About the Project

William Shakespeare Presents Terminator the Second is the premiere production of the Nashville performance collective, Husky Jackal Theater. A product of nearly a year of research and revision, the script tells the story of a boy and his cyborg protector entirely in lines and phrases taken from the plays of William Shakespeare. Each line and phrase is taken from original folios, with only proper nouns, pronouns and corresponding verb tenses subject to change. In doing so, the authors were able to accurately recreate the story of Terminator 2: Judgement Day , while remaining true to the words of Shakespeare in form, if less so in intent.

In April of 2011, Husky Jackal Theater launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for their production. They hoped to raise a modest $3,000, and finance the rest themselves - the original intent being to perform the show one night only at a local rock club. The project caught the attention of a number of influential websites and publications, including the SyFy channel, Gawker science blog i09, and Mental Floss magazine. The creators were suddenly in contact with supporters as far-flung as Brazil, the Philippines, Australia, and the United Kingdom, and their original fundraising goal was eclipsed several times over, enabling Husky Jackal Theater to vastly increase the scope of its production.

International support (and a healthy bit of pavement pounding) fostered community relationships, as the publicity brought the production to the attention of Nashville's creative class. Various persons reached out and came on board in every aspect of production. The Nashville Shakespeare festival invited Husky Jackal to observe auditions for Shakespeare in the Park's "Romeo and Juliet," establishing contact with several talented actors and actresses from the region eager to join. Eventually, Husky Jackal sought participation from the Nashville School of the Arts, and, thanks to a unique partnership, "Terminator the Second" debuted on the school's main stage in October of 2011. The success of the production was greater than anyone could have hoped.