On Sunday, February 22 at 5:00 PM, Avant Bard’s Resistance Reading Project returns with something a little different — and a little musical.
Join us at The Filling Station in Arlington, VA for our Resistance Cabaret: New Works Inspired by Shakespeare, an evening of new music and other creations that we are thrilled to present in collaboration with DC Bushwick Book Club. As always, the event is free to attend, with food and drink available for purchase.
The Resistance Reading Project exists to hold space for staged readings and other performances that respond to the urgent questions of this moment. Sometimes that response looks like a staged reading of a classic text. Sometimes it looks like a new play wrestling with our present. And sometimes, it looks like a cabaret.
This February, we turn to Two Gentlemen of Verona as a spark. Shakespeare’s early comedy explores loyalty, betrayal, migration, love, and the complicated bonds between friends — themes that remain startlingly relevant. In collaboration with DC Bushwick Book Club, local artists will present brand-new songs and pieces inspired by the play, transforming Shakespeare’s story into something fresh and immediate.
The Bushwick Book Club began in Brooklyn in 2009 as a creative challenge: write and perform original music inspired by literature. What started as a small gathering quickly grew into an international community of musicians and artists who reinterpret books through song. The DC chapter continues that tradition, bringing together performers who are passionate about making literature live and breathe in new forms.
The evening will also include a sneak peek of songs from Avant Bard’s upcoming March production of Séamus Miller’s adaptation, The Two Gentlemen of Killarney, an immigrant love-comedy with music. Set against the backdrop of the Irish Famine and the journey to America, Killarney blends Shakespeare’s wit with traditional Irish tunes — and this cabaret offers audiences an early taste of what’s to come.
Resistance Cabaret is playful. It’s pointed. It’s collaborative. It’s community-driven. It reminds us that art can question, reinterpret, and push back — sometimes with a laugh, sometimes with a lyric that lands exactly where it needs to.
We hope you’ll join us for an evening of music, mischief, and meaning.
