Fuel ShakesQueer Ensemble's Queer, Classical Storytelling

We're a brand new theatre company called the ShakesQueer Ensemble started by two University of Minnesota alumni committed to cultivating queer, diverse and accessible spaces for storytelling. Our inaugural production will be Twelfth Night (Or What You Will) and it will take place in August on a homemade stage in our Uptown backyard with a cast of ten Twin Cities actors. Our goal is to highlight the beauty and existence of queerness across history and in Shakespeare's cannon by having queer actors from our own community tell these stories and emphasize the surprising relevancy of classical text in modern times. This is a personal project that means so much to us and it's our first endeavor in making art together that is meaningful, self-produced, and, literally, close to home. We would appreciate anything you can spare in support of our inaugural production and our company moving forward.

Here is what your proceeds would be going towards:

33% - financial support for the actors and creative team

16% - costumes and set pieces

16% - administrative costs (programs, promotion, supplies)

13% - donation to a local queer organization: Quatrefoil Library https://qlibrary.org

(Q Library is protecting queer stories from being erased by creating a library and event space for the queer community to gather, allowing generations young and old to see themselves represented in literature.)

22% - additional costs, company maintenance and future endeavors