Philly Fringe 2025: Cannonball presents a reading of AZ Espinoza’s Caribbean King

In this adaptation, Cord(elia) (Espinoza) is a trans son of King Lear (Quinn Eli), who has come back home to the Caribbean at the bequest of his sisters (Rayne and Lasha Cristál) after spending time abroad in Brooklyn. He brings his girlfriend, Arabella (LaNeshe Miller-White), who is a witch and a meteorologist with a deep respect for Mother Nature. More than an adaptation of Shakespeare, this is a reckoning with the legacy of colonialism and a love letter to found family.

Lear represents past kings who were propped up by colonial interests and used their power to enrich themselves. Cord represents a new order with less hierarchy and more respect for the ancestral wisdom of the land. Caribbean King deconstructs what it means to be a king. Lear is a king in a literal sense, and he is dethroned as the islands fight for independence. Cord is a drag king, and as the play progresses, he learns to step into his inheritance as a caretaker of the land and its people.

Drag and trans identity become political. After leaving home, Cord becomes a climate activist and drag king. These identities intersect when Cord decides to host a drag climate activist ball in his father’s former government house. Cord is on a journey to stand up to colonial structures of the past, and especially to his father. Throughout the play, Cord struggles with how much to assert his trans identity and how much space he is allowed to take up. It’s a fun and funny script, despite dealing with some heavy topics. It was clear to me that both the actors and the audience had a good time, with laughter throughout the play.

A hopeful play for hostile times

This play is very ambitious, both in how much it is possible to queer Shakespeare and also from a production standpoint. I would love to see it come to life in a full production; it’s such an original, exciting piece of contemporary theater. It would require lush and elaborate sets, a big production scale, and lots of theater magic to do justice to the script. Despite being at a reading, I could almost smell the food cooking, feel the frenetic wind of the hurricane in my hair, and taste the luscious, freshly picked guavas.

Caribbean King is a hopeful reimaging of King Lear that centers and celebrates the lives of trans, African diasporic, and queer folks. It’s a homegoing, a becoming, and a journey of transgression and transformation. I hope theaters take this play on in these increasingly hostile times.