When the Pilgrim Fathers arrived in the American colonies, theatre was a dirty word. Puritan thinking forbade such abomination. While Shakespeare’s written work garnered respect from Americans over the years, public performance often remained contentious and still does to this day. “The plays were safe in themselves—the subversion would come through performance choices to convey subversive messages,” said Gail Kern Paster, director emerita of the Folger Shakespeare Library in W