What “Kiss Me, Kate” Can Still Teach Us—Even Now
Last night I had the chance to step away from the courtroom and spend an evening at the Bloomington Center for the Arts, watching Kiss Me, Kate. It was a reminder of why live theater still matters—because it invites us to reflect, not just to be entertained. If you are facing criminal charges in Minnesota, reach out for a free and confidential consultation at 651-447-7650 or 612-227-1339.
“The law doesn’t always reflect social norms.”
For those unfamiliar, Kiss Me, Kate is a classic Broadway musical built around a production of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. The show is clever, fast-paced, and full of unforgettable music. It’s also layered. A play within a play, it mirrors the onstage Shakespearean story with the offstage relationships of the actors performing it.
And yes—there’s no getting around it—The Taming of the Shrew carries with it some very anachronistic ideas about the roles of men and women. Ideas that feel, at best, uncomfortable to modern audiences.
But that discomfort is part of the point.
What struck me while watching this production was how Kiss Me, Kate doesn’t simply repeat Shakespeare’s work; it reframes it. The musical acknowledges the tension, the power struggles, and the flawed assumptions baked into the original story. It puts them on display and lets the audience wrestle with them. In doing so, it opens a conversation about how far we’ve come—and how far we still have to go.
That’s one of the things great art does well. It reflects the time it was created in, while also challenging the time we’re living in now.
“Experience matters. Jack has been working in these courtrooms since the the 1990s.”
As a criminal defense attorney, I spend my days thinking about fairness, power, and the consequences of outdated assumptions. The legal system, like theater, is deeply rooted in tradition. Some of that tradition serves us well. Some of it needs to be questioned, examined, and occasionally challenged outright.
People charged with crimes often find themselves judged not just on facts, but on expectations—about who they are, how they should behave, or what they “must have done.” Those assumptions can be just as limiting and unfair as the old social roles portrayed in Shakespeare’s work. And they can have very real consequences.
Watching Kiss Me, Kate reminded me that progress doesn’t come from pretending the past didn’t happen. It comes from acknowledging it honestly, examining it critically, and choosing to do better.
The Bloomington Center for the Arts deserves credit for staging a production that was both entertaining and thoughtful. It trusted the audience to engage with the material rather than shy away from its complexities. That’s something I appreciate—on stage and in the courtroom.
“Don’t walk into a courtroom alone.”
If you’re facing criminal charges in Minnesota, you deserve someone who will challenge assumptions, question narratives, and stand between you and a system that can feel overwhelming. You deserve an advocate who understands that every story has more than one side.
If you need help, contact Jack Rice Defense at 651-447-7650 or 612-227-1339.
Sometimes stepping into a theater can remind us why standing up for fairness matters everywhere else.