Event

Scripts in Play: Every Single Ophelia (Avant Bard)

Poster for 'Meet the Playwright'—An Interview with Ryan Stevens, writer of Every Single Ophelia, with a photo of Ryan and event details from Scripts in Play theater.

When Ophelia stumbles offstage after her final scene in Hamlet, she suddenly becomes aware of the play’s entire plot, the fact that she is a fictional character, and the thousands of interpretations, performances, and reimaginings she has experienced since Hamlet was first performed.

She’s every Ophelia. She’s only one Ophelia. Who the hell is she?

A one-woman exploration of gender, purpose, and the pain of being interpreted, Every Single Ophelia asks what it means to live as a side character—and what these centuries-old characters can still mean to us. Through a modern examination of the gender and sexual politics of Hamlet, the play considers how Ophelia has been used as a prism for women’s experiences across generations.