The Shrewd Awakening Worldwide Premiere

Shrewd Awakening is an immersive bar-theater experience disguised as a classic rock concert and quietly staged as a modern reimagining of The Taming of the Shrew. Set inside a working bar with a live band, the audience doesn’t sit back and watch—they participate, colliding with the story, the music, and each other as the night unfolds like a set list with something to say.

Built on a raw, narrative-driven classic rock set list, Shrewd Awakening fuses concert energy with modern theatrical storytelling. What begins as a night out listening to live music slowly reveals a story about power, identity, consent, and self-awareness. The lightly scripted show never announces its literary roots, allowing the audience to discover them in real time, song by song.

Written, produced, and directed by a complete theatrical amateur, the production stands as a statement that the performing arts do not belong exclusively to institutions or gatekeepers. Created at a moment when cultural spaces feel increasingly fragile, Shrewd Awakening operates as both a performance and an act of preservation—asking what theater can be when it leaves velvet seats behind, enters a bar, plugs into an amplifier, and speaks directly to the room.

With no fourth wall and no safe distance, the show invites audiences to experience Shakespeare’s enduring questions—who leads, who submits, and who decides the story—through the language of classic rock and roll. In this reimagined world, misogyny is out and self-awareness is in. The awakening is the understanding that everyone holds the power to control their own narrative.

Starring legendary NYC performer Joey Arias, with music performed by DC’s legendary band The Bedrocks, Shrewd Awakening runs January 29–31 at 10:30pm at Barrel House Cafe & Bar in Washington, D.C. Tickets are $30 and available at BarrelHouseDC.com.