The Hudson Guild Theater, an off-off-Broadway theater in New York City, was packed on March 8 as almost 100 guests awaited the world premiere of “Boy My Greatness,” a play that explores the lives and loves of the teenage boys who originally portrayed Shakespeare’s female characters.
The play follows four male players ranging from 12 to 22 years old, as well as a former player turned puritanical priest and an adult actor who takes the boys under his wing. Playwright and director Zoe Senese-Grossberg, who has studied and directed Shakespearean plays for many years, first conceived “Boy My Greatness” last summer. It was inspired by the lack of stories about this aspect of Shakespeare’s legacy.
“I think like anybody who does Shakespeare, this is always something that I’ve wondered about and thought about these boys,” Senese-Grossberg said.
While based on historical truths, “Boy My Greatness” relies heavily on what Senese-Grossberg calls “historical imagining,” which uses research and cultural understanding of the time to craft a fictional story that feels true.
“There’s not an insane amount out there,” she said, referring to existing research into the boy players. “But also, I wanted to have the freedom to write the story that I wanted to write.”
All under the looming threat of a plague, “Boy My Greatness” carefully yet poignantly examines gender identity and expression, child sexual assault and religious conservativism.
“I find it easier to write about the past than I do about the present, especially when I want to write about things that feel political,” Senese-Grossberg said. “You can do a lot of reflecting when you have the distance of time.”
The play was produced by The Firebird Project, a theater production and arts education company founded in 2013 by Leo Lion, who also portrayed the character John Sharpe in the play.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to both do what we do best,” Lion said, “which is to look at these very iconic, classical themes but in a really fresh and original way, which is a real treat.”
In addition to the play’s discussion of gender, most of the actors are gender non-conforming. This includes Eli Wassertzug, a nonbinary, transfeminine actor who played Henry “Hal” Fletcher, a boy player who struggles to imagine life as an adult man.
“From the moment I saw the audition sides, [Hal] was a pretty special character for me to read,” Wassertzug said.
They consider it their project as an actor to dare directors and audiences to ask, “Why can’t I play this character that might not have been written for someone exactly like me?”
“But then, every so often, very rarely, there will be a character who is, in fact, written for someone like me, which is an amazing thing,” they said.
Social media has been a focal point of the marketing for “Boy My Greatness.” One promotional video reached over 112,000 views on TikTok, prompting viewers from around the country to seek an online version of the play. In turn, The Firebird Project has since made the production available on their Patreon for $10 subscribers after the show’s closing on March 16 and has plans to tour the show around the tri-state area this fall.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THINKING THEATRE NYC
