Melina Green’s latest play is her most ambitious yet, inspired by her ancestor Emilia Bassano—a woman with untold ties to Shakespeare himself. But in a theater world still stacked against women, Melina doubts it will ever be performed. That is, until her best friend submits it to a festival under a male pseudonym, forcing her to confront her fears head-on.
In 1581, Emilia Bassano—a ward of the English aristocracy—is gifted in storytelling but silenced by her era’s limitations on women. As mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, she witnesses the power of the stage and secretly plans to have her own words performed. But the only way to make it happen? Enlist an ambitious young actor named William Shakespeare to claim them as his own.
