TREASURE ISLAND
Monday, July 28th, 2025, at 7pm
at The Tank NYC
A one night only staged reading
Jim Hawkins longs for adventure, unlike the dull life his father (RIP) led. And living at the Admiral Benbow Inn with his mom and the other patrons just isn’t what the kid’s looking for. That is until Billy Bones, a former mate for the nefarious Captain Flint, arrives at the Inn with some sea shanties, tall tales, and a treasure map that’s going to change Jim’s humble life forever.
Through a perilous series of events, Jim finds himself aboard the Hispaniola, a sailing ship featuring an interesting crew (who are more then likely probably actually pirates. Uh oh).
Map in hand, they set course for the mythical Treasure Island- but all is not what it seems, especially when it comes to Jim’s new friend, the ship’s sea cook, Long John Silver- is he a father figure or a frightening foe? It’s not enough to follow X to the treasure, Jim has got to make it out alive- after all, dead men tell no tales.
Join us for a swashbuckling, hilarious, and heartrending high seas adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel, adapted by the award winning James Cougar Canfield (previous works include THE SECRET GARDEN, THE CHRISTMAS CAROL: A QUEER FANTASIA, THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ and DRACULA: BLOOD & GLITTER), that’ll be unlike any boat ride you’ve ever been on.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
August 14th- 24th, 2025
at El Barrio’s ArtSpace PS109
A limited two-week engagement,
10 performances only!
Benedick and Beatrice have history. Big, messy, will-they-won’t-they, love/hate history. The best kind, am I right? And everyone knows it. So when Benedick, along with the regiment of soldiers he belongs to returns to Leonato’s four star resort in Messina, where Beatrice happens to be living, things are about to get fun. Oh, there’s also Claudio and Hero, who totally have the hots for each other but aren’t ever going to make a move- without a little help. And then there’s Don John, he’s gorg but likes to cause a little (well, a lot) of trouble. And all taking place at a beautiful beachside resort? It’s giving White Lotus- we just hope everyone makes it out alive.
After the smashing success of last summer’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, Tier5 is ecstatic to bring another of Shakespeare’s iconic comedies to life and put their signature twist on this classic about rumors, gossip, falling in love, and falling out of it.
So grab your suntan lotion, a big floppy hat, and join us at the beach (or El Barrio) for another summer of Shakespeare like you’ve never seen it before!
Hey playwrights!
We’re on the hunt for plays for our upcoming SpookyFest 2025! After a successful debut last fall (which had some of our most attended readings ever!), we have chills thinking about bringing back from the dead our spooky series of staged readings for Fall 2025. And we need your scripts!!
MISSION
Through process, performance, and exploration, Tier5 elevates the traditional theatrical experience and turns it on its head. By using moments in history, well-worn tropes, and classic tales, the company reflects those stories through a modern lens to reveal truths of the current world around us. We hope to encourage our performers, audiences, and creatives to take what has come before to build a better yet to come. After all, the past never felt so now.
VALUES
Tier5 believes any bit of our cultural, physical, and theatrical history is worth exploring, deconstructing, and rebuilding to include those who have been disenfranchised from the longstanding narrative. With a focus on bringing female, queer, and BIPOC storytelling to the forefront, we hope to enrich our theatrical landscape, moving the social standard forward.
As a company, Tier5 seeks to create an inclusive, safe, intersectional, and anti-racist space for artists to grow, devise, learn, and feel joy. We strive to build a strong sense of ensemble, produce thought-provoking works, and cultivate new skills, insights, and perspectives through stories past and present; all while bringing top-quality entertainment and educational experiences to our audiences.
Oh, and having a lot of fun doing it.
Catalogue of Shows
meg beth jo amy & louisa
Assigned with the super boring task of writing a novel for young girls, Louisa May Alcott finds herself in a state of writer’s block. That is until she turns to figures and stories from her own life. The lines between fact and fiction begin to blur, as her novel, Little Women, is played out upon the stage.
Julius: Harlem’s Caesar
A new reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s political tragedy
set in the Harlem Renaissance.
The Harlem of the 1930s was a place of hustle, bustle, and black magic at its finest. Once Henry Pompey, a local bootlegger, is murdered, Julius Baptiste is catapulted as his replacement. A year later, as he sets to open the first Black and queer supper club, all of Harlem is thrown into a frenzied civil war as many, who once followed Julius, question his ambitions, his sexuality, and what it means to be a Black man in a white man's world.
Ladies in Waiting:
The Judgement of Henry VIII
We find King Henry VIII in a purgatory-like situation, where one by one he must confront and face off with each of his wives. Through dark humour, devastating truths, sexy seductions, and powerful revelations, Henry comes face to face with what his legacy has become: one entirely defined by women.
The Christmas Carol: A Queer Fantasia
Ebenezer Scrooge is the literal worst. And it’s going to take some serious fabulosity to turn this ChristMESS into a ChristYAS. Can three otherworldly spectres show this humbug the true meaning of Christmas? The iconic Dickens Ghost Story of Christmas gets turned on its head in this inclusive, timely adaptation of the classic.
Legend of the Chalk Circle
A revolution has erupted in Grusinia, the governor has been beheaded, his wife, Natella, has fled, their newborn has been left behind. Vash, a servant boy, discovers the child, and begins an adventure across the Caucus Mountains to save the baby and his own life, all while guided by visions of variants from previous versions of his own story. Meanwhile, Azdak, a hapless peasant and the reincarnation of King Solomon, finds himself as the new judge of Grusinia. When the child's biological mother returns to claim the baby, Vash, Azdak, and Natella, come head to head in an ultimate showdown for custody of the child.