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All of this was just someone’s idea
It could just as well be mine
– Ani DiFranco, “Alla This”

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Not long after writing Edward II, and shortly before his death, Christopher Marlowe landed on the wrong side of the Queen’s Privy Council. Listed chiefly among the accusations of his radical sociopolitical leanings is Marlowe’s belief that “all they that love not tobacco and boys were fools.” This is just one of many pieces of evidence suggesting that Marlowe was, in our contemporary terms, a homosexual. Before the Council’s arrest warrant could be enacted, Marlowe was stabbed and died. While only 29, he had challenged the status quo and created enduring works of literature that depicted same-sex attraction and love centuries before conversations about Queer genders and sexualities would enter the western mainstream.
 

Over 400 years and countless cultural mores later, an awkward, precocious, and closeted Queer adolescent—unaware of Marlowe or this play—was rifling through their older sister’s room. They coveted her access to femininity and admired her eclectic style. While flipping through her CD collection, they came upon the striking and strange album cover for Ani DiFranco’s “Little Plastic Castle.” They paused, running anxious fingers over the cracked jewel case, before popping the disc into the stereo.
 

That adolescent was me, and I was instantly transported by the strangest sonic experience I’d ever had. Ani’s lyrics—arch and aching—spoke to me in a language I definitely did not understand, but with a melody that felt familiar. I credit this encounter with opening a portal for me; a threshold that I didn’t realize I needed to cross but that saved my life when I did. Ani taught me that the defaults of the world—the “that’s-how-it’s-always-been”s—are not inevitable. Our lives are shaped by systems, and the sooner we recognize them, the sooner we’re able to combat their many flaws. Like the work of all good artists and political activists, she awakened me to the power of living the world you wish to see into existence.
 

This production explores Marlowe’s tale through the lens of DiFranco’s pathos, set in a catastrophic not-too-distant future. We ask, what could these characters accomplish if their world weren’t so committed to rigid gender expectations? How do systems that erode the outer world—the natural, the communal, the interpersonal—erode our inner selves as well? How do we get past countless petty distractions in order to contend with big, pressing crises? What does it cost to divest from an institution in pursuit of something that feels more authentic? What do we have to lose? What do we have to gain?

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--Frankie DiCiaccio, DeKalb, IL, 2021