An All-Women Julius Caesar Asks the Hard Question: Who Holds the Knife—and Why

by Avery Anderson

In March, a familiar political tragedy returns to the stage at The Studio@620—but stripped of its usual armor.

An all-women adaptation of Julius Caesar, adapted by Roxanne Fay and directed by Kristin Clippard, runs March 12–22 in St. Petersburg. It arrives not as a history lesson, but as a pressure test: What happens when power concentrates, fear spreads, and people convince themselves that violence is the responsible choice?

The timing is not subtle—and it doesn’t need to be.

Power, Recast

At its core, Julius Caesar is not about Rome. It’s about a group of people who believe they are acting in the name of the greater good—and the devastation that follows when conviction outruns accountability. Senators fear Caesar’s rise, justify preemptive violence, and fracture the civic fabric they claim to protect.

In this production, every role—conspirators, orators, citizens—is played by women. The result is not a novelty casting choice, but a recalibration. Authority looks different. Persuasion lands differently. The audience is forced to watch familiar arguments without the distancing effect of historical masculinity.

Power here isn’t gendered. It’s human. And messy.

The cast—Roxanne Fay, Robin Gordon, Sara Nower, Jenna Jane, Michaela Dougherty, Jada Griffin, Jemier Jenkins, and Jennifer Casler—forms a tightly wound ensemble capable of holding Shakespeare’s language while interrogating its implications. These are performers known across Tampa Bay for precision and emotional rigor, and this production asks them to do both at once.

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Why This Play. Why Now.

“Julius Caesar is often called timeless — and that’s a sobering reality,” Fay said. “Written in the sixteenth century, the play remains painfully relevant as a cautionary tale about the corruption of power, unchecked ambition, and the manipulation of public opinion.”

What feels most urgent, she added, is the reminder that these dynamics do not belong to a single gender or era.

“As women increasingly hold positions of leadership and influence, this story no longer belongs to a male-centric world alone. By reimagining Julius Caesar with an all-women cast, I hope to reveal that the seeds of destruction — and the potential for repair — exist within all of us. We all bear witness. We all share responsibility.”

Clippard echoed that immediacy.

“The questions at the heart of Julius Caesar — loyalty versus betrayal, liberty versus tyranny, duty versus ambition — feel impossible to ignore right now,” she said. “Was this play written in 1599, or just last week?”

Rather than offering clarity, the production leans into discomfort. The play refuses easy heroes. Every choice leaves residue.

Theatre as Civic Space

For The Studio@620, this is exactly the point.

“Theatre functions as social infrastructure,” said Artistic Executive Director Erica Sutherlin. “Live performance brings people into a shared, embodied space at a time when disconnection is the norm. Through storytelling, theatre builds empathy, emotional literacy, and civic imagination — all essential to a healthy community.”

This Julius Caesar doesn’t ask audiences to decide whether they “liked” the play. It asks them to sit with power—how it’s justified, how it’s surrendered, and how easily fear can masquerade as responsibility.

Democracy, the production reminds us, is not inherited. It is practiced. Questioned. And, sometimes, broken by people who believe they are doing the right thing.

Extending the Conversation Beyond the Stage

To deepen the dialogue, The Studio@620 is pairing the production with community events designed to create space for reflection—not consensus.

Arts Passport Book Club: The Silence of the Girls

In partnership with Tampa Bay Arts Passport, March’s book club centers women’s voices in stories of war and power. Participants will read The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, a retelling of The Iliad from the perspective of the women enslaved by its heroes—an intentional counterpoint to Julius Caesar’s examination of leadership and moral consequence.

Sunday, March 15
2:00 p.m. — Book discussion
3:00 p.m. — Julius Caesar performance
📍 The Studio@620

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This production doesn’t pretend to have answers. It insists on the question:
When institutions strain and fear takes hold—what do we choose to do next?

And who, exactly, pays the price?