upstart crow collective is dedicated to producing classical works with all-female casts for contemporary audiences. Focused on telling story and living characters honestly on stage, our work is text centered and visually imaginative. Our interest in all-female Shakespeare is both artistically and politically motivated. We are committed to creating opportunities for women to perform the very male dominated Shakespearean canon. We are also very strongly committed to creating opportunities for women of color and to normalize the experience of seeing women of color on stage in classical work. This focus also supports our passion for creating classical works that speak to contemporary audiences. We believe that the people on stage should reflect the community: people of color in the audience should see themselves on stage and know that classical work can speak to them and belong to them. For Bring Down the House, we provided outreach for Seattle Shakespeare Company by taking a small diverse core of actors to libraries in South Seattle to perform free short readings from the play and will continue this initiative with our upcoming productions.