might not be great for the values of our company. But there was still something about the play overall that felt like it was right. So, how do you make those decisions? What are you weighing?
SAMPSON: Well, there has to be a monster at the end of the day, because it’s a fight show.
DINGMAN: No, no, I understand that. But I mean, in deciding — if you’re reading something that suggests maybe the values of the original story weren’t aligned with our company. But ultimately, you did decide the story that is contained in this play is aligned with the values of our company. How do you weigh that?
SAMPSON: You know what we did what we do in all things with this show, which is we had a lot of talking. [LAUGHS] And Marshall can talk about that.
MARSHALL VOSLER: Well, and again, yes, with the collaborative process, I think it was just finding with the collaborators in the space, where does it overlap?
DINGMAN: So if I’m hearing you right, there’s this very interesting balance that’s happening where there’s an opportunity to do something very movement-based. There’s an opportunity to explore the way that monstrosity is represented on stage. And the text is well matched to those opportunities. But there are also some limitations to the text that you want to make sure you’re addressing.
SAMPSON: ... I’m also a professional intimacy coordinator. And so I got to work with the actors in that capacity. We worked on mental health for the actors.
DINGMAN: It’s interesting that you bring up the intimacy coordination piece of this, because that’s one of the things that really stands out to me about the show is that there is a lot of rip-roaring action. But there are also a number of fairly tender emotional moments.
We referenced the police officer character and his former partner. It seems like that element of this is something you thought about pretty carefully. There are these three very strong emotional relationships that underpin the production.
There is, as we mentioned, that the police officer and his former partner. Yeah, there’s Jess December, the main character, and her sister.
SAMPSON: ... Those are are both Pantheon Movement Arts members. So the Decembers.
DINGMAN: And then the third one for me would be, there’s the character Don Diego, who is a great swordsman.
SAMPSON: We love Don Diego.
VOSLER: We do.
[LAUGHS]
DINGMAN: Portrayed by Ricardo Leone in the production. And the great love of his life, whose name is Catherine, who we don’t meet. But I was very struck in Ricardo’s performance, by the way he played the longing for Catherine very, to my eye, earnestly.
VOSLER: Yes.
SAMPSON: Yeah, absolutely.
DINGMAN. But that was also very interesting to me because this is another change I wanted to ask you guys about. My understanding is that in the original script, Don Diego is a little bit more of a lothario. A little bit more predatory towards Jess.
SAMPSON: And we specifically did not want that in our storytelling. We wanted earnestness in our storytelling. And when we all sat together as a group after the first read, the first thing that we asked was, “What is the purpose of this story? What mission does it tell, and what’s our goal?” And then everything we had to do had to tell that mission and that purpose. And for me, it was about love, revenge and family.
DINGMAN: So if I’m hearing you right, once you established in your mind that those were the things that were the mission in terms of telling the story, then there was a process of going through the script and saying, “Are there elements in the script that don’t serve that mission?” One of which would be Don Diego being sort of a creep.
SAMPSON: Yeah. Originally he’s very flirtatious. And I will give Ricardo, our actor, a lot of credit because he came to us, and it was very important to Ricardo that he played his character not as a Spaniard, but with the Mexican origins that he aligns with in his heritage.
And that was really important, because he did not want to play a colonizer. Which actually serves the original purpose of our story, especially not telling the names of our monsters, because those also relate to colonization and capitalism. And so really, like all ties together into this story of serving that mission.
DINGMAN: Last question for you guys. Marshall, one of the other changes that I know you guys made is that you play the guitar —
VOSLER: Yes, I do.
DINGMAN: — in the show. And if I’m not mistaken, that’s not part of the original script.
VOSLER: That is correct.
DINGMAN: So, talk a little bit about how you came to the idea of adding these songs. And if you’re comfortable with it, how did you go about creating the songs in a way that they would feel of a piece with the larger play?
VOSLER: You know, we were playing with the trope of the almost like the narrator, like, “Hey there. I’m here, I’m going to sing a song and tell you the story about what’s going on.” So Randall Downs is a local musician and composer, and he is the one who wrote the two original songs in the show that I sing.
And the interesting thing, as the one performing them, is to figure out how to fit the songs into the character moments. I’ll try not to go into spoilers —
SAMPSON: They have to come see it.
VOSLER: Gotta come see it.
DINGMAN: We’ll just say the idea of Lucky, your character, setting the frame for the narrative is a very loaded creative choice.
SAMPSON: Yes. And also the moment he comes out and starts singing this exposition is joined on the stage by puppets that are Arizona critters. So we have to have a javelina, a gila monster and they all kind of sing with him.
VOSLER: Yeah, it’s kind of like a cowboy version of "Snow White."
DINGMAN: Well, Marshall, if it would not be putting you on the spot too much. You have your guitar here in the studio. I wonder if you’d be willing to favor us with one of the songs.
VOSLER: Yes. Ready?
[Marshall Vosler plays a song from All Queer Shakespeare's production of “Six Rounds of Vengeance”]
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