“Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth…
But that our soft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?”
Join us for a party like none you’ve seen, heard or tasted. Spilling from the stage into the lobbies and the street, Director Ed Sylvanus Iskandar’s production presents a provocative new approach to The Taming of the Shrew and an utterly unique audience experience. Known for his epic and immersive works, Iskandar uses an all-male cast to examine the fluidity of identity, the authenticity of performance and the economics of love in one of Shakespeare’s most notorious texts.
An emerging artist noted for his innovative interpretation of classic texts, Ed Sylvanus Iskandar joins STC as the first in our path-breaking Clarice Smith Series: New Directors for the Classics. Iskandar creates performances that creatively shift beyond the proscenium, reconnecting audience and artist and returning the theatre to its ancient role as the center of communal life. Audiences not only see the play but are invited to engage in the experience in a more meaningful way. As part of this vision, during the run of Shrew the Sidney Harman Hall will host a local artisan market, a series of workshops led by D.C. artists and performances surrounding the show itself.
Iskandar’s previous projects include the 2014 Drama Desk Award-winner The Mysteries, a collaboration with nearly 50 playwrights that reimagined the stories of The Bible over six hours. The Founding Artistic Director of theatre collective Exit, Pursued by a Bear, Iskandar has also hosted a series of labs and salons in his New York loft, featuring intimate performances and meals cooked by Iskandar himself. Combining theatre with food and community, Exit, Pursued by a Bear has become the talk of the New York theatre scene, utilizing a performance model as old as Homer and as radical as anything on stage today.
Read: Asides Magazine – THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
Read: Oliver Thornton talked with DC Theatre Scene about playing Bianca
Read: Maulik Pancholy sat down with Metro Weekly to talk about coming out to his family, his marriage, and his career
Watch: Maulik Pancholy visited NBC to talk about the production
View: Photo Gallery for THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
Watch: A Montage of Scenes from THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
Letter to our patrons: The Taming of the Shrew
Director’s Word: Ed Sylvanus Iskandar
The Taming of the Thing
Mapping the Play: Discovering Kate with Maulik Pancholy
About the Play: Shrewd Ambiguities
About the Artist: Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, Social Director
Prosecast: The Taming of the Shrew
Watch: Scenic Designer Jason Sherwood talks about bringing the show to life
Watch: Sound Designer Jeremy S. Bloom discusses his soundscape
Watch: Visit our Costume Shop with Costume Designer Loren Shaw
Sonnet 141: A Poem Full of Hate
Watch: Music Supervisor/Arranger David Dabbon goes behind the music
Watch: Introducing Ed Sylvanus Iskandar
Watch: Exploring Kate’s Identity
Watch: Connecting Audiences and Artists
Watch: The Intermezzo
Watch: An All-Male Cast
Watch: Using Music in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
Watch: A short slideshow of Scenic Designer Jason Sherwood’s set renderings
Watch: Michael Kahn talks about The Taming of the Shrew
NEW YORK: Broadway: Allegiance (Sammy Kimura), Godspell, Rent, Pacific Overtures, Flower Drum Song; Off-Broadway: Manhattan Theatre Club: The World of Extreme Happiness. NATIONAL TOURS: Wicked (Boq, Chicago company). REGIONAL: The Hollywood Bowl: Rent (Angel); Philadelphia Theatre Company: M. Butterfly (Song); The Muny: Titanic, Hello, Dolly!; Sacramento Music Circus: The King and I (Lun Tha), Jesus Christ Superstar (Simon). FILM: Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway. TELEVISION: Glee (Wes, the Warbler), Hulu’s Deadbeat, Bravo’s Odd Mom Out, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, PBS' Broadway or Bust (documentary). OTHER: Recording artist on the Yellow Sound Label with two albums, I'll Cover You (2012) and Songs for You (2015); various Broadway cast recordings. TRAINING: Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama: BFA. WEB: www.tellyleung.com.
STC: Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2015 Free for All), The Tempest, Tartuffe. NEW YORK: Brooklyn Academy of Music: Throne of Blood; Joe's Pub at The Public: The Unfortunates. REGIONAL: Arena Stage: Equivocation; The Kennedy Center: Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter; Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles: Romeo and Juliet; Berkeley Repertory Theatre: Tartuffe; South Coast Repertory: Tartuffe; Center Theatre Group: End of the Rainbow; 12-Year Company Member of Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Love’s Labor’s Lost, Julius Caesar, Merchant of Venice, King Lear, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, The Cherry Orchard, Equivocation (World Premiere), Oedipus Complex (World Premiere). INTERNATIONAL: Five-Year Company Member of Misery Loves Company (Prague, CZ): As You Like It, Cloud Nine, Angels in America, The Age of Reason (World Premiere). FILM: Innocent Sleep, Persuasion, Harrison’s Flowers. TELEVISION: Grey’s Anatomy, Shameless, Major Crimes, The West Wing. TEACHING: Georgetown University, Southern Oregon University, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Los Angeles High School Shakespeare Project. TRAINING: The Groundlings, SITI Company at Skidmore College Summer Intensive (dir. Anne Bogart), Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts: Two-Year Actor Training Program. WEB: www.gregorylinington.com.
NEW YORK: Broadway: It’s Only a Play (dir. Jack O’Brien); Off-Broadway/Other: The New Group: Aunt Dan and Lemon (dir. Scott Elliott); The Culture Project: Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom; 59E59 Theater: The Awake; The Summer Play Festival at The Public: The Happy Sad; Samuel Beckett Theatre: India Awaiting. REGIONAL: Yale Repertory Theater: Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella; Shakespeare Festival Los Angeles: Romeo and Juliet (Romeo), The Tempest; The Goodman Theatre: Journey to the West (dir. Mary Zimmerman); Mark Taper Forum: A Village Fable. FILM: 27 Dresses, Hitch, Friends with Money, Love Ranch, several independents. TELEVISION: 30 Rock (Jonathan, Screen Actors Guild Award), Weeds (Sanjay, Screen Actors Guild Nomination), Whitney, Sanjay and Craig (Sanjay), Phineas and Ferb (Baljeet), Web Therapy, The Comeback, The Good Wife, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Sopranos, Tracey Takes On. TRAINING: Yale School of Drama: MFA in Acting; Northwestern University: BS in Theatre.
STC: Othello. REGIONAL: Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey: The Diary of Anne Frank, Titus Andronicus (Apprentice Program). TRAINING: The University of Michigan: BFA in Acting.
STC: Othello. NEW YORK: Essential Theatre Group: Zurich, New York. REGIONAL: Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival: The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, The Arabian Nights, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. TRAINING: Marymount Manhattan College: BA in Theatre Performance; The Studio/NY: Conservatory. WEB: www.Brian-Reisman.com
NEW YORK: Off-Broadway: The Public Theater: Much Ado About Nothing; Workshop Theater Company: Verona Walls. REGIONAL: Trinity Repertory Company: The Grapes of Wrath; The Here & Now: Cymbeline. FILM: Some Freaks, The Spine of Night. OTHER (in development): The Rumoured Lyfe and Certain Death of Delia Bacon. TEACHING: Manhattan Class Company: Youth Company Guest Artist; Brown University: Acting/Directing. TRAINING: Brown/Trinity Rep: MFA in Acting; Vanderbilt University: BA in Economics and Theatre.
STC: Affiliated Artist, The Winter’s Tale (2014 Free For All and mainstage), The Government Inspector, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Cymbeline, Twelfth Night (2010 Free For All and mainstage), Richard II, Henry V, Design for Living, Major Barbara, The Rivals, Twelfth Night (1995 Free For All), Measure for Measure. REGIONAL: Synetic Theater: Three Men in a Boat; Arena Stage: The Book Club Play, Oliver; Ford’s Theatre: Our Town, Sabrina Fair, A Christmas Carol, 1776, The Glass Menagerie; Berkshire Theatre Festival: The Book Club Play, The Glass Menagerie, Amadeus, Secret Lives of the Sexists, The Heidi Chronicles, The Misanthrope, Moby Dick–Rehearsed, Camelot, Life’s a Dream, Design for Living (director); Studio Theatre: POP!, The Wolfe Twins, Legends!, The Invention of Love, Prometheus, The York Realist, Ivanov, A Number, The Pillowman, The Rocky Horror Show, Moth (director), Terminus (director), Silence! The Musical; Folger Theatre: The School for Scandal, Henry IV, Part 1; Eugene O’Neill Theater Center; McCarter Theatre Center; Kansas City Repertory; Round House Theatre; Great Lakes Theater Festival; Seattle Repertory Theatre. AWARDS: 6 Helen Hayes Award nominations; Fox Foundation Fellowship. TRAINING: Duke University; The Juilliard School.
NEW YORK: New York Musical Theatre Festival: Ghostlight; Squeaky Bicycle Productions: Alligator Summer. REGIONAL: Arena Stage: The Music Man, Red Hot Patriot, You, Nero; Hampton Theatre Company: Picnic; McCarter Theatre Center: A Christmas Carol; Signature Theatre: Miss Saigon; Wellesley Repertory Theatre: The House of Blue Leaves. OTHER (concert appearances): Espaço das Américas (São Paulo), Kennedy Center Opera House, Lyric Theatre (Hong Kong), Radio City Music Hall, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (West End). WEB: Twitter: @nicholasyenson.
NEW YORK: Off-Broadway: Playwrights Realm: Sojourners; National Asian American Theatre Company: Charles Francis Chan Jr.’s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery; The Flea Theater: The Mysteries, Restoration Comedy, These Seven Sicknesses; The Play Company: The Golden Dragon; Exit, Pursued By a Bear: Dani Girl, Greater Angels, The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler, Arok of Java, King Lear (starring Billy Porter), Lesser Mercies, These Seven Sicknesses, Restoration Comedy, Dido, Queen of Carthage. REGIONAL: Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Head Over Heels; Carnegie Mellon: Don Carlos, Brand, After Miss Julie. INTERNATIONAL: Broadway Asia: The Golden Lotus; Horipro (Tokyo): Memphis; Singapore Repertory Theatre: Venus in Fur (starring Anson Mount); Edinburgh Fringe Festival: Death and the Maiden, No Exit, The Dumb Waiter, Sexual Perversity in Chicago. AWARDS: Drama Desk Special Award for conception and direction of The Mysteries (in collaboration with 50+ playwrights) and The Golden Dragon; Drama Desk Nomination for direction of Restoration Comedy and These Seven Sicknesses; National Theatre Conservatory Emerging Professional Award; New York Theatre Workshop Emerging Artist Fellowship; Drama League Directing Fellowship. OTHER: Director and Officiant of Weddings; Workshops: Carnegie Mellon/Pittsburgh CLO: Nero (by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater); New York Theatre Workshop: Her Portmanteau; Stuck Elevator, Bacha Bazi (Boy Play); Arts Emerson: Whisper House (by Duncan Sheik and Kyle Jarrow); Roundabout Theatre Company: Failure: A Love Story (starring Tonya Pinkins and Conrad Ricamora), Be Your Best Friend (starring Laura Osnes), Shiner; Atlantic Theater Company: Idyllwild. TEACHING: New School, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford: Guest Instructor. TRAINING: Carnegie Mellon: MFA in Directing; Stanford University: BA in Drama and Modern Thought and Literature. WEB: You Tube: Homemade Fusion; Portfolio: www.ediskandar.com.
NEW YORK: Off-Broadway: Playwrights Realm: Sojourners (dir. Ed Sylvanus Iskandar); 59E59: Songbird; National Asian American Theatre Company: Charles Francis Chan Jr.'s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery (dir. Ed Sylvanus Iskandar); Naked Angels: Seawife; Theatre Row: The Eternal Space; The Flea Theater: The Mysteries (dir. Ed Sylvanus Iskandar). REGIONAL: Signature Theatre: Cake Off; Goodspeed: The Circus in Winter; The 5th Avenue Theatre: Jasper in Deadland, Paint Your Wagon (upcoming); The Alliance Theatre: The Whipping Man, The CA Lyons Project (dir. Kent Gash); Bucks County Playhouse: Company; Studio Theatre: Choir Boy (dir. Kent Gash); City Center: Wringer (upcoming); Berkshire Theatre Festival: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (dir. David Auburn, upcoming); Flat Rock Playhouse: The Music Man (dir. Chase Brock, upcoming). OTHER: 2013 LiveDesign Magazine "Designer to Watch." TEACHING: NYU: guest artist; Yale Dramat: guest artist. TRAINING: New York University. WEB: www.jasonsherwooddesign.com.
NEW YORK: Off-Broadway/Other: The Flea Theater: The Mysteries (dir. Ed Iskandar); The Public Theater: Mike Daisey’s The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs; PS 122: Reggie Watts’ and Tommy Smith’s Radio Play (dir. Kip Fagan); HERE Arts Center: Taylor Mac’s The Lily’s Revenge (Obie Award-winning production). REGIONAL: Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Vietgone (dir. May Adrales); Dallas Theater Center: King Lear (dir. Kevin Moriarty), Clybourne Park (dir. Joel Ferrell), Tigers Be Still (dir. Hal Brooks); Alliance Theatre: Edward Foote (dir. Chris Coleman); American Conservatory Theater: Between Riverside and Crazy (dir. Irene Lewis); Two River Theater Company: As You Like It (dir. Michael Sexton); Chautauqua Theater Company: Raisin in the Sun (dir. Ethan McSweeny), Our Town (dir. Paul Mullins). OTHER (music): Park Avenue Armory: Matthew Passion (Berlin Philharmonic, dir. Peter Sellars); Des Canyon Aux Etoiles… (St. Louis Symphony, LA Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, dir. Deborah O’Grady). TRAINING: Ohio Wesleyan University: BA; NYU Tisch School of the Arts: MFA. WEB: www.sethreiserdesign.com.
NEW YORK: Broadway: Spring Awakening (2006); American Psycho (2016). REGIONAL: Delaware Theatre Company: Because of Winn Dixie (2015); Old Globe Theatre: Whisper House (2011). OTHER: Recordings: American Psycho (Original London Cast Recording, 2016), Legerdemain (2015), Covers 80s (Sneaky Records, 2011), Whisper House (Sony, 2009), Spring Awakening (Original Broadway Cast Recording, 2006), White Limousine (Rounder, 2006), Daylight (Atlantic Records, 2002), Phantom Moon (Nonesuch, 2001), Humming (Atlantic Records, 1998), Duncan Sheik (RIAA Certified Gold, Atlantic Records, 1996). In development: Alice by Heart, Nero (Another Golden Rome), The Nightingale, Noir. AWARDS: Tony Awards® for Best Orchestrations and Best Original Score, 2008 Grammy Award® for Best Musical Show Album for Spring Awakening; Grammy® Nomination for Best Male Vocal for Duncan Sheik.
Seven days a week: Noon-6 p.m.
(Box office window open until curtain time)