A brilliantly hilarious take on Richard III, Shakespeare’s classic tale of power lust, TEENAGE DICK reimagines the most famous disabled character of all time as a 16-year-old outsider in the deepest winter of his discontent: his junior year at Roseland High. Picked on because of his cerebral palsy (as well as his sometimes creepy Shakespearean way of speaking), Richard is determined to have his revenge and make his name by becoming president of the senior class. But as he manipulates and crushes the obstacles to his electoral success, Richard finds himself faced with a decision he never expected would be his to make: is it better to be loved or feared?

Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Present Laughter, Hand to God) directs Mike Lew’s (Tiger Style!) devastatingly funny, sharply written new play about perception, disability, and the lengths we’re willing to go to rise above our station in life… and high school.

TEENAGE DICK was commissioned and developed by The Apothetae, a company dedicated to plays that explore and illuminate the “Disabled Experience.”

Though it may be somewhat unorthodox to mention the New York Times critic Jesse Green, I must concur with his final thoughts on Teenage Dick, developed by both the Apothetae and the Ma-Yi Theatre Companies and performed recently at the Public Theatre. Though this comic take on a teenage Richard III is an enjoyable romp through one of Shakespeare’s most brilliant plays, I’d like to see Gregg Mozgala, the terrific young actor at the center of this tragedy play not just young Richard, but “the old man himself.” Why? Well, let’s just say, the kid’s got the goods. “My kingdom for some horsepower!” cries Richard Gloucester (a disabled high school student with a penchant for manipulation) as he’s revving the engine of his teacher’s SUV, and we’re off, romping through this deliciously funny remake of Shakespeare’s Richard III, with the most exciting young cast of players this critic has seen for quite some time. Wonderfully written by Mike Lew, we quickly are introduced to the cast of six actors who blast through the performance full throttle. A lecture on Machiavellian forms of power is aptly relayed to us at play’s opening by the student’s teacher, Elizabeth, played with comic sang-froid …Read more