Shakespeare Refracted

Five Plays by Caridad Svich

Caridad Svich (Author) , Katherine Gillen (Anthology Editor) , Vanessa I. Corredera (Anthology Editor) , Kathryn Vomero Santos (Anthology Editor)

Description

Discover Caridad Svich’s fresh reimaginings of Shakespeare’s plays that highlight the reality of the Latinx experience.

Recipient of an OBIE Award for Lifetime Achievement in theatre, Caridad Svich has written over fifty plays and has worked prodigiously as a translator, editor, essayist, and advocate for Latinx theatre: nowhere is this more evident than in her reimaginings of Shakespeare’s plays. This anthology brings together these six plays together in a single volume for the first time, allowing them to be considered and studied like never before.

From Twelve Ophelias, which places the characters from Hamlet in Appalachia, to Perdita Gracia which draws upon The Winter’s Tale to tell a story in the Florida Keys, to The Breath of Stars which is realises The Tempest reconfigured for the digital age; Svich’s work reflects contemporary American through the lens of Shakespeare. In doing so, Svich opens up fresh ways of thinking about Shakespeare in relation to present socio-political concerns, thereby speaking directly to the thriving debate surrounding in the intersection of Latinx Studies and Shakespeare, and Shakespeare and race.

Featuring an introduction that situates Svich’s Shakespeare reimaginings at the intersection of conversations in Shakespeare Studies, Latinx Studies, and Performance, Translation, and Adaptation/Appropriation Studies, Shakespeare Refracted offers a much-needed access point to both this intersection and Svich’s work.

For more details and it order the book, click HERE.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors
Editors’ Acknowledgements

Introduction: The Restorative Power of Caridad Svich’s Shakespearean Refractions

12 Ophelias (a play with broken songs)
Perdita Gracia
Holler River
Desdemona’s Child (blood cry)
The Breath of Stars

The House of Bernarda Alba
By Federico Garcia Lorca
In a New Translation by Caridad Svich

Directed By Emily Mendelsohn
November 14 and 18–21 at 8 pm
November 15 at 2 pm
Iris Cantor Theatre
38 West Houston Street, New York, NY 10012
Tickets available near performance dates

Tickets and additional info HERE.

Backyard Theatre Company presents RED BIKE by Caridad Svich, an intimate, movement-driven play about a young person riding through a town that is changing faster than they can understand.

Told through memory, motion, and the rhythm of a bicycle, RED BIKE follows The Kid as they move through streets, storefronts, neighborhoods, and questions of money, power, childhood, and belonging. What happens when the place that raised you begins to disappear? What do we hold onto when the world around us is being bought, sold, and renamed?

Presented inside the Berger Park Coach House, this production invites audiences into a close, stripped-down theatrical experience where language, movement, and community carry the story.

Directed by artistic associate Emma Parsons, RED BIKE is a play about growing up, looking closely, and asking who gets to stay in the places they call home.

Tickets and info HERE.

Check out a review in Broadway World HERE, which concludes with this:

There is poetry in everyday life. There is joy to be found in every street and every corner. And there is magic in storefront theater. If there’s ever a show that highlights the beauty, strength, and talent behind Chicago independent theater, Backyard Theatre Company makes a very strong case with its production of Red Bike.

And check out another review in Chicago Reader HERE, which includes this snippet:

… the connection between Berger’s Kid and Kunde’s Old Guy is charming, and filled with insights about the need for intergenerational collaboration in order to fight all the Men Who Own the Towns. “Dreams and visions are two different things,” Old Guy reminds Kid at one point. As she rides through the story, Kid gets her own ideas about how to tell the difference and not get sucked into consumerist hype at the cost of her own humanity.

By Federico García Lorca. Translated by Caridad Svich. Directed by Vladislavs Nastavševs, 2026 Christel DeHaan Visiting International Theatre Artist

After the death of Bernarda Alba’s second husband, the tyrannical matriarch imposes an oppressive mourning period on her five daughters. Tension and isolation take hold as the women struggle to imagine futures for themselves and vie for the one eligible bachelor left in town.

Spanish playwright, director, musician, poet and a key champion of Spanish folklore, Federico García Lorca, reaches profound emotional depths in this work that has defined his monumental career.

Additional details and ticket info HERE.

In the Time of the Butterflies

October 14, 2026 – October 18, 2026 @ 7:30 PM

UTEP Department of Theatre and Dance, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Ave. El Paso, TX 79968

Venue: June Sadowski Kruszewski Studio Theatre

Admission: Ticket Prices: $18 Adults $15 UTEP Faculty/Staff, Alumni, Seniors, Military, Non-UTEP Students $12 UTEP Students $10 Opening Night ONLY

Experience the extraordinary story of In the Time of the Butterflies, Caridad Svich’s powerful adaptation of Julia Alvarez’s celebrated novel, blending fact and fiction. Witness the Mirabal sisters’ courage as they risk everything to defy Rafael Trujillo’s brutal dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. Through poetic language, compelling performances, and striking theatricality, this unforgettable production explores the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood, the cost of resistance, and the enduring pursuit of freedom. Join us for a moving and entertaining experience that celebrates women’s resilience and reminds us that justice is the foundation of peace.

View addition details HERE.

The film ABILENE, which Caridad wrote based on their play IN YOUR ARMS, is making the film festival circuit. It was just named Best Feature Film in the DarkLand online film festival out of Austin, TX.

More updates to come…