What’s This?
A candid new-age take on The Taming of the Shrew.
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Wild Kate follows a young woman as she navigates an online stranger’s advances. With a woven blend of classical and contemporary dialogue, this adaptation relates directly to us— reflecting the Elizabethan text through a distinctly modern lens: social media.
Why This, Why Now?
A tale as old as time: Boy meets girl. Girl says no. Boy persists. Girl gets nervous… This all-too-familiar hazard stretching back centuries has now evolved to a virtual arena of DM-slides and scammer bots. While online harassment is nothing new, it is increasingly becoming the norm.
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Our film explores this current dynamic through one of Shakespeare's most problematic plays: The Taming of the Shrew. With a new context, an updated narrative, and a medley of other Shakespearean and modern elements, this play anchors our story to highlight the not-so-funny side of a 400 year old comedy.
Why Shakespeare?
It’s easy to dismiss the flowery words of a 400 year old playwright as “dated” or “out of touch.” But beneath all the poetry and verse, his understanding of human nature was timeless. The messy questions of love, jealousy, friendship, power that we still grapple with today, he reveled in exploring. Hand-written sonnets became late-night texts, tailored coats-of-arms became catchy TikTok handles, and those questions still linger. Will just put them into words that could outlast centuries. So let’s dare to reshape him for ours.
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Why Should You Support?
This project doesn’t get made without your help. Our small team of artists have the passion, drive, and talent to create something truly novel, but only with the right resources. Not just equipment… but transport, fair pay, and (especially) food. No matter your contribution, every dollar takes us one step closer to bringing this idea off the page and onto the screen. Your generosity will push our film to its highest potential, support the people behind it, and realize a vision of Shakespeare that is not just amorphously modern, but captures an essence of the very Now we’re living in.
Who are we?
A diverse cast & crew from Los Angeles' film and theatre communities with a shared passion for the Bard. As modern fans of his work, our mission is not just to make him more accessible to a modern audience, but more currently relevant.
Erin Michele Soto - Kat / Co-Creator
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Erin Michele Soto is an actress in film, television and theatre. Credits include her series regular role as Christina Edwards on the Emmy-Award winning digital drama Studio City. She can also be seen in the theatrically released action thriller Silencer with Danny Trejo- available on Tubi. Outstanding accolades include multiple Best Acting Duo awards for her performance as Ellie in the short film Lifeless, and a Best Actress award for her starring role as Shirley in Shirley and Shelley: an original coming-of-age miniseries. Soto trained in Shakespeare at the renowned Theatricum Botanicum, covering 18 virtual readings of his plays through the pandemic, and is a proud member of Riot Shakespeare. Her most recent performance as Helena will be seen soon in the upcoming adapted short Midsummer Night.
Roberto Williams - Pete / Co-Creator
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Roberto Williams is an LA-based film and theatre actor. He received his BFA in Theatre & Performance from Emerson College in 2018 and has been running into the Bard ever since— racking up 13 Shakespeare credits throughout Massachusetts, Los Angeles, and the South Bay Area. Favorite credits include The Tempest (Caliban), Hamlet (Laertes / Rosencrantz), Macbeth (Banquo / Ross), and most recently, 1984 (Winston Smith). Finding a home in the tight-knit LA Theatre community, he is a proud member of several companies from the traditional (House of Bards) to the experimental (Shakes On The Rocks), and an avid patron of small-house theatre productions. Off the stage, Roberto regularly shares his passion for old Bill on social media, and is developing his own Shakespeare adaptations with a focus on reflecting distinctly modern issues.
IG: @bertieonthewing / TikTok: @bertie_williams_
Alana Dietze - Director
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Alana Dietze is a LA-based director, actor and Associate Artistic Director of the Echo Theater Company. KCRW’s Anthony Byrnes said, “Ms. Dietze has directed a string of plays at the Echo…that have provided tender, poignant and fierce windows on the female experience.” Her 2021 World Premiere of Poor Clare received 8 LADCC Awards including Production and Direction (Echo). Other notable productions include The Wolves (Echo; LADCC Winner, Ensemble), Ripe Frenzy (Greenway Ct. Theater), Dry Land (Echo; Ovation Winner, Production), The Found Dog Ribbon Dance (Echo) and A Small Fire (Echo; Ovation, Stage Raw and LADCC nominee). Dry Land was remounted at the Kirk Douglas Theatre as part of CTG’s Block Party program (7 Ovation nominations including Direction and Production). Alana also regularly works in academic institutions. Past productions include Elevada (Occidental College), Still Harvey Still (UCLA), You On The Moors Now (CSARTS-SGV), and Dry Land (CSULB).
Tiana Randall-Quant - Celia
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Tiana Randall-Quant is a Los Angeles-born and based actor, producer, and educator operating under the title of "Collaborative Storyteller". Her personal and professional interests intersect at the endeavor to dismantle the narrative that "LA is not a theatre town" and to dismantle the systemic and cultural barriers that keep QPOC underrepresented and underserved in our industry. Her favorite genres to play with as an actor and writer are Afro-Futurist Womanist works, horror, dark comedy, and science fiction. She is currently an associate producer at PlayGround-LA and is a co-founder of Unladylike Theatre, a co-founder of BLKLST, and a drafter of the Los Angeles Anti-Racist Theatre Standards. She can also be found making comedy and gaming content with The 354 Squad on Youtube.
James Ferrero - Ben
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James Ferrero is a director, actor, producer, and sound designer. Recent acting credits include Something Wicked and Last Call at the Toil & Trouble (Toil & Trouble Burlesque). He is active on the barroom Shakespeare scene, serving as creator and producer of Shakes on the Rocks as well as an associate producer of The Riot of the Tipsy Bacchanals. Recent sound design credits include Hedda Gabler and I Decided I’m Fine: A Roach Play (The Attic Collective). On the podcast scene, he is the sound designer for The Godfrey Audio Guide as well as a featured actor on Lesser Gods, Fawx & Stallion, and Two Flatearthers Kidnap a Freemason.
IG: @thereeljferrero / www.james-ferrero.com
Kevin Bohleber - Orlando
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Kevin is a full time actor based in Los Angeles. When he's not performing Shakespeare with Shakes on the Rocks, he can be seen on screen in various shows and films. Most recently Midsummer Night, as well as a feature coming in 2024. You can also find him on Netflix in Meltdown: Three Mile Island. He hopes you enjoy your evening!
Giles Andrews - Cinematographer
Giles is an award winning filmmaker originally from the UK. He began his lifelong dream of a career in the film industry attending the Met Film School in London in 2009 and quickly found success as a freelance director of photography shooting short films, music videos, corporate videos and live events. In 2013 Giles shot the International feature film Tin Holiday, for LA based Celtino Entertainment, on location in London which then led to a move to Los Angeles in 2015. Since being in LA, Giles has worked on a variety of projects but has focussed mainly on being a narrative cinematographer. Giles describes himself as a collaborative creative and enjoys the process of working as a team to create the best possible results. He has a technical approach to camerawork and lighting and enjoys adapting to each project to create unique visual styles that suit the individuality of each story he works on, utilising the camera, movement and light to aid in the telling of the story in the best way possible. Over the years Giles' projects have found great success at festivals with many wins both for short film and feature films he has worked on. Giles has also worked on larger scale projects such as the HBO Max TV show Santa Inc. with Seth Rogan and Sarah Silverman and most recently just finished Directing The Star City Murders.
