‘Shakespeare and the Alchemy of Gender’

Lisa Wolpe explores the history of her own troubled family through some of the Bard’s best-known work

Internationally renowned actor Lisa Wolpe will present this one-person show at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9, at Vashon Center for the Arts.

Wolpe has arguably played more of the Bard’s male roles than any woman in history. In her show, Wolpe explores the courageous, often tragic, always fascinating history of her own troubled family — weaving in glorious passages from “Hamlet,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “The Winter’s Tale,” “Twelfth Night,” “Richard III” and “Romeo and Juliet.”

Wolpe’s own story wreaks havoc on the heart as the catastrophic circumstances of her family history would be too much to bear if not for the liberation and catharsis that the performer discovers in the telling of it all. In doing so, Wolpe offers a celebration of the power of the eloquence of Shakespeare to build empathy and understanding in a world where the unspeakable seems to happen again and again.

Tickets to the show range in price from $10 to $25; buy them in advance at vashoncenterforthearts.org.