Sword and Cloak Productions was formed in 1994. Like many theatre companies, we wanted to produce the kind of theater and create the kind of opportunities we couldn’t find anywhere else. As our first project, we produced Pedro Calderon de la Barca’s The Phantom Lady.

Since 1995, we have produced an annual stage combat comedy show, directed by Managing Director Brenda E. Kelly. The script is broken apart and re-written better every year, highlighting the history and evolution of different forms of combat. We firmly believe that history can be fun, especially when history looks like people are pounding the daylights out of each other.

Additionally, S&C has appeared at Science Fiction conventions demonstrating stage combat, including a Weaponry for Artists seminar where we have walked writers and artists through how various swords were used throughout history, what made them so functional and why sometimes in Sci-Fi art weapons appear not-so-functional. Though the chainmail bra may never quite be retired, at least perhaps swordplay can be more properly represented in our modern literature and art.

Our first movie short, Swords, Honor and Somebody’s Sister was completed in 1996 and was subsequently aired on Evanston’s public access television. The filming of David Schmidt’s short-film trilogy, Invocation, Invocation: Doppelganger, and Invocation: Endgame began in the spring of 1997 with the final part wrapped in the spring of 1999. Endgame is currently in post production and the series is being re-cut to be run on this site as a monthly Web-Serial.

In the spring of 2000, S&C shot it’s first feature-length movie - Sword of Hearts: An Elizabethan Adventure. Please check out our Sword of Hearts page to view the trailer and learn more about this exciting project!

Since our inception and in every project, S&C has been dedicated to providing opportunities for more active roles for women. Even though in the Midwest women comprise nearly 60% of the students in stage combat classes, there are few opportunities for women to wield a sword – especially if we are only to rely on Elizabethan and Victorian drama. Recognizing this, we support female actors by developing original works and opportunities that feature their skills, their independence and their inherent strength.