BOSTON, Mass. – Shakespeare & Company and MetaGirl Productions have announced a six-show run of This Is It – a one-woman show starring Tamara Hickey, directed by Kate Kohler Amory and co-written by the duo – at Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) from Wednesday, Oct. 23 through Sunday, Oct. 27.
When a woman’s life is interrupted by a catastrophic car crash, she is catapulted into an existential, heartfelt, and often funny quest for meaning and connection. Landing in the Bardo, she discovers herself in the “in-between” space between life and death.
Described as a work of “autobiographical fiction” by its creators, This Is It first appeared in 2022 while in development at United Solo in New York, N.Y., and as part of a residency at Central Square Theatre’s That’s What She Said program.
Later that year, it was performed as part of Shakespeare & Company’s Plays in Process series in Lenox, Mass., which presents developing works at various stages of the theater-making process. Allyn Burrows, artistic director of Shakespeare & Company, noted that This Is It’s premiere at BCA marks the first time a Plays in Process production has been fully staged in Boston, following its one-show preview at Arrow Street Arts’ ARROWFEST Launch Festival in Cambridge this September.
“We’re excited to help bring this production to Boston audiences,” he said. “It’s a very funny thrill ride of one woman’s search for the meaning of life, and that resonates for all of us.
Amory went on to explain that This Is It uses movement and theatricality to embody multiple characters – such as an alcoholic dance instructor and a hockey coach – as well as a range of scenes from an autopsy to a pole dance.
“Our aim is to create a visceral experience for the audience,” she said; “one that is compelling and rooted in gentle, careful, and vulnerable storytelling.”
Hickey added that engaging with audiences at different stages of the piece’s development has been incredibly rewarding.
“The input has made the process feel like a collective effort,” she said.
Both Amory and Hickey have extensive, Boston-based theater credits; an award-winning director, Amory is the Founding Artistic Director of The Ridiculous Project and a Professor of Movement and Acting for Boston Conservatory Berklee, having directed productions at Boston Conservatory Berklee, Salem State University, Brandeis University, and beyond.
Hickey is an Elliot Norton Award-winner for Outstanding Actress and Outstanding Production (God’s Ear, Actors’ Shakespeare Project), and an IRNE Award (Independent Reviewers of New England) winner for Best Ensemble (Cabaret, American Repertory Theatre).
Co-produced by Shakespeare & Company and MetaGirl Productions, both based in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, This Is It will be staged at the Boston Center for the Arts Black Box Theatre on Wednesday, Oct. 23 through Friday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 26 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 27. Tickets are $40 general admission or $20 for students, and available at bostontheatrescene.com.
For more information, visit shakespeare.org or metagirlproductions.com.
Kate Kohler Amory
Co-creator / Director
she / her
Kate is a Boston-based award-winning director and multi-hyphenate theater maker. Some favorite directing/devising credits include Shakespeare & Company: Comedy of Errors, Henry VI, Pt. II (Associate to Tina Packer), This Is It: Plays in Process; Midsummer Night’s Dream Love Escape, The Birds, Romeo and Juliet: A Space Oddity (The Ridiculous Project Boston); D.arc Water, Dog Act, Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, The Mermaid Hour: Remixed, Midsummer Night’s Dream (Boston Conservatory Berklee); Macbeth, Big Love, Ghosts of Troy, The Wolves, Comedy of Errors (Salem State University), and Hamlet (Brandeis University, co-directed). Founding Artistic Director of The Ridiculous Project, Professor of Movement and Acting for Boston Conservatory Berklee, Amory holds a MFA from Naropa University, an MA RADA from Kings College, and a BFA Goldsmiths College London. She’s a teacher of Acrobat of the Heart psychophysical actor training, Trish Arnold Pure Movement, DE-SMTT: Somatic Movement Educator, and CYT.
Tamara Hickey
Co-creator / Actor
she / her
With Shakespeare & Company, Tamara has appeared in The Contention (Henry VI, Part II); Much Ado About Nothing; Time Stands Still; Heisenberg; Cymbeline; The Tempest; Merchant of Venice, and Two Gentlemen of Verona; Regional Theater: Appropriate, SpeakEasy Stage; God’s Ear (Elliot Norton Award Best Actress & Best Production), Henry VIII, Pericles, Living In Exile, all for Actors’ Shakespeare Project; Rancho Mirage, New Repertory Theatre; Cabaret, American Repertory Theatre (IRNE Award Best Ensemble); Film/TV: Sheepdog, Boston Strangler, Mother/Android, John And The Hole (2020 Cannes/2021 Sundance), The Equalizer 2, The Judge; “Defending Jacob”; “Bull”; “The Secret Life Of Marilyn Monroe”; “Olive Kitteridge”; “Chasing Life”, “Army Wives”, “One Life To Live”; Canadian TV: “Blue Murder (Series Lead), “The Associates” (Series Lead); MFA American Repertory Theatre. Instagram: @thisisit_soloshow Facebook: This Is It.
Erika Johnson
Light Designer
she / her
Erika is thrilled to be a part of the This Is It team. Before relocating to the Berkshires, Erika was based in New York City lighting for television, theater, and dance. She had the pleasure of designing shows for everything from Red Bull Music to Animal Planet, and spent full seasons with some truly fabulous institutions such as San Francisco Opera, New York City Ballet, Broadway, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Before joining Shakespeare & Company, Erika spent her summers as the production manager/ head electrician for Adirondack Theatre Festival, putting on Broadway-bound productions like Nikola Tesla Drops the Beat, Loch Ness, Calling All Kates, and Beau. She also spent seven years traveling the world as the lighting supervisor for Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo.
Liz Stanton
Sound Designer
she / her
Liz is a multifaceted theater artist. She is an actor, singer, sound designer, composer, and teacher. Her work has been seen in New York City, regionally, in England and India. She creates award-winning devised theater pieces, composes music for theatrical sound scores, and she’s written an opera based on The Bacchae. Liz was nominated for an Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Solo Performer for The Woman Who Was Me (TheaterLab, NYC). In addition to her sound design for This Is It, recent sound designs include: Medusa Volution (Fringe Arts Philly), The Man in the Newspaper Hat (Pandemic Films), Off the Wall: The Zany Plays (52nd St Project), The Yellow Wallpaper (Cleveland Public Theatre), Antigonick (Whitman College Theatre), Distant Shores (A Dance Film), Murrow (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble), Refracting Miss Julie (OneArmRed). Fracked or Friction (Naropa University), Liz received her MFA in Theatre: Contemporary Performance from Naropa University. She teaches psycho physical acting and physically embodied and extended voice for graduate and undergraduate students. She has taught at NYU/ETW, Naropa University (BFA and MFA), Denison University, Salem State University, CUNY Staten Island. She currently teaches at the New York Film Academy and at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
About Shakespeare & Company
Shakespeare & Company was founded in 1978 by Tina Packer. Located in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, the Company offers performance, education, and actor-training opportunities year-round, and attracts more than 40,000 patrons annually with a core of more than 150 artists.
About MetaGirl Productions
MetaGirl Productions’ mission is to support women theater artists who are working in brave and creative ways to tell essential stories while in conversation with its community. We believe theater can be a catalyst for conversation, a tool for change, and a way to engage with cultural dialogue.
