CoriolanU.S.

By: Angelica Cabral

Directed by: Angelica Cabral

New Carpa Collective

Tempe, AZ

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CoriolanU.S. (2018)

 

CoriolanU.S. is an adaptation set in the contemporary United States and written in contemporary English. Shakespeare’s Coriolanus is transposed to a police officer who becomes “a hero in his city for helping quell a protest.”[1] He is half Latinx, and it is later revealed that his mother is undocumented, causing him “to join a group of activists, before meeting his death (much like the original character).”[2] Cabral deliberately created characters whose ethnicities were integral to the plot—Aufidius was written as a person of color (and played by a Black female actor) while Coriolanus and his mother Volumnia were Latinx; several protesters were designated as ethnic minorities in the script and all were cast accordingly. Several roles were written as women, including Aufidius, Brutus, and Scinius.

 

Cabral states, “The play deals with issues of police aggression, immigration, personal identity, and how minority communities engage with politics.”[3] The play ran for three nights in October 2018 in New Carpa Collective's black box theater. 

 

 

CARLA DELLA GATTA

DECEMBER 2022

 

[1] Angelica Cabral, “Abstract: CoriolanU.S.: A Modern Retelling of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus,” Undergraduate Thesis, Arizona State University, 2019. Unpublished Script.

[2] Angelica Cabral, Personal Communication, 18 December 2022.

[3] Cabral, “Abstract”.