Shakespeare, Entirely presents the complete text of Shakespeare's classic comedy.
July 9 - August 2, 2026 at La MaMa
Small Boat Productions and kotto Productions present Shakespeare, Entirely: TAMING OF THE SHREW. Directed by Karsten Otto, the full-length staging will run this summer at La MaMa’s newly renovated Club Space from July 9th-August 2nd. Performances are Thursday – Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 2pm. La MaMa is located at 66 East 4th Street (between 2nd & 3rd Aves -- accessible from the F train at 2nd Ave). Tickets are $40-60, available at eventbrite.com.
TAMING OF THE SHREW is Shakespeare's classic comedy about an eccentric fortune-seeker who courts and marries a wealthy, defiant woman widely known as a "shrew". To counter her rebellious temperament, he uses a number of tactics to render her an obedient wife.
In 2024, Ben Natan of Small Boat Productions and Karsten Otto of kotto Productions co-founded what is known now as Shakespeare CSE; Clearly, Suddenly, and Entirely. Shakespeare, Clearly is a training program based around Shakespearean acting technique with a heavy emphasis on honoring verse structure, Shakespeare, Suddenly is a reading series that surprises audiences with a play, and Shakespeare, Entirely will stage productions of each of Shakespeare’s plays in full with no textual cuts. For the first Shakespeare Entirely, director and co-founder Karsten Otto will tackle TAMING OF THE SHREW.
TAMING OF THE SHREW will feature Juan Arturo Villar-Ojito, Kate Eastman, McLean Peterson, Uma Paranjpe, Mario C. Brown, Romeo Torres, Milena Makse, Will Sarratt, Jennifer Kim, Langston Darby, Evan Ayer, and Shannon Mastel. Alexandra Haddad will serve as assistant director and fight/intimacy director. Olivia Vaughn Hern is designing costumes. Marissa Todd will be set designer. Amara McNeil will design lighting. Mitchell Polonsky will design sound. Ellie Berry will serve as stage manager. The production team also includes Ben Natan and AJ Liu of Small Boat Productions, Karsten Otto of kotto Productions, Arya Davachi of Dramafriend, Carolina Bowe, Liz Haberland-Ervin, and Caroline Shriver.
Karsten Otto on why he is directing TAMING OF THE SHREW now: “First and foremost, it’s one of Shakespeare's earliest plays, allowing us to start this project near the beginning of his career. Secondly, it is a play that directors and producers have a tendency to ‘fix’ in order to produce it for a modern audience. And finally, it’s a hilarious play until it isn’t. And then it is very unsettling. Every time I’ve heard TAMING OF THE SHREW aloud, I’m struck by how easily a community can sell out one of their own when offered an easy, charismatic solution. In order to combat harshness in society, we must remember that people deserve safety and care even when they may make your life more difficult.”
Ben Natan on how this fits into Small Boat’s programming: "Small Boat’s mission is to produce challenging theater while developing talented artists across the city. With our Shakespeare programming, we are challenging the conventions of how this work gets put together while creating a pipeline for classical theater actors to grow and put their work on display. Our Taming of the Shrew doubles down on this mission."
Karsten Otto (he/him) is a ghost of the downtown theater scene. After a fulfilling decade of originating roles in new plays in NYC, he transitioned his focus to writing and directing in 2020. He founded his production company, kotto Productions, to produce independent films. His love of theater was too strong, however, and so here we are. The Taming of the Shrew marks his theatrical directorial debut. Select Producing Credits: Karaoke Rex, metalero, DEAD BIRD. Select Acting Credits: The Mysteries, June is the First Fall. Follow along at www.thekarstenotto.com IG: @kotto_ Substack: @ottotune
Small Boat Productions is a Brooklyn-based production company that started in Spring of 2024. Small Boat debuted with a revival of Clifford Odets’ Waiting for Lefty at The Flea that included a series of talkbacks with labor leaders, activists, politicians, authors, and playwrights. Waiting for Lefty was followed up by Naomi Wallace’s Slaughter City at ART/NY. This was the New York premiere of a nearly 30 year old play that examines the various tensions that exist within the world of labor organizing in the meatpacking industry. The run was accompanied by a talkback between Ben Natan, Alex Winter, and Chris Myers where they discussed organizing your workplace, and how activist movements can take root. Between larger runs, Small Boat has produced plays including MEOW! at Exponential Fest and Out of Order at East Village Basement. Both productions earned New York Times mentions.
How you do one thing is how you do everything and kotto Productions does everything. Everything in the performance arts, at least. kotto Productions is a film and theater production company that specializes in producing projects from their inception. An artist-lead company, kotto Productions takes the first seed of an idea and nurtures it to fruition. Film: metalero, Facepaint, DEAD BIRD. Theater: Karaoke Rex, Shakespeare CSE. Development: metalero, Reach out via Instagram @kotto_ or through www.thekarstenotto.com