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Read MoreFeeling Superstitious: Flowers and the Theatre
This past month on the blog, we looked at some of the superstitions that have been part of theatre for generations. We reflected on both the history and culture that might have shaped these beliefs. This week, we take our final bow in the series and examine some of the taboos between flowers and the […]
Read MoreFeeling Superstitious: STC’s Elvis Shrines
In previous blog posts, we looked at two of the most well-known superstitions in the theatre community; these superstitions have an influence across the world and throughout time. However, superstitions can develop in a way that is very specific to one theatre company, emerging from an inside joke or unique occurrence. This week, we explore […]
Read MoreFeeling Superstitious: Ghost Lights and Whistling Backstage
The origins of theatrical superstitions can be surprising; they can be reflective of a larger awareness of the supernatural, but they can also speak to the conventions of a bygone way of doing things in the theatre. Last week, we looked at why you should never speak the name of Shakespeare’s Scottish play and the misfortunes […]
Read MoreFeeling Superstitious: The Scottish Play
It’s no secret that theatre people are a superstitious bunch. With the rich history of performing arts, it’s no wonder that traditions to ward away bad luck or even ghosts have been passed down through the centuries. This month, we’re uncovering the history of some of the most well-known – as well as specific to […]
Read MoreHighlighting Charlotte Cushman
Shakespeare Theatre Company continues its celebration of radical women in the theatre. Last week, we shed light on the incredible work of Evie Manning and Rhiannon White of UK-based Common Wealth Theatre Company and this week, we go back in time to reflect on the life of one of America’s first stage celebrities – Charlotte […]
Read MoreHighlighting Radical Theatre Company Common Wealth
For the month of July, we are celebrating trailblazing women in the theatre. Last week, we explored the life of Sarah Bernhardt and her connection to the work of Shakespeare as the first woman in the role of Hamlet to have her performance captured on film. This week, we turn to the contemporary women-founded theatre […]
Read MoreHighlighting Sarah Bernhardt
This month, we are highlighting women in theatre from our past and in our present. Women have long been trailblazers in the world of theatre and while these posts only scrape the surface, we hope you will take the time to learn more about these radical women and the many others who continue to push […]
Read MoreHighlighting Playwright Becca Blackwell
In honor of Pride Month, Shakespeare Theatre wants to highlight NYC-based trans actor, performer, and writer, Becca Blackwell. Existing between genders, and preferring the pronoun “they,” Blackwell works collaboratively with playwrights and directors to expand our sense of personhood and the body through performance. They were a part of the 2019 Class of Joe’s Pub Working […]
Read MoreHighlighting Director Snehal Desai
Snehal Desai was born in Pennsylvania to parents who emigrated from India. Desai graduated with a BFA from Emory University and an MFA in Directing from the School of Drama at Yale where he founded the South Asian Theatre Collective. Growing up as a young, gay, Indian-American in predominantly white elementary and middle schools was […]
Read MoreMeet RED VELVET director Jade King Carroll
Meet Jade King Carroll, making her STC debut directing Red Velvet, which tells the incredible story of legendary Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge and his inspiring career. Here she discusses first learning about Ira Aldridge and what it means to be sharing his story now. Red Velvet plays June 16–July 17. Tickets start at $35. Order […]
Read MoreHighlighting Playwright Moisés Kaufman
Moisés Kaufman is an award-winning Venezuelan playwright, theatre director, filmmaker, and teacher. He was born in Caracas to Orthodox Jewish parents and is of Ukrainian and Romanian descent. Kaufman’s work is heavily influenced by his identity as a gay, Jewish man. In 1985, he got his BA in Business Administration at the Metropolitan University in […]
Read MoreInterview with the cast of RED VELVET and Academy of Classical Acting Alumni
Shakespeare Theatre recently conducted an emailed interview with two alums from the 2019 Class of STC’s Academy for Classical Acting (ACA) in residence at The George Washington University who also happen to be featured in our upcoming production of Lolita Chakrabarti’s Red Velvet. Tro Shaw (playing Halina Wozniak/Betty Lovell/Margaret Aldridge) and Samuel Adams (playing Casimir/Henry […]
Read MoreHighlighting Playwright Jiehae Park
Jiehae Park is a Korean-American playwright and actress. Throughout her life, Park has moved around a lot; she was born in Seoul, South Korea before moving to various parts of Maryland and New York. She often takes her favorite concepts from work she admires in order to inspire her own stories and characters. For example, […]
Read MoreHighlighting Theatre Actor and Educator Sophia Skiles
Sophia Skiles is an Asian-American theatre educator and theatre performer who takes pride in using genuine storytelling to promote racial justice and the overall change and bettering of society. Born and raised on the unceded land of the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe (colonial Los Angeles, CA), Skiles is currently based in New York City. Skiles earned her […]
Read MoreOur Town of Artists Part 3: The Work
In the third and final part of our mini-documentary going behind the scenes of Our Town, cast members Holly Twyford, Suzanne Richard, Craig Wallace, and more highlight what they’re most excited to explore with this production. Our Town is now playing in a transformed Sidney Harman Hall through June 11. Tickets start at $35. Order […]
Read MoreHighlighting Playwright Young Jean Lee
Young Jean Lee is an American playwright, filmmaker, and director who came to playwriting through Shakespeare. For her PhD, she studied Shakespeare for six years at the University of California, Berkeley’s English program, and went on to write an adaptation of his play, King Lear. She was the Artistic Director at Young Jean Lee’s Theatre […]
Read MoreOur Town of Artists Part 2: Community
In the second episode of Our Town of Artists, learn more about the community formed among the cast, artists, and the incomparable audiences of D.C. Our Town plays in a transformed Sidney Harman Hall from May 12 through June 11. Tickets start at $35. Order here.
Read MoreHighlighting Playwright and TV/Film Writer Qui Nguyen
In honor of National Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re spotlighting the creative mind, contributions, and accomplishments of Qui Nguyen. A writer for stage, film, and television, Nguyen’s work features unique concepts and characters, many of which are female, BIPOC individuals, and LGBTQIA+, with dark and humorous dialogue. Originally from El Dorado, Arkansas, Nguyen is […]
Read MoreOur Town of Artists Part 1: Relationships
In the first episode of Our Town of Artists, hear from members of the cast and creative team about the relationships between this stunning community of performers and the special opportunity for this group to be working together in D.C. Our Town plays in a transformed Sidney Harman Hall from May 12 through June 11. […]
Read MoreOur Town of Artists trailer
To honor our all-local cast of D.C. theatre OGs and legends appearing together in Our Town, STC has put together “Our Town of Artists,” a mini-documentary about the production. The piece features members of the cast discussing their lives and professional experiences here in ‘our town’ of Washington, D.C. Be on the lookout for the […]
Read MoreOUR TOWN Design Sneak Peek
Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Our Town is best known for its poetic language, cutting commentary on life as we know it, and the almighty power of a few chairs and a ladder. Producing the play inside the grand Sidney Harman Hall, director Alan Paul and his visionary design team have given themselves quite the challenge: How do we […]
Read MoreAudience response video
Audiences and critics are all raving about the moving and powerful THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, now playing at STC in a co-production with Theatre for a New Audience. Don’t miss the show hailed as “UNMISSABLE…powerfully resonant for the here and now” (BroadwayWorld). Extended! Now playing through April 24. Tickets start at $35. Order today!
Read MoreWomen’s History Month: Highlighting Playwright Angelina Weld Grimké
For our final Women’s History Month Blog Post, we’re spotlighting the extraordinary and historic playwright, poet, and journalist Angelina Weld Grimké. Grimké was born in 1880 in Boston to a white mother and a half-white father. Her father, Archibald Grimké, was a lawyer, and the second Black student to graduate from Harvard Law, where Grimké […]
Read MoreThe Kol Nidre Prayer
The Kol Nidre is one of the opening prayers recited on the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish year. With its haunting melody and Aramaic lyrics, this powerful and salient liturgy carries the weight of centuries of Jewish history in its chant. The Kol Nidre centers on vows—vows made honestly and […]
Read MoreThe Merchant of Venice on Shakespeare Hour Live
To accompany our production of The Merchant of Venice, a co-production with Theatre for a New Audience, we presenting three episodes of Shakespeare Hour Live that explored several aspects of Shakespeare’s problem play from the inside out. March 2: The Merchant of Venice: A Director’s View Inside the Production First up we look at some of the historical context […]
Read MoreWomen’s History Month: Highlighting Playwright Martyna Majok
Martyna Majok (pronounced My-Oak) is a Polish-American playwright. She was born in Bytom, Poland before immigrating to the U.S. at the age of five. She grew up between New Jersey, and Chicago and had her first experience at the theatre when she was seventeen (buying her first ticket with money she won playing pool). As […]
Read MoreWomen’s History Month: Highlighting Storyteller Ianne Fields Stewart
Ianne Fields Stewart is a storyteller through and through. Stewart (she/her/they/them) is a Black, queer, transfeminine playwright, director, actor, choreographer, and activist. Stewart’s work at the intersection of theatre and activism is implemented through their role as Program Director at the viBe Theater Experience, a free after-school program in New York City. Since 2002, this […]
Read MoreWomen’s History Month: Highlighting Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes
Shakespeare Theatre Company is kicking off Women’s History Month with the impactful playwright, screenwriter, essayist, lyricist, and producer, Quiara Alegría Hudes. As a young artist, Hudes wrote and composed music as well as studied piano. As you can see, she does it all. Originally from Philadelphia, Hudes attended Yale University for her undergraduate degree, and […]
Read MoreBlack History Month: Highlighting Playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney
We are shining this week’s Black History Month spotlight on the phenomenal playwright and actor, Tarell Alvin McCraney. McCraney graduated from The Theatre School at DePaul University, and from the School of Drama at Yale University. While at Yale, he wrote, The Brother/Sister Plays, a triptych about three complex generations of a Black family living […]
Read MoreGet to know John Douglas Thompson
English-American actor John Douglas Thompson is one of the most compelling figures of our time, both on stage and on screen. His distinct voice commands our attention and takes us to another world, allowing his audience much needed escapism in these trying times. Thompson was born in Bath, England, and grew up in Montreal. Much […]
Read MoreBlack History Month: Highlighting Playwright Lynn Nottage
This week we’re spotlighting playwright Lynn Nottage. Nottage is an inspiring, Black voice in the theatre community whose stories bring personality and individualism to a variety of characters. She is the only woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice for her playwriting, in 2009’s Ruined and 2012’s Sweat. She is also heavily involved […]
Read MoreBlack History Month: Highlighting Playwright Lorraine Hansberry
For this Black History Month, we’re spotlighting the visionary Lorraine Hansberry. Her work has been exceptionally influential to the Black community and has left an indelible mark on theatre as a whole. Her writing includes scripts for the stage and screen, novels, essays, and poems. Her most famous play, A Raisin in the Sun, first appeared on […]
Read MoreMeet the Swings of OUAOMT!
We are swinging into the new year with the Swings of Once Upon a One More Time! Meet Matthew Tiberi, Matt Allen, and Salisha Thomas and learn what it means to be a Swing on this new Broadway-bound musical, the work that goes into learning multiple roles at once, and preparing to go on at […]
Read MoreAudience reaction video
Preview performances of Once Upon a One More Time have begun and audiences are already captivated. You don’t want to miss out on the show that audiences are calling “empowering” and “exactly what we needed.” Inspired by the music written and performed by Britney Spears, this heartwarming and uproarious musical adventure is not one to miss! Once […]
Read More“Break the Ice” with Briga Heelan and Emily Skinner
Are you ready to “Break the Ice” with the cast of Once Upon a One More Time? Today, we are hearing from Briga Heelan (Great News, Judd Apatow’s Love) who plays Cinderella, and Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner (Side Show, The Cher Show) who plays Stepmother, about the “beautiful and healing” feeling of coming back to live theatre. How does […]
Read More“Break the Ice” with Justin Guarini and Aisha Jackson
We were so Lucky to get a chance to chat with some of the cast members of Once Upon a One More Time. Today, we highlight Justin Guarini (Romeo & Juliet, American Idol) who plays Prince Charming, and Aisha Jackson (Waitress, Frozen), who plays Snow White. What’s it like working with Keone and Mari Madrid, who are leading the creative team of the show? Justin Guarini: “Everyone is going to see […]
Read MoreMeet STC’s New Resident Casting Director, Danica Rodriguez!
Please join us in welcoming our new Resident Casting Director, Danica Rodriguez! While new to STC she is no stranger to casting Shakespeare having previously worked on Kenny Leon’s Much Ado About Nothing at The Public Theater. Danica Rodriguez (she/her/hers) is a casting director who welcomes nuance and specificity in every room she enters. Before starting, we […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME
Washington, D.C., October 18, 2021: Shakespeare Theatre Company is excited to share the complete cast for the eagerly awaited Broadway-bound musical ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME playingNovember 30 – January 2 at Sidney Harman Hall. Directed and choreographed by internationally acclaimed Drama Desk-nominated artists KEONE and MARI MADRID (Beyond Babel, Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself”), […]
Read MoreHispanics in Shakespeare – Pedro Pascal
STC Founding Artistic Director Michael Kahn always says, “If you can act Shakespeare, you can act anything.” Prior to his starring role in a “galaxy far, far away”, The Mandalorian actor Pedro Pascal spent some time on STC’s stage starring in productions of Hamlet as Horatio and Ghosts as Oswald (credited as Alexander Pascal). But what made him the star that he is today? Born in Santiago, Chile in 1975, his family […]
Read MoreREMEMBER THIS: THE LESSON OF JAN KARSKI trailer
Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski must close this Sunday, October 17. Don’t miss Academy Award nominee David Strathairn in a remarkable performance that critics are raving about. Order today!
Read MoreHispanics in Shakespeare: Raúl Juliá
“I could bring myself to it, I could bring my own culture, my own Puerto Rican background, my own Spanish culture, my own rhythms, my own feelings to Shakespeare because Shakespeare is too big. Shakespeare is too big to be put into one little way of doing him.” – Raúl Juliá from Raúl Juliá : The World’s […]
Read MoreDavid Strathairn interviewed on WTOP
WTOP Entertainment Reporter Jason Fraley chats with actor David Strathairn, who stars in the one-man play Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski from October 6–17. They also discussed his prolific filmography, from his Oscar nomination as Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck to his role across Frances McDormand in the reigning […]
Read MoreSpeaker Pelosi on Remember This
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shares her personal connection to Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski and the importance of Jan Karski’s legacy today. The show plays a limited two-week engagement from October 6–17. Order tickets here.
Read MoreALL 2021/22 SEASON SHOWS NOW ON SALE AT SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY
Tickets now available for the Broadway-bound musical Once Upon a One More Time inspired by the music performed and recorded by Britney Spears The season also includes Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, Our Town, and Red Velvet Washington, D.C., September 1, 2021—The Shakespeare Theatre Company is excited to welcome fully vaccinated patrons back for […]
Read MoreSINGLE TICKETS FOR SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY’S PRE-SEASON SHOWS GO ON SALE TODAY AT NOON
Pre-Season Limited Engagements include Academy Award nominee David Strathairn in the moving biographical drama Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski and the triumphant return of James Baldwin’s The Amen Corner Washington, D.C. July 19, 2021—Single sale tickets for Shakespeare Theatre Company’s pre-season limited engagement performances of both James Baldwin’s The Amen Corner and Remember […]
Read MoreDMV THEATRES UNITE TO REQUIRE AUDIENCE VACCINATIONS
Washington, D.C., Thursday, August 5, 2021: Theatres across the greater Washington, D.C. area have united to provide the highest level of public safety for their audiences, artists, staff, and volunteers, by requiring that their audiences provide proof of vaccination to attend all live public performances at their indoor venues. The organizations joining in this unprecedented […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR THE REVIVAL OF JAMES BALDWIN’S THE AMEN CORNER
Limited engagement runs September 14 – 26, 2021 “SPLENDIDLY REALIZED…Majestic and sprawling.” –The Washington Post “SPECTACULAR…Every moment, and I mean every moment, is well executed.” –BroadwayWorld “POWERFUL…A not-to-be-missed production of a great American work.” –MD Theatre Guide “EXQUISITE…You must see this show.” –Two Hours’ Traffic June 21, 2020, Washington, D.C.: Shakespeare Theatre Company is excited to announce […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY DECLARES “PLAY ON!” FOR 36TH SEASON
2021/22 Season includes first Broadway-bound musical premiering on STC’s stage, Once Upon a One More Time The season includes two Shakespeare plays—Much Ado About Nothing and The Merchant of Venice, a co-production with Theatre for a New Audience Pre-Season Limited Engagements include Academy Award nominee David Strathairn in a moving biographical drama and the triumphant […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY WELCOMES NEW BOARD MEMBERS
Nichole Francis Reynolds, Ambassador James K. Glassman, Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath join the Board of Trustees at the nation’s premiere classical theatre April 8, Washington, D.C.: Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) welcomes three new members to the Board of Trustees: Nichole Francis Reynolds, Ambassador James K. Glassman, and Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath. “We have a very dedicated and […]
Read MoreThe Past Uncovered: James Hewlett
In 1821, America’s first known Black playwright William Henry Brown started “the first recorded black theater troupe in America.” It was called The African Company, located in New York City. James Hewlett became the first black American Shakespearean actor when he took on the title role in The African Company’s first production of Richard III. […]
Read MoreThe Past Uncovered: Henrietta Vinton Davis
Actor, playwright, and activist Henrietta Vinton Davis was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1860 and spent much of her artistic life as a “local” actor in Washington, D.C. When Davis made her professional debut in D.C.’s Marini’s Hall in 1883, she was introduced by none other than Frederick Douglass. That night, she recited the speeches […]
Read MoreThe Past Uncovered: Ira Aldridge
“Aldridge has nothing in common with those theatrical personalities from the West who visited us in recent times…He concentrates only on the inner meaning of his speech. He does not bother either about the majestic stride, but moves completely naturally, not like a tragedian, but like a human being.” –Ira Aldridge: The Negro Tragedian by […]
Read MoreTICKETS NOW ON SALE FOR ONLINE ACCESS TO PATRICK PAGE’S ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE: HOW SHAKESPEARE INVENTED THE VILLAIN
January 26, 2020, Washington, D.C.: Today at noon, Shakespeare Theatre Company released tickets to its first ever online-only production, All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain a performance written by and starring STC Affiliated Artist Patrick Page. In the show, Page traces the evolution of Shakespeare’s most diabolical characters, through a series […]
Read MorePRESS RELEASE: TICKETS FOR BLINDNESS ARE ON SALE NOW AT SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY
STC welcomes back patrons to Sidney Harman Hall with Blindness, a unique experience where the audience is onstage, but actors are not. November 16, 2020, Washington, D.C.: Today at 3:30 p.m., the first production of Shakespeare Theatre Company’s revised 2020/21 Season goes on sale: the sound installation Blindness, originally produced to great acclaim at London’s […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES REVISED 2020/21 SEASON
Upcoming Season includes pre-recorded, sound installation, online and in-person theatre productions October 9, 2020, Washington, D.C.: Yesterday, in a virtual townhall meeting for staff, season subscribers, and donors, Artistic Director Simon Godwin and Executive Director Chris Jennings shared the lineup for Shakespeare Theatre Company’s revised 2020/21 season. “We are so excited to announce that we […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY INVITES ALL TO ATTEND FREE VIRTUAL GALA: SHAKESPEARE EVERYWHERE
The free event is open to all and will showcase Shakespearean performances from around the globe with acclaimed international celebrities 24 September 2020, Washington, D.C.—Shakespeare Theatre Company is extending an invitation to this year’s free Virtual Gala titled Shakespeare Everywhere on Saturday, October 3 at 7 p.m. Hosted by STC’s Artistic Director Simon Godwin the […]
Read MoreMEMBERS OF CONGRESS TAKE TO THE (ONLINE) STAGE FOR SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY’S WILL ON THE HILL
Pay-what-you-will pricing benefits arts education programming August 5, 2020, Washington, D.C.: D.C.’s most popular bi-partisan event is going online — making it accessible to the entire nation! On Monday, September 14th, Members of Congress and distinguished Washington influencers from both sides of the aisle will present the Bard’s take on power and policymaking in an […]
Read MoreACA RADIO REPS: 20th ANNUAL SUMMER REPERTORY SEASON MOVES FROM THE STAGE TO THE RADIO WAVES
The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy for Classical Acting presents three radio plays: Hamlet, Man and Superman, and Romeo and Juliet Guest Directors include Aaron Posner and Holly Twyford June 23, 2020, Washington, D.C.: Embracing the ubiquity of contemporary podcasts while harkening to the earlier radio dramas devised by the great actor and director Orson Welles, […]
Read MoreJudge Merrick Garland Takes the Bench for Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Virtual Mock Trial
Judges Amy Berman Jackson, Patricia Millett, and Neomi Rao will weigh in on A Midsummer Night’s Force Majeure–When Can the Show NOT Go ON? “A Washington wonk’s dream.” –The New York Times “The funniest, most entertaining event in Washington.” –Roll Call May 27, 2020, Washington, D.C.: Oyez, oyez, oyez! Shakespeare Theatre Company’s annual Mock Trial, […]
Read MoreAnnouncing Whitney White and Soyica Colbert as STC Associate Directors
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Simon Godwin announces two members of the creative team for The Amen Corner, Director Whitney White and Dramaturg Soyica Colbert, are joining STC as Associate Directors. Both White and Colbert will work in collaboration with Godwin and the Artistic Staff on season planning and artistic development for STC. “We are […]
Read MoreWhitney White—in her own words
“Now I see working on the classics––both New American stories and the timeless titles that have shaped Western theatre––to be critical. By engaging with this work, we as a people can be in dialogue with our many histories, ever-changing present, and possible futures.” Finding my own voice as a black female artist has been inextricably […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY SUSPENDS REMAINDER OF 2019/20 SEASON WITH NO PUBLIC PERFORMANCES THROUGH JULY 5; SUMMER FREE FOR ALL 2020 CANCELED; PHOENIX FUND ANNOUNCED
Wednesday, April 8, 2020, Washington, D.C.: Following the recommendations of the Center for Disease Control and the D.C. Health Department, Shakespeare Theatre Company’s theatres and workspaces remain closed. STC is announcing proactive measures to buttress the District’s premier classical theatre company during this time of national crisis. Programming Changes Shakespeare Theatre Company has canceled the […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY OFFERS ITS ADULT CLASSES AS ONLINE OFFERINGS
TUITION REDUCED TO $149 April 9, 2020, Washington, D.C.: Shakespeare Theatre Company is offering its series of adult classes as online courses for the first-time to accommodate theatre students and professionals amid the coronavirus pandemic. STC Teaching Artists have adapted their curriculum to successfully reach students in an online format with no more an 12-16 […]
Read MoreShakespeare Theatre Company Announces Discount Ticket Programs
January 29, Washington, D.C.: Amid a season focused on expanding the concept of classical theatre and embracing inclusive programming under new Artistic Director Simon Godwin, Shakespeare Theatre Company is delighted to share new discount ticket programs in effect for the 2019/20 Season. Together the programs will improve access to the Company’s productions for a wider […]
Read MorePress Release STC 2020_21 Season Announcement – short
Washington, D.C. February 5, 2019—Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Artistic Director SIMON GODWIN announced the Company’s 2020/21 Season to a gathering of dedicated theatergoers at the Michael R. Klein Theatre at the Lansburgh on February 4. The upcoming season is one of “epic spectacles, classical masterpieces, and mighty collaborations,” explains Godwin. “Our motto for this season is, […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES COLLABORATIONS WITH HOWARD UNIVERSITY, BUSBOYS AND POETS, AND THE CENTER FOR HELLENIC STUDIES FOR AMEN, BALDWIN!: A LIVING CELEBRATION
February 3, 2020, Washington, D.C.: In collaboration with Howard University, Busboys and Poets, and Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies, Shakespeare Theatre Company is announcing a series of special events and programming entitled Amen, Baldwin!: A Living Celebration throughout February and March. Events will occur at both Shakespeare Theatre Company theatres as well as other locations throughout Washington, D.C. […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY FREE OPEN REHEARSAL FOR THE AMEN CORNER
January 27, 2020, Washington, D.C.: On Sunday, February 2 at 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m., theatregoers are invited to attend a free Open Rehearsal session at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) for The Amen Corner by James Baldwin, directed by Whitney White. For nearly 30 years the Shakespeare Theatre Company has invited audiences […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR THE AMEN CORNER BY JAMES BALDWIN
January 7, Washington, D.C.: Shakespeare Theatre Company is delighted to announce the full cast of The Amen Corner, James Baldwin’s classic parable of passion and perseverance, which will grace the stage at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F St. NW) from February 11-March 15, 2020. James Baldwin investigates the role of the church in the formation […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR SIMON GODWIN’S FIRST SHOW AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: TIMON OF ATHENS
December 23, 2019, Washington, D.C.: Shakespeare Theatre Company is excited to announce casting for Artistic Director SIMON GODWIN’s directorial debut at the Theatre—a restaging of his recent acclaimed production of Timon of Athens, a co-production with Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA), produced in association with The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). Timon of Athens will […]
Read MoreWEST END FAVORITE THE WOMAN IN BLACK WILL HAUNT SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY’S LANSBURGH THEATRE THIS DECEMBER
August 12, 2019, Washington, D.C.: Shakespeare Theatre Company is excited to announce that one of London’s most popular and long-running plays will join an already vibrant season of classical theatre as a special presentation: THE WOMAN IN BLACK. The Woman in Black will play at the Lansburgh Theatre December 4-22, 2019. SUSAN HILL’s Gothic ghost […]
Read MoreFLEABAG RETURNS AND A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM IS WELCOMED TO SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY FOR NT LIVE IN JANUARY
January 7, 2020, Washington, D.C.: “This is a love story,” Phoebe Waller Bridge’s charactersays at the beginning of the second seasonof her beloved show Fleabag. Shakespeare Theatre Company continues its love story with National Theatre Live by screening Fleabag and A Midsummer Night’s Dream in mid-January at the Michael R. Klein Theatre at the Lansburgh. […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES ADDED DATES AND A RELAXED PERFORMANCE OF PETER PAN AND WENDY
Friday, December 13, Washington, D.C.: After a high-flying opening night on Monday, December 9, the Shakespeare Theatre Company will add several more performances of this “majestically magical” production (DC Metro Theater Arts) of Peter Pan and Wendy, adapted by Lauren Gunderson from J.M. Barrie’s classic play and directed by Alan Paul. Due to popular demand, […]
Read MoreCASTING ANNOUNCED FOR SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY’S PETER PAN AND WENDY, A WORLD PREMIERE OF J.M. BARRIE’S CLASSIC ADAPTED BY LAUREN GUNDERSON
October 29, 2019, Washington, D.C.: Shakespeare Theatre Company is excited to announce the cast of Peter Pan and Wendy (previously announced as Peter Pan), a reimagining of J.M. BARRIE’s classic work by “America’s Most-Produced Playwright” (American Theatre) LAUREN GUNDERSON (Ada and the Engine, Silent Sky). This world premiere will be onstage for the holidays at […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY RENAMES LANSBURGH THEATRE AFTER MICHAEL R. KLEIN
November 5, 2019: At last night’s annual Shakespeare Theatre Company Gala, the Lansburgh Theatre at 450 7th St. NW was rechristened as the Michael R. Klein Theatre. In addition to the renaming of the theatre in his honor, announced by Executive Director CHRIS JENNINGS, MICHAEL R. KLEIN was presented with the Sidney Harman Award for […]
Read MoreDAME EILEEN ATKINS, PHILANTHROPIST MICHAEL R. KLEIN, SENATOR CHRISTOPHER COONS, AND CONGRESSWOMAN ELISE STEFANIK TO RECEIVE AWARDS AT THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY GALA
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) will award DAME EILEEN ATKINS the prestigious William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre (Will Award) for her exceptional contributions to the classics through her performance of Shakespearean drama, adaptations of modern classics and period-set television series. The celebration will take place at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 27th annual Gala […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY NAMES EMERY BATTIS AWARD HONOREES
October 23, 2019, Washington, D.C. – Since 2010, STC has recognized two actors per season who have demonstrated exceptional skill and technique on the stage with the Emery Battis Award for Acting Excellence. This year’s awardees are KELLEY CURRAN and MATTHEW RAUCH. Praised for their extraordinary performances as the vengeful queen Clytemnestra in The Oresteia and the […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS’ EVERYBODY, DIRECTED BY WILL DAVIS
August 27, 2019, Washington, D.C.: Shakespeare Theatre Company will begin its 2019/20 Season with the 2018 Pulitzer Prize Finalist EVERYBODY by Obie Award-winner, MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient and Washington, D.C.-native Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (An Octoroon, Gloria). This “fun and breezy” (Broadway World) comedy about life (and death) will play at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th Street […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES LINEUP FOR NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE SERIES, FEATURING FLEABAG AND SIMON GODWIN’S ANTONY & CLEOPATRA
September 3, 2019, Washington, D.C.: Shakespeare Theatre Company is delighted to announce the lineup of three National Theatre Live screenings in anticipation of the 2019/20 Season: FLEABAG, ANTONY & CLEOPATRA, THE LEHMAN TRILOGY, and KINKY BOOTS, distributed by BY Experience. National Theatre Live brings the best of British theatre to cinema screens around the world, […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES BOOK CLUB SERIES FOR 2019/20 SEASON, BEGINNING WITH RABBIT CAKE BY ANNIE HARTNETT TO ACCOMPANY EVERYBODY BY BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS
2 October 2019, Washington, D.C.: On Tuesday November 5, the Shakespeare Theatre Company will host a free Book Club discussion for Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett in The Forum at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F St. NW) from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. for interested readers. STC’s Book Club series aims to offer new perspectives […]
Read MoreFREE FILMS FOR ALL, THE SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER HIT AT THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY, GETS A SEQUEL AUGUST 23-25, 2019
August 15, 2019, Washington, D.C.: In the grand tradition of films such as The Godfather II, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Empire Strikes Back, From Russia With Love, Die Hard With a Vengeance, and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, the Shakespeare Theatre Company has decided that its first summer film festival FREE FILMS FOR ALL, […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY WELCOMES THREE NEW MEMBERS TO ITS BOARD OF TRUSTEES
17 JUNE 2019, Washington, D.C. At the June 12, 2019 Board of Trustees meeting for the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), JOHN AFFLECK was voted in as the newest member of the Board of Trustees. Mr. Affleck’s company CoStar is celebrating its tenth year as the lead sponsor of STC’s annual Free For All, a much-loved […]
Read MoreBROADWAY STAR MICHAEL URIE RETURNS TO SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY FREE FOR ALL HAMLET
Washington, D.C—Free For All, one of the capital’s cherished annual traditions, will return for its 29th annual summer to Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), offering two weeks of free performances of the Company’s 2018 acclaimed production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet starring MICHAEL URIE (Ugly Betty) as a “quick-witted and sly” Hamlet (BroadwayWorld) in an “extraordinary performance” (TheaterMania). […]
Read MoreWILL ON THE HILL RAISES $479,000 FOR SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY
Members of Congress, distinguished Washington influencers and professional actors took to the stage on June 10, 2019 to raise vital funds for the Company’s education and community engagement programs Directed by Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Artistic Associate Craig Baldwin and written by Michael Trottier with assistance from D.C.’s West Wing Writers, Good Morrow America presented a humorous […]
Read MoreZONING COMMISSION APPROVES SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY’S PROPOSED BUILDING PROJECT “THE BARD”; CONSTRUCTION WILL BEGIN THIS AUTUMN
Washington, D.C., 11 June 2019: In a unanimous vote, the Washington D.C. Zoning Commission has approved the proposed construction of Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) and Erkiletian Development Company’s joint mixed-use building. Informally referred to as “The Bard,” after a common epithet for William Shakespeare, the two buildings include administrative offices, rehearsal spaces, and a costume […]
Read MoreInside THE AMEN CORNER
Combining the powerful sweep and deep emotional journey of a Shakespearean tragedy with intimate moments of personal revelation, all suffused with the music of the Black church, The Amen Corner is an American classic and a truly grand theatrical event ready to fill the Sidney Harman Hall stage. Director Whitney White and her design team […]
Read MoreFrom Wags to Riches: A Doggo Star is Born
By Christine Covino, Marketing and Communications Coordinator Peter Pan and Wendy reimagines the story of Peter Pan in many ways—even the Darlings’ beloved nanny, Nana. Instead of an actor in a dog costume, Peter Pan and Wendy features a real dog star, who has performed on hundreds of stages across the country. Theatrical Animal Trainer […]
Read MoreDesigning Neverland
Peter Pan has a legacy spanning over 100 years, with numerous iconic versions on stage and screen. So how will playwright Lauren Gunderson’s new adaptation Peter Pan and Wendy nod to the original while presenting a fresh new version? Director Alan Paul (The Comedy of Errors, Camelot) and the incredibly talented creative team on Peter […]
Read MoreHow do you rehearse EVERYBODY when anybody can be Everybody?
Whether they’re rehearsing Shakespeare, a musical, or a contemporary play, STC’s rehearsal hall is always an intense and focused place. The director, actors, and stage management team go in every day knowing what needs to get done and what their role is. But how do you rehearse a play where several of the actors don’t […]
Read MoreInside first rehearsal for EVERYBODY
Everybody is not standard theatrical fare. Everyman, a medieval morality play in which actors personify abstract qualities (Love, Death, Time, etc), strives to teach the audience a moral about how to live a good life through the story of one person on a journey to death. Jacobs-Jenkins’ contemporary adaptation follows the structure and tropes of […]
Read MoreFarewell, Michael
As Michael Kahn comes to the end of his 33-year tenure as Artistic Director of Shakespeare Theatre Company, we invite our patrons, who have enjoyed his work for so many years, to send a farewell message. Create your own user feedback survey
Read MoreQ&A with Kelcey Watson
How have rehearsals been going so far? Rehearsals have been great. We have great sessions filled with passion, intensity and truth-seeking with Michael, Ellen and the rest of the cast. Finding motivations and meaning in our characters’ actions and words has been a rewarding experience. We also find time to laugh a lot and whenever […]
Read MoreInterview with Composer Kamala Sankaram
The below interview by Kendra Preston Leonard, PhD is excerpted from the forthcoming issue of Early Modern Culture. Listen to an excerpt of Kamala’s score for The Oresteia: What can you tell us about the music for the production? Is it continuous? Focused on specific scenes or between scenes? What is the musical […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES MICHAEL KAHN AND FRIENDS: OFF THE RECORD
Lansburgh Theatre 8:00pm General Admission Tickets: $20 Student Tickets: $10 Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Michael Kahn invites theatre-lovers to a series of intimate conversations about life in the D.C. theatre scene as he prepares to retire from the STC stage. Open, unrehearsed, and off the record, invited speakers will swap anecdotes and share […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR MICHAEL KAHN’S FINAL DIRECTORIAL ENDEAVOR AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: THE WORLD PREMIERE OF ELLEN MCLAUGHLIN’S ADAPTATION OF THE ORESTEIA
In a fitting conclusion to his illustrious tenure at STC, Michael Kahn is bringing a dream project to the stage. “I’ve always wanted to do all of The Oresteia,” he says. “When I was in college, we read the whole Oresteia, and I was completely fascinated by the story, by the form, by the relationships, […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR KATE HAMILL’S ADAPTATION OF VANITY FAIR
Following the success of her Sense and Sensibility at the Folger Theatre in 2016, Wall Street Journal’s Playwright of the Year 2017 Kate Hamill, returns to D.C. with her adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s classic novel Vanity Fair. Hamill’s vibrant and colorful tale about society’s foibles is a co-production with San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater. […]
Read MoreQ&A with Kelley Curran
Kelley Curran is back to STC after playing Lady Percy in Henry IV, Part 1 and 2. Working again under the direction of Michael Kahn, she’s currently in rehearsals as Clytemnestra in The Oresteia, his final play as Artistic Director of STC. How have rehearsals been going so far? Rehearsals have gotten off to […]
Read MoreStaging an Epic: A Four Part Documentary Series
Chapter 4: Opening Night The moment has arrived: it’s Opening Night for The Oresteia at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. As they prepare to take the stage, the artists who have built the production piece by piece reflect on the process and the meaning of their accomplishment—the final piece of Director Michael Kahn’s celebrated career and […]
Read MoreInside first rehearsal for THE ORESTEIA
First rehearsals are always an exciting day at Shakespeare Theatre Company, but the anticipation was at a fever pitch at the first gathering of the Oresteia cast, creative team and staff last week. The long-awaited, world-premiere production is the last for Artistic Director Michael Kahn, who has been at the helm of STC for over 30 […]
Read MoreQ&A with Alyssa Wilmoth Keegan
D.C. audiences are very familiar with Alyssa Wilmoth Keegan, who has appeared on multiple stages in the area, including Round House Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Olney Theatre Center, Ford’s Theater and Folger Theater. A two-time Helen Hayes Award winner (Best Actress for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Best Ensemble for Come from […]
Read MoreA Note from the Playwright
On Dreamlandia by Octavio Solis When I was commissioned to write Dreamlandia for the Dallas Theater Center more than 20 years ago, Artistic Director Richard Hamburger and I were thinking of devising a straight adaptation of Calderón’s Life Is a Dream. But we felt that we had to craft something contemporary, something more connected to […]
Read MoreQ&A with Matthew Rauch
Matthew Rauch had one of his first professional stage credits as Malcolm in STC’s 1995 production of Macbeth. Since then, he worked consistently in regional theatres for several years, including shows at Long Wharf Theatre, Signature Theatre and Hartford Stage, before Off-Broadway and Broadway roles at Red Bull Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Roundabout Theatre, The Public Theater […]
Read MoreQ&A with Kate Hamill and Jessica Stone
Playwright Kate Hamill (Sense and Sensibility, The Wall Street Journal’s Playwright of the Year 2017) has described Vanity Fair as “a story about ambitious women.” We talked to her and Director Jessica Stone (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) about their upcoming collaboration at STC. STC: How does ambition as shape the lives of […]
Read MoreQ&A with Sofiya Cheyenne and Evelyn Spahr
We sat down with Richard the Third cast members Sofiya Cheyenne (Mayor of London) and Evelyn Spahr (Earl of Richmond) to discuss their experience so far as women playing roles normally cast as men. Sofiya is a New York based actress and disability advocate, and can be seen in At Home with Amy Sedaris and […]
Read MoreInside first rehearsal for RICHARD THE THIRD
At the first rehearsal for Richard the Third, Director David Muse and some of the design team spoke to the cast of D.C. favorites and newcomers about their ideas for this highly-anticipated production. Currently the Artistic Director at Studio Theatre, STC Affiliated Artist David Muse is very familiar to STC audiences as Associate Artistic Director […]
Read MoreTeen Critics reflect on THE PANTIES, THE PARTNER AND THE PROFIT
Every season a group of High School students participate in STC’s Teen Critic program. These students attend the productions, participate in workshops and craft critical reviews reflecting their unique perspectives on the performances. Fourteen young critics are participating in this year’s program and below are excerpts from their reviews. Learn more about the Teen Critic […]
Read MoreQ&A with Natsu Onoda Power
Our ReDiscovery Reading Series introduces audiences to new adaptations and great but lesser-known classic plays under consideration for STC’s mainstage seasons. Natsu Onoda Power will direct our second ReDiscovery Reading, Venus by Suzan-Lori Parks. Natsu has worked extensively as a director and playwright in D.C., directing at Studio Theatre, Theater J and Mosaic Theater among others, […]
Read MoreQ&A with Julia Coffey
STC Affiliated Artist Julia Coffey is familiar to STC audiences from her appearances in classics like The Merchant of Venice, The Beaux’ Stratagem and Pericles. But the Washington D.C. native is “marvelous” (DC Metro Theatre Arts) as three very different roles in David Ives’s world-premiere comedy The Panties, The Partner and The Profit. With only a week […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES CAST FOR SHAKESPEARE’S RICHARD THE THIRD DIRECTED BY DAVID MUSE
After his hit production of King Charles III, David Muse returns to Shakespeare Theatre Company to direct Shakespeare’s Richard the Third, a mesmerizing chronicle of the megalomaniac’s rampage to the throne. The production will play at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) from February 5–March 10, 2019. Returning to STC in the titular role […]
Read MoreTeen Critics reflect on AN INSPECTOR CALLS
Every season a group of High School students participate in STC’s Teen Critic program. These students attend the productions, participate in workshops and craft critical reviews reflecting their unique perspectives on the performances. Fourteen young critics are participating in this year’s program and below are excerpts from their reviews. Click here to find out more […]
Read MoreQ&A with Carson Elrod
Carson Elrod is a versatile comedic actor, equally comfortable on stage (Peter and the Starcatcher and Noises Off on Broadway) and screen (Wedding Crashers, 30 Rock). The STC Afiliated Artist and Emery Battis Award winner received rave reviews this fall in the Alan Paul-directed The Comedy of Errors. He’s now back at the Lansburgh Theatre in […]
Read MoreQ&A with James Anthony, author of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Retold
Frequent theatregoers are probably familiar with Shakespeare’s works for the stage, but his poetry may remain a mystery. This holiday season, we’re highlighting Shakespeare’s sonnets in our gift shops by showcasing the newly released Shakespeare’s Sonnets Retold by James Anthony, with a forward by Stephen Fry. Frustrated with not understanding Shakespeare’s language as a child, […]
Read MoreQ&A with Kimberly Gilbert
Kimberly Gilbert has been a fixture of the D.C. theatre scene for over 15 years. Kimberly has worked at almost every major theatre in the area since graduating from STC’s Academy of Classical Acting, though David Ives’s The Panties, The Partner and The Profit marks her first production as part of the STC mainstage season. […]
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Q&A with Christine Kavanagh
Christine Kavanagh is a veteran actress from the U.K., appearing for the first time on our stage as Mrs. Birling in J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls. Christine is best known for her work on popular U.K. television shows including Doctors, Midsomer Murders and Inspector Morse as well as roles at a variety of popular London […]
Read MoreDesigning THE PANTIES, THE PARTNER AND THE PROFIT
Building the world of any play can be a big challenge. But when the play is a world premiere made up of three short plays that spans three generations and locations, with actors playing multiple roles—and no intermission—the challenges tend to multiply. The designers for David Ives’s The Panties, The Partner and The Profit: Scenes […]
Read MoreQ&A with Liam Brennan
Join us in welcoming Liam Brennan—an actor in the upcoming production of Stephen Daldry‘s production of J.B. Priestley‘s An Inspector Calls—to STC. While Liam is new to our stages, he’s an experienced classical actor in the U.K. and no stranger to the role of Inspector Goole. Liam starred in An Inspector Calls in the West End revival production in 2016 […]
Read MoreTeen Critics reflect on THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
Every season, a group of High School students participate in STC’s Teen Critic program. These students attend the productions, participate in workshops and craft critical reviews reflecting their unique perspectives on the performances. Fourteen young critics are participating in this year’s program and below are excerpts from some of their first reviews. Click here to […]
Read MoreDAVID IVES – THE PANTIES, THE PARTNER AND THE PROFIT: Scenes from the Heroic Life of the Middle Class
David Ives (The Liar, The Heir Apparent, The Metromaniacs, and The School For Lies) will return to Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) to collaborate with Artistic Director Michael Kahn during his final season at STC. The world premiere of The Panties, The Partner and The Profit: Scenes from the Heroic Life of the Middle Class will […]
Read MoreThe Best Shakespeare-Inspired Couples and Group Halloween Costumes
Halloween doesn’t need to be a one-man or one-woman show if you have a group of Shakespeare-loving friends! Here are a few suggestions for couples and group costumes inspired by the Bard for Halloween. Send us your ideas on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram at @ShakespeareInDC. Costumes for 2 people: Romeo and Juliet from Romeo and […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY OPENS 2018–2019 REDISCOVERY READING SERIES WITH PEERLESS BY JIEHAE PARK
Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) is delighted to announce its 2018–2019 ReDiscovery Reading Series will open on Monday, October 22 at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th Street NW) at 7:30 p.m. with Peerless, written by Jiehae Park. The free reading is directed by Seema Sueko, Deputy Artistic Director, Arena Stage, and features actors Teresa Lim, Tiffany […]
Read MoreInside THE ORESTEIA: Notes from the New York Workshop
Dramaturg Drew Lichtenberg shares his experience from the rehearsal room. The first day of the workshop, like most first rehearsal days, is an unusual one. The full company, including Michael and playwright Ellen McLaughlin, are joined by a full group of designers: Susan Hilferty, Jennifer Tipton and Randolyn Zynn. “It’s an incredible group,” Michael says. […]
Read MoreBildungswoman by Drew Lichtenberg, Literary Manager
Born in Calcutta in 1811, William Makepeace Thackeray was the only child of an administrator in the East India Company. Sent home at five after his father died, young William was enrolled by his new stepfather (an engineering officer) in a London private school where he was miserable.After studying at Cambridge without taking a degree, […]
Read MoreQ&A with Shanara Gabrielle
You may remember Shanara Gabrielle as Lady Montague in our Free For All production of Romeo & Juliet. Now she’s back in The Comedy of Errors, taking on the challenge of understudying three different roles and all the lines, dance moves and singing that goes along with them. We caught up with her between rehearsals […]
Read MoreAN INSPECTOR CALLS AT SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY
Washington, D.C.—Winner of 19 major accolades, including multiple Tony, Olivier and Drama Desk Awards, Stephen Daldry’s (Billy Elliot, The Crown) multi award-winning production of J.B. Priestley’s classic thriller An Inspector Calls will kick off a four-city U.S. tour at Shakespeare Theatre Company from November 20 through December 23, 2018. Following its initial success at the […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED DIRECTOR SIMON GODWIN AS ITS NEXT ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Washington, D.C.—The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) today announces the appointment of Simon Godwin as its next Artistic Director. Godwin, currently the Associate Director at the National Theatre of Great Britain (NT), previously served as Associate Director of London’s Royal Court Theatre and Associate Director at the Bristol Old Vic in the United Kingdom. He will succeed Michael Kahn, who […]
Read MoreDesigning the outrageous world of THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
The Comedy of Errors comes to life courtesy of Associate Artistic Director Alan Paul (Camelot, Romeo & Juliet), a celebrated cast featuring STC favorites and veteran D.C. artists, and a design team that has worked on a combined 60+ STC productions. Paul is excited to bring his musical eye to this play, working again with […]
Read MoreMeet Stephen Daldry, director of AN INSPECTOR CALLS
From 1984 to Waiting for Godot, Shakespeare Theatre Company strives to share great theatre from around the world with D.C. audiences through visiting companies and productions. Next up for this season: Stephen Daldry’s production of J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls, originally produced at the National Theatre of Great Britain. Winner of multiple Tonys, Oliviers and […]
Read MoreQ&A with Sam and Danaya, our Romeo and Juliet
If you score free tickets to our Free For All production of Romeo & Juliet, you’ll probably find yourself impressed with Sam Lilja (Romeo) and Danaya Esperanza’s (Juliet) onstage chemistry. While the Juilliard graduates have the acting chops to pull it off, they got a little help from their eight-year friendship and two-year romantic relationship […]
Read MoreTONY-AWARD WINNING ACTRESS, PHYLICIA RASHAD TO RECEIVE THE WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AWARD FOR CLASSICAL THEATRE AT THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY GALA
WASHINGTON, D.C.—To acknowledge her outstanding contribution to classical theatre in America, Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) will present Tony-Award winning actress, singer and stage director Phylicia Rashad with the prestigious William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre (Will Award). The ceremony will take place at the Shakespeare Theatre Company Gala at the Harman Center for the Arts […]
Read MoreTHE COMEDY OF ERRORS – Beloved performers return for the opening show of Michael Kahn’s final season
Washington, D.C.—In honor of Artistic Director Michael Kahn’s final season with the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), the opening show of the 2018–2019 Season, William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, will feature beloved performers, many of whom have been with the Company since the very beginning. The cast for the farcical comedy will include STC Affiliated Artists Veanne […]
Read MoreQ&A with Gregory Wooddell
Shakespeare Theatre Company Affiliated Artist Gregory Wooddell is familiar to STC audiences for appearing in nearly 20 different productions as well as being a favorite teaching artist in our Education Department. This season, he’s taking on a new challenge: revisiting a role that he played 13 years ago. After appearing in The Comedy of Errors as […]
Read MoreEvery Shakespeare play summed up in a quote from Arrested Development
“I’ve made a huge mistake.” —Every Shakespeare character ever All’s Well That Ends Well Antony and Cleopatra As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Coriolanus Cymbeline Hamlet Henry IV, Part I Henry IV, Part II Henry V Henry VI, Part I Henry VI, Part II Henry VI, Part III Henry VIII Julius Caesar King […]
Read MoreEllen McLaughlin’s THE ORESTEIA is a new take on an ancient classic
In a fitting conclusion to his illustrious tenure at STC, Michael Kahn is bringing a dream project to the stage. “I’ve always wanted to do all of the Oresteia,” he says. “When I was in college, we read the whole Oresteia, and I was completely fascinated by the story, by the form, by the relationships, […]
Read MoreLerner and Loewe’s CAMELOT through the Eyes of Teen Critics
Every season a group of High School students participate in STC’s Teen Critic program. These students attend the productions, participate in workshops and craft critical reviews reflecting their unique perspectives on the performances. Fourteen young critics are participating in this year’s program. For their final review, they were asked to use the skills learned over […]
Read MoreCreating the costumes of CAMELOT
With costumes hailed as “dazzling” (The Washington Post), “gorgeous” (DC Theatre Scene) and “sumptuous” (Metro Weekly), the clothes in Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot help to tell the story as much as the actors wearing them. But despite the medieval setting of the show, this is not a period piece. Costume Designer Ana Kuzmanic, who previously […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR FREE FOR ALL
SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR ROMEO & JULIET NEW CAST MEMBERS JOIN THE 2016 PRODUCTION WHEN IT RETURNS FOR THE ANNUAL FREE FOR ALL Washington, D.C—Free For All, one of the capital’s cherished annual traditions, will return this summer to Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), offering two weeks of free performances of the Company’s 2016 […]
Read MoreACA Rep: Q&A with Director Alec Wild
Spring means Rep Season for the Academy for Classical Acting, STC’s intensive one-year MFA in Classical Acting program with George Washington University. See the Class of 2018 before they graduate in Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre and Julius Caesar. We sat down with Alec Wild, who is not only Director of the Academy but co-director […]
Read MoreA Note from the Director
About a year and a half ago, I was out to dinner with a producer friend of mine. It was the night of the second presidential debate. We were talking about what musical I should work on next, and he suggested Camelot. I was skeptical at first. I remembered the show as mostly consisting of […]
Read MoreThe Myth of Camelot
By Drew Lichtenberg, Dramaturg From roughly 1943 to 1960, the Broadway musical entered its Golden Age, a period of commercial success and aesthetic innovation that matched great theatrical leaps forward of prior centuries. And like the English drama of Elizabeth and James, the Spanish Golden Age of Ferdinand and Isabella, and French neoclassicism under Louis […]
Read MoreDruid’s WAITING FOR GODOT through the eyes of Teen Critics
Every season a group of High School students participate in STC’s Teen Critic program. These students attend the productions, participate in workshops and craft critical reviews reflecting their unique perspectives on the performances. As this season’s young critics reach the end of the year they were challenged to think about other forms of reviewing. They […]
Read MoreRoyal Audience
Meet Lancelot, Guenevere and Arthur By Susannah Clark, Artistic Fellow In the first week of rehearsals, Susannah Clark sat down with Ken Clark (King Arthur), Alexandra Silber (Guenevere) and Nick Fitzer (Lancelot) to chat about growing up with theatre and tackling legendary characters. SUSANNAH CLARK: How did you get your start in theatre? Did you […]
Read MoreLegends of a Fall
By Patricia Clare Ingham The affecting combination of untimely loss and utopian hope is the Arthurian double-helix, knit into the narrative DNA of this centuriesold story. The earliest Arthurian narratives, composed well over 800 years ago, persistently link heroic success with devastating loss. King Arthur unites warring armies and builds a remarkable court filled with […]
Read MoreEarly thoughts on CAMELOT
By Alan Paul Camelot is about a moment of enlightened leadership in the middle of a dark time. King Arthur civilized England by recognizing that his knights should use “might for right” and by introducing the idea of law and order. These concepts were revolutionary at the time—and unprecedented. In the musical, you get to see King […]
Read MoreChange and continuity: Garry Hynes on Druid
By Hannah Hessel Ratner, Audience Enrichment Manager When four members of the Druid ensemble proposed a production of Beckett’s classic to Artistic Director Garry Hynes, her reaction was less than enthusiastic. “I don’t know if the world needs another production of Waiting for Godot,” she remembers thinking, reflecting on a famous production by Ireland’s Gate […]
Read MoreSTC welcomes Alexandra Silber as Guenevere
Alexandra Silber, who has been seen on Broadway stages in Fiddler on the Roof and Master Class, will be featured as Guenevere in STC’s upcoming production of Camelot. She recently spoke to STC about the comparison between Guenevere and Tzeitel, her experience adapting modern adaptations of Greek classics and her thoughts on Camelot. What’s most exciting to you about bringing […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR CAMELOT
Lerner and Loewe’s classic Tony Award-winning musical will close the 2017–2018 Season Washington, D.C. –Shakespeare Theatre Company today announces the cast of Lerner and Loewe’s multiple Tony Award-winning musical Camelot. Directed by STC Associate Artistic Director Alan Paul (Kiss Me, Kate; Man of La Mancha), the classic musical will play at Sidney Harman Hall (610 […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS DRUID’S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED PRODUCTION OF WAITING FOR GODOT
Washington, D.C. — Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) will host Druid, Ireland’s most celebrated theatre company, and their critically acclaimed production of Waiting for Godot. Directed by Tony Award-winner Garry Hynes, Druid’s production of Samuel Beckett’s absurd, anarchic masterpiece will make its regional premiere at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th Street, NW) from April 17 through […]
Read MorePOTTED POTTER returns to the Shakespeare Theatre Company
ALL SEVEN HARRY POTTER BOOKS IN SEVENTY HILARIOUS MINUTES! Washington, D.C. — Potted Potter, The Unauthorized Harry Experience – A Parody by Dan and Jeff will return to Shakespeare Theatre Company to entertain the District’s witches, wizards and muggles. The New York and West End smash hit will play at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street […]
Read MoreARTISTIC DIRECTOR MICHAEL KAHN ANNOUNCES HIS FINAL SEASON FOR SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY
The Comedy of Errors – William Shakespeare An Inspector Calls – J.B. Priestley The Panties, The Partner and The Profit: Scenes from the Heroic Life of the Middle Class – David Ives Richard III – William Shakespeare Vanity Fair – Kate Hamill The Oresteia – Ellen McLaughlin Washington, D.C. February 14, 2018— Michael Kahn today […]
Read MoreMichael Urie visits Great Day Washington
STC’s Hamlet Michael Urie spoke with Great Day Washington about the gripping production. He also tackles a round of Shakespeare trivia. Hamlet is now playing at Sidney Harman Hall. Click here for more information.
Read MoreHeather Raffo’s NOURA through the Eyes of Teen Critics
Every season a group of High School students participate in STC’s Teen Critic program. These students attend the productions, participate in workshops and craft critical reviews reflecting their unique perspectives on the performances. Fourteen young critics are participating in this year’s program and below are excerpts from some of their reviews. Click here to find […]
Read MoreA Note from the Director, Michael Kahn
This has been a big year for Michael Urie. He’s had two huge successes in New York recently and, at least according to the New York Times, he’s the new comedic genius of the American theatre. I’ve known Michael ever since I taught him at Juilliard, and as I’ve watched him blossom I have been […]
Read MoreHAMLET: Great Play or the Greatest Play?
or, What Happens in Hamlet (with apologies to Dover Wilson) George Bernard Shaw once wrote that there have been “innumerable volumes of nonsense written about the meaning of Hamlet.” All these years later, the suspicion remains that we are no closer to making complete sense of this play. Even more remarkably, this analytical disease is […]
Read MoreHow to Rehearse HAMLET
Observations from a week of tablework The first week of rehearsal—often called “tablework” because it usually consists of the cast and director sitting around a table—provides the first chance to discuss the overarching design of the play, before beginning the moment-to-moment problem-solving of scene work. In the wrong hands, tablework can resemble an unfocused college […]
Read MoreHamlet’s Resistance to Oppression
Hamlet’s first response upon learning from his father’s ghost that his father has been murdered by his own brother, by Hamlet’s uncle Claudius, is visceral and direct. “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder,” the Ghost instructs Hamlet, to which the loyal son replies, “Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift / […]
Read MoreShakespeare’s HAMLET through the Eyes of Teen Critics
Every season a group of High School students participate in STC’s Teen Critic program. These students attend the productions, participate in workshops and craft critical reviews reflecting their unique perspectives on the performances. Fourteen young critics are participating in this year’s program and below are excerpts from some of their reviews. Read the group’s past […]
Read MoreTo Be or Not To Be
That Is the Answer by Laura Henry Buda, Associate Director of Communications When someone pretends to be a Shakespearean actor, what do they intone in their deepest, most serious voice? “To be or not to be…” To say the play is quotable would be a staggering understatement. Hamlet is not just a stand-in for the […]
Read MoreWomen’s Voices Theatre Festival: NOURA WRITTEN BY HEATHER RAFFO AND DIRECTED BY JOANNA SETTLE
SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES FULL CASTING FOR THE WORLD PREMIERE OF NOURA WRITTEN BY HEATHER RAFFO AND DIRECTED BY JOANNA SETTLE Washington, D.C.— As part of the second Women’s Voices Theater Festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company presents the world-premiere production of Noura, a new play written by award-winning playwright and performer Heather Raffo (Nine Parts of […]
Read MoreWelcome back an STC Favorite: Keith Baxter
Keith Baxter is back at STC after directing The Importance of Being Earnest (2014). He hasn’t acted on STC stages since Henry IV (2004). He returns as the Ghost, Gravedigger and First Player in Hamlet. We recently spoke to him about his special relationship with STC, his initial thoughts on the production and more. Tell us your thoughts about acting in Michael’s […]
Read MoreTWELFTH NIGHT Passport
Stop by reception to get a star at each event you attend November 14–December 20, 2017. Earn 12 points and you automatically win two tickets to one show in the remainder of STC’s 2017-2018 Season. Turn in your passport at Sidney Harman Hall during business hours before December 20, or snap a photo and email […]
Read MoreShakespeare’s TWELFTH NIGHT through the Eyes of Teen Critics
Every season a group of High School students participate in STC’s Teen Critic program. These students attend the productions, participate in workshops and craft critical reviews reflecting their unique perspectives on the performances. Fourteen young critics are participating in this year’s program and below are excerpts from some of their reviews. Click here to find […]
Read MoreTWELFTH NIGHT on Great Day Washington
Director Ethan McSweeny and actors Antoinette Robinson (Viola) and Paul Deo, Jr. (Sebastian) discuss the uniqueness of this production of Twelfth Night and how they bring the story to life. Koral Kent and Tyler Bowman discuss their role of Fabian, with the help of Heath Saunders (Feste). Learn about the colorful and elaborate costumes in Twelfth Night. Twelfth Night is now […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES FULL CAST FOR HAMLET Featuring Michael Urie (previously announced) Oyin Oladejo, Robert Joy, Alan Cox and Keith Baxter
Washington, D.C. — The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) announces the cast and creative team for Hamlet, directed by STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn and featuring acclaimed actor Michael Urie as the tortured Danish prince. Shakespeare’s most celebrated tragedy will run January 16–February 25, 2018 at Sidney Harman Hall. Urie will be joined by an international, award-winning cast […]
Read MoreDirector’s Note
by Ethan McSweeny Adapted from remarks at the first rehearsal Have you ever been in love with the wrong person? Maybe you loved someone who didn’t love you as much as you loved them. Or maybe you loved someone who couldn’t love you, whether because of social status, marital status, sexual orientation or some other […]
Read MoreTopsy-Turvy
…or the Feast of the Epiphany By Drew Lichtenberg, Production Dramaturg On the twelfth night after Christmas—no later than January sixth—the great Elizabethan houses held enormous festivals of eating, drinking and revelry. It was a kind of post-Christmas binge marking the end of the Yuletide season, much as our Thanksgiving gluttony signifies the start of […]
Read More“Youth’s a Stuff Will Not Endure”
The Sadness of Twelfth Night’s Comic World By Jean E. Howard Twelfth Night, probably written in 1601, is the last of what have been called Shakespeare’s festive or green world comedies, so named because they foreground the high spirits of youthful lovers pursuing sexual pleasure and enjoying the love play that precedes the solemnity […]
Read MoreShakespeare Theatre Company ReDiscovery Reading Series opens with William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair adapted by and starring Kate Hamill
Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) is delighted to announce its 2017–2018 ReDiscovery Free Reading Series with open with William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair. Directed by STC Artistic Associate Director, Craig Baldwin, the play is adapted by and stars Kate Hamill, the modern master behind the 2016 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility at Folger Theatre. The reading […]
Read MoreDirector’s Note from Michael Kahn
I saw The Collection a long time ago in New York and I remember loving the play. I had already read The Lover when I was in college, but I didn’t understand it. Well, I’ve had enough relationships since then to understand it now. There are some plays you just shouldn’t do until you’ve been […]
Read MoreA Room of One’s Own
By Drew Lichtenberg, Literary Manager Of the crop of revolutionary English playwrights of the late 1950s and early 60s—often labeled the “Angry Young Men” because they displayed, with few exceptions, all three characteristics—Harold Pinter has emerged as the one with perhaps the best claim to literary immortality. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and […]
Read MoreDesigning A Double Bill
By Teddy Rodger, Associate Director of Audience Development Building the visual elements of Harold Pinter’s laconic prose makes for a special kind of design process. Just as context is judiciously doled out in the writing, the sets and costumes for The Lover and The Collection also paradoxically inform and challenge an audience’s understanding of the […]
Read MoreThe Sixties Swing
By Hannah Hessel Ratner, Audience Enrichment Manager Pinter explored sex, marriage and the social tensions lurking behind closed doors of “buttoned-up” British society. By 1962, however, Queen Elizabeth II had led the country for a decade. As she reigned, society started to shift—particularly in ways that would affect women and their relationships. Fashion Fashion transformed […]
Read MoreThe Heroine’s Journey
By Susannah Clark, Artistic Fellow Shakespeare’s Viola appears early in a long line of beloved heroines dropped into a topsy-turvy world where they must use their wits and talents to survive. From Victorian children’s literature to modern blockbusters, this shifting archetype reflects a changing world—just as our view of Viola has changed throughout the ages. […]
Read MorePresent Mirth
The cast of Twelfth Night’s “B plot” share their thoughts on playing the clowns by Hannah Hessel Ratner, Audience Enrichment Manager “What is love? ’Tis not hereafter. Present mirth hath present laughter. What’s to come is still unsure.” – Feste (act 2, scene 3) Feste’s song is a reminder that […]
Read MoreMeet our Olivia, Hannah Yelland
Hannah Yelland is back for her fourth show at STC. You may remember her from The Winter’s Tale (mainstage and 2014 Free For All), as well as Brief Encounter. In Twelfth Night, Yelland is taking on the role of Olivia. Click below to read the full interview, where she talks to us about being back at STC, her excitement about working with Ethan […]
Read MoreCASTING ANNOUNCED FOR SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY’S TWELFTH NIGHT DIRECTED BY ETHAN MCSWEENY
Washington, D.C.—Continuing its 2017–2018 Season, Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) presents Twelfth Night. Directed by internationally acclaimed director Ethan McSweeny and featuring Antoinette Robinson (previously announced) as Viola and Tony Award-nominee Hannah Yelland as Olivia, Shakespeare’s comic tale of unrequited love will run at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) from November 14–December 20, 2017. […]
Read MoreTeen Critics on Harold Pinter
Every season a group of High School students participate in STC’s Teen Critic program. These students attend the productions, participate in workshops and craft critical reviews reflecting their unique perspectives on the performances. Fourteen young critics are participating in this year’s program and below are excerpts from some of their first reviews. Click here to […]
Read MoreJack Koenig: Back at STC 32 Years Later
The Lover and The Collection features three actors new to the STC stages. Jack Koenig, however, finds himself back with the Company since the very first season in Mandragola. Since then, Koenig has tackled many productions on Broadway from Oslo to The Lion King. This go around at STC, he plays Harry in The Collection. STC spoke with him about how he is enjoying D.C. […]
Read MoreEncounter with Patrick Ball of THE LOVER and THE COLLECTION
Patrick Ball plays John in The Lover and Bill in The Collection. Ball has been seen on stage previously at Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Triad Stage, Theatre Aspen and more. He spoke with STC about exploring D.C. and playing Pinter’s magnetic character Bill. STC: Have you performed in D.C. before? What are you enjoying the […]
Read MoreMeet Lisa Dwan: Beckett and Pinter champion
Lisa Dwan is internationally praised for her performances of Samuel Beckett’s work. She also writes and presents regularly on Beckett, theatre and culture. Her work can be found on Sky Arts and the BBC. Additional credits include Irish Repertory Theatre’s Shining City, where she starred opposite Matthew Broderick, and Lincoln Center’s Text for Nothing. We found out […]
Read MoreTHE LOVER and THE COLLECTION Kick Off the 2017-2018 Season
MICHAEL KAHN KICKS OFF THE 2017–2018 SEASON WITH A DOUBLE BILL OF SHORT PLAYS BY HAROLD PINTER Building on the critical success of his 2011 production of Harold Pinter’s Old Times, STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn will return to the British playwright’s gripping realm of doubt and disquiet to direct a double bill of short plays. […]
Read MoreShakespeare Theatre Company to Honor Laura Linney at the 10th Anniversary Harman Center for the Arts Gala
WASHINGTON, D.C.— To acknowledge her outstanding contribution to classical theatre in America, Actress Laura Linney will be awarded the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s prestigious William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre (Will Award) at the Harman Center for the Arts 10th Anniversary Gala on Sunday, October 15, 2017, at Sidney Harman Hall. Linney, who most recently appeared […]
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Screen star Faran Tahir returns to play Othello at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Free For All
For Immediate Release: July 11, 2017 Washington, D.C—The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) Free For All, one of the capital’s most beloved annual traditions offering free performances of a Shakespearean classic to the general public each summer, will return next month with the Company’s 2016 production of William Shakespeare’s Othello. Helmed by internationally acclaimed director Ron […]
Read MoreThe School for Lies: Teen Critics
Every season a group of High School students participate in STC’s Teen Critic program. These students attend the productions, participate in workshops and craft critical reviews reflecting their unique perspectives on the performances. Click here to find out more about the Teen Critic program and information on applying to the 2017-2018 season. Camilla Johnson, […]
Read MoreWILL ON THE HILL RAISES $510,000 FOR SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY
WILL ON THE HILL RAISES $510,000 FOR SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY Members of Congress, distinguished Washington insiders and professional actors took to the stage on June 12 to raise vital funds for the Theatre’s education and community outreach programs Directed by STC Associate Artistic Director Alan Paul and written by Peter Byrne with assistance from D.C.’s […]
Read MoreGreat Day Washington visited THE SCHOOL FOR LIES.
Great Day Washington went behind the scenes of The School for Lies to speak with the cast and to explore the production’s beautiful costumes and set. A modern twist: Exploring the set: The beautiful costumes: The School for Lies has been extended […]
Read MoreA SET above the rest.
Using an augmented reality app called Zappar we’ve set up an interactive display in our lobby so you can learn more about the gorgeous THE SCHOOL FOR LIES.
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THE SCHOOL FOR LIES, ADAPTED BY DAVID IVES AND DIRECTED BY MICHAEL KAHN
SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS AN UPDATED VERSION OF THE SCHOOL FOR LIES, ADAPTED BY DAVID IVES AND DIRECTED BY MICHAEL KAHN REVISIONS ADDED TO ADDRESS POLITICAL CLIMATE IN WASHINGTON, DC Washington, D.C. — Tony Award-nominee David Ives and STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn, the team that created the award-winning French “trilogy” of The Liar, The Heir Apparent […]
Read MoreEyes on Ives: Designing French Comedy
The School for Lies is the fourth STC collaboration between Michael Kahn and David Ives. Starting back in 2010, the two translated and adapted Pierre Corneille’s 1644 comedy Le Menteur, producing the now-classic The Liar. A year later, the two tackled Jean-François Regnard’s 1709 La Légataire Universel to premiere the hilarious The Heir Apparent. Another […]
Read MoreThe School for Truth
A Note from David Ives I have a terrible, dark, dirty confession. Call it cussedness, professional jealousy, Oedipal resistance to a celebrated comic writer, or call it impudence, but since our subject here is truth, I may as well say it up front: for decades I was not a great fan of Molière. Even Richard […]
Read MoreMalevolent Mendacity
ABOUT THE PLAY By Drew Lichtenberg, Production Dramaturg From roughly 1662 to 1673, Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) was the driving impetus behind a sustained creative output like few seen before in Western drama. Starting with The School for Wives (1662), which fingered the hot-button issue of adulterous wives and jealous, insecure husbands, Molière proceeded to tackle: […]
Read MoreIves: America’s Best Playwright?
ABOUT THE ARTIST By Terry Teachout Twenty years ago a bill of one-act comedies by a nearly unknown playwright named David Ives opened off-Broadway. One-act plays are not often professionally staged in New York, and when they are, they rarely draw crowds. But Ives’s All in the Timing ran for more than 600 performances. Part […]
Read MoreIves and Kahn: Comedy Gold
Shakespeare told us that “the course of true love never did run smooth.” That sentiment is certainly true in productions born from the collaboration between director Michael Kahn and playwright David Ives. In anticipation of The School for Lies, we look back on the romantic farces produced by this duo. The Liar (2010) Based on […]
Read MoreWILL ON THE HILL: 30 Rock actor Maulik Pancholy and Turn: Washington’s Spies, star Ian Kahn, join Members of Congress and Distinguished Washington Insiders on STC stage A
JUNE 12 WILL ON THE HILL, THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY’S ANNUAL BIPARTISAN COMEDIC EVENT, RETURNS Washington, D.C. — Shakespeare Theatre Company will once again welcome Members of Congress and distinguished Washington influencers onto its stage to perform in Will on the Hill, a lively show infused with comedic references to contemporary politics. Now in its […]
Read MoreGreat Day Washington went behind the scenes of MACBETH
Great Day Washington talked with Director Liesl Tommy, some of the cast, got to throw some punches, and made some stage blood!
Read MoreThe “Scottish” Play
Mapping the Play by Rebecca Watson Though set in medieval Scotland, Macbeth has frequently been used as a tool for insight and critique of contemporary politics all over the world. 1 Macbeth on the Estate—United Kingdom, 1997 Penny Woolcock’s movie for BBC imagines Macbeth in modern day on British council estate housing, filled with drug […]
Read MoreMacbeth’s “Strange Garments”
Borrowing Africa’s Robes By Todd Barnes Authority and clothing are associated throughout Macbeth. Early in the play, Macbeth learns that he has acquired a new title and power as the Thane of Cawdor, yet in his mind the Thane still lives. He asks, “Why do you dress me / In borrowed robes?” (act 1, scene […]
Read MoreThe Meanings of MACBETH
ABOUT THE PLAY By Drew Lichtenberg, Literary Manager Macbeth, more than perhaps any of Shakespeare’s other plays, seems to have been written quickly. It feels like a feverish spurt of imagination, one almost certainly fired by a recent political crisis—the Gunpowder Plot of late 1605, a terrorist conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament […]
Read MoreA Note from the Director
On Macbeth By Liesl Tommy When I tackle a classic, I must find why that play is relevant to a 21st-century audience. I also have to find what resonates personally. I am after all an artist and directing is a form of self-expression. I’m from South Africa originally. I grew up during the apartheid era, […]
Read MoreMACBETH: Through the Eyes of Teen Critics
Every season a group of high school students participate in STC’s Teen Critic program. These students attend the productions, participate in workshops and craft critical reviews reflecting their unique perspectives on the performances. Click here to find out more about the Teen Critic program and information on applying to the 2017-2018 season. Malaika Bhayana, 10th […]
Read MoreLiesl Tommy, Interviewed
ABOUT THE ARTIST By Anna Alison Brenner, Artistic Fellow I first met Liesl Tommy last June—only, I didn’t meet her, I saw her—at a talkback for Eclipsed on Broadway. She instantly commanded the audience’s attention, answering questions with intelligence, specificity and a deep awareness of how to make a play about the Second Liberian Civil […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE AND THE RULES OF WAR
SHAKESPEARE AND THE RULES OF WAR: FROM ATHENS TO ALEPPO PANEL DISCUSSION WITH: NOVELIST, BERNARD CORNWELL THE HONORABLE RYAN ZINKE, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR; DALE W.MEYERROSE, RET. MAJOR GENERAL OF THE U.S. AIR FORCE, LIESL TOMMY, THEATRE DIRECTOR, STC’s MACBETH STEPHEN M. RYAN, FORMER GENERAL COUNSEL OF U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS Washington […]
Read MoreMeet the Macbeths
On Day Two of rehearsal for the Scottish Play at STC, Nikkole Salter (Lady Macbeth) and Jesse J. Perez (Macbeth) sat down to get to know each other—and we listened in. Who wouldn’t want to be a fly on the wall at the Macbeths’ first date? NIKKOLE SALTER: On the Shakespeare front: I’d do Othello. […]
Read MoreFULL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY’S MACBETH DIRECTED BY TONY AWARD®-NOMINEE LIESL TOMMY
SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS MACBETH, DIRECTED BY TONY AWARD®-NOMINEE LIESL TOMMY Washington, D.C. March 15— The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) presents Macbeth, directed by Tony Award®-nominee Liesl Tommy and featuring Jesse J. Perez as Macbeth and Nikkole Salter as Lady Macbeth. The show will run April 25–May 28 at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street […]
Read MoreGREATER D.C.-AREA THEATERS ANNOUNCE THE RETURN OF THE WOMEN’S VOICES THEATER FESTIVAL
Festival Takes Place January – February 2018 In Order to Further Showcase Theater Written by Women, The Second Festival Expands to Include 2nd and 3rd Productions in Addition to World-Premiere Works Seven Originating Theaters Announce Projects and Playwrights Washington, D.C. – The seven originating theaters of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival – Arena Stage, Ford’s […]
Read MoreMICHAEL KAHN TO RETIRE AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY
MICHAEL KAHN TO RETIRE AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY Feb 14, 2017: Washington D.C – Michael Kahn will retire as artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) at the end of the 2019 season. A national search for Mr. Kahn’s successor will begin in 2017. The successor will be announced in July […]
Read MoreREAD: Drewmaturgy: ReDiscovering Shakespeare with Irene and Tina
One late September evening of last year, I got an email from Noreen Major, our Chief Development Officer at STC, with an unusual request. A donor and longtime friend of the theatre, Irene, wanted someone to come to her home in Bethesda once a week and discuss Shakespeare. Irene specified that she would […]
Read MoreARTISTIC DIRECTOR MICHAEL KAHN ANNOUNCES THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY’S 2017-2018 SEASON
Othello The Collection and The Lover Twelfth Night Hamlet Waiting for Godot Camelot Final production to be revealed Washington, D.C. February 6, 2017—Artistic Director Michael Kahn announced today the Company’s 2017–2018 Season. Continuing his commitment to explore the classics from a variety of perspectives, Kahn, now in his 31st year with the Company, has put […]
Read MoreRead: Lives of the Lost Generation
MAPPING THE PLAY By Anna Alison Brenner, Artistic Fellow World War I left a generation of young Americans disoriented and disillusioned. Unable to reconcile traditional American values with wartime atrocities, some fled to Europe and its promise of an indulgent, debaucherous lifestyle. Dubbed the “Lost Generation” by Gertrude Stein, these young men and […]
Read MoreRead: A Work of Genius and Gossip
Hemingway’s Debut Excerpted from the full essay by Lesley M. M. Blume Adapted from Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingway’s Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises (Eamon Dolan Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) by Lesley M. M. Blume. Check out STC’s Book Club event focusing on Blume’s book! Only 22 years old when he first […]
Read MoreRead: Meet Elevator Repair Service
ABOUT THE ARTISTS Absolute Geography By Sara Jane Bailes It’s late afternoon, April 10, 2010, and I’m running up the Bowery about to turn right onto East 4th Street in Manhattan’s East Village to a rehearsal space at New York Theatre Workshop. Theatre ensemble Elevator Repair Service (ERS) is in its first week of an […]
Read MoreRead: The Hemingway Myth
ABOUT THE PLAY By Drew Lichtenberg, Literary Manager When it comes to 20th-century authors, Ernest Hemingway is perhaps the quickest to have been canonized into literary sainthood. After his tragic suicide in 1961, posthumous publications burnished his myth, but the cult of Hemingway grew out of his iconic, well-publicized life. Whether fishing in Cuba, hunting on […]
Read MoreRead: Director’s Note
A Note from Director John Collins In 2006 we premiered Gatz, a verbatim staging of every word of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. It was a radical experiment for us, not least because language had always taken a backseat to our movement work and experiments with form. Yet the problem of presenting an […]
Read MoreREAD: Drewmaturgy: What We Talk About When We Talk About History Plays
(a.k.a. “I spoke at the Newseum with David Muse and all I got was this Drewmaturgy post.”) Well, they set me loose in the wilds of Washington last weekend. I was “action dramaturging” at the Newseum, where I participated in a panel with the suave and eloquent David Muse, Artistic Director of the Studio Theatre, […]
Read MoreRead: David Muse on Mike Bartlett
FACES AND VOICES Playwriting, Politics and Audacity By Hannah Hessel Ratner, Audience Enrichment Manager A contemporary play with Shakespearean ambitions falls in a sweet spot for David Muse. His history directing Shakespeare goes back to his tenure as the Associate Artistic Director at STC. Now Artistic Director of Studio Theatre, he focuses on plays […]
Read MoreRead: “The Queen is Dead. Long Live the King!”
By Christopher Andersen We think we know what will happen when the reign of Elizabeth II ends—as earth-shaking events go, this must certainly be one of history’s most well-rehearsed. Once a year every year since the late 1970s, practice funeral processions for senior members of the Royal Family such as Prince Philip, Prince Charles […]
Read MoreRead: Game of Thrones: An Interview with Mike Bartlett
ABOUT THE ARTIST By Simon Hodgson Last summer Mike Bartlett’s neo-Shakespearean drama King Charles III was nominated for five Tony Awards®. Last fall, the second series of his television drama Doctor Foster was broadcast on BBC television. The spotlight is becoming familiar for the fast-rising Bartlett. In 2010 his play Cock won an Olivier […]
Read MoreProphesize: Set MACBETH in motion
“All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” At the beginning of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth three witches announce a prophecy that Macbeth will be king and that Banquo’s descendants will also rule. Thus begins a chain of events that descend into murder and tragedy. We’ve put together an interactive chart that roughly illustrates the events of the play. […]
Read MorePocket Royals: Meet Duchess Camilla!
Camilla Parker Bowles, née Shand, is the Duchess of Cornwall and the second wife of Prince Charles. Born in 1947, Camilla was part of the landed gentry since birth. In her youth, Camilla developed a love for reading and animals, learning how to ride horses at an especially young age. She entered society officially in […]
Read MorePocket Royals: Meet Prince Harry!
Prince Henry of Wales, or Prince Harry as he’s familiarly called, is the younger son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Born in 1984, the prince is now fifth in line to the British crown after his father Charles, brother William, nephew George and niece Charlotte. Harry was 12 at the time of his parents’ […]
Read MorePocket Royals: Meet Princess Diana!
Princess Diana of Wales, formerly Lady Diana Spencer, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. Born into aristocracy in 1961, Diana’s grandmothers on both sides served as ladies in waiting to the Queen Mother (Elizabeth II’s mother). Diana’s parents divorced when she was just seven and the rift between them would haunt Diana’s […]
Read MorePocket Royals: Meet Prince William!
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, is second in line to the British throne. Born in 1982 to Prince Charles and Princess Diana, William is affectionately called “Wills” by the press. Diana wanted her children to have a wider range of experiences than other royal children, and famously took them to Disney World and McDonald’s as […]
Read MorePocket Royals: Meet Princess Kate!
Catherine (Kate) Middleton is formally known as the Duchess of Cambridge and is the wife of Prince William, second in line to the British crown. Born in 1982, Kate’s often seen as a commoner because she had no formal title upon her engagement to William, but Kate’s family has ties to the British aristocracy. Her […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS ELEVATOR REPAIR SERVICE’S THE SELECT (THE SUN ALSO RISES)
Washington, D.C. — Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) will host acclaimed theatre ensemble Elevator Repair Service and their production of The Select (The Sun Also Rises) at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th St NW) from February 18–April 2, 2017. Directed by John Collins, this original adaptation is based on the novel The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway […]
Read MoreReDiscovery: Pierre Corneille’s Horace
Is Pierre Corneille (1606-1684) the most underrated playwright in dramatic literature? Prolific, poetically gifted and instinctively experimental, he architected neoclassical drama while subtly coloring inside and outside the lines. As Shakespeare Theatre Company audiences know, The Liar (1643) is a masterpiece, the most important French comedy before Molière. And Horace (1641) remains a brilliant tragedy, codifying the Racinian playbook […]
Read MoreRead: Shadows of Shakespeare – Prince Hal & Richard II
Part III: Making and Unmaking By Shannon Stockwell Explore how Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III echoes Shakespeare in this three-part series. An Arc of Redemption?: Prince Harry and Prince Hal Although Bartlett has said that most similarities between his characters and Shakespeare’s are incidental, there was one comparison he intended—Prince Harry and the character of Prince Hal […]
Read MoreRead: Shadows of Shakespeare – Kate & Lady Macbeth
Part II: Unsexed and Underestimated By Shannon Stockwell Explore how Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III echoes Shakespeare in this three-part series. In their experiences of King Charles III, audiences and critics alike found striking similarities between Bartlett’s characters and Shakespeare’s—but Bartlett did not actually intend most of these likenesses. For example, he did not anticipate that […]
Read MoreRead: Shadows of Shakespeare – Bartlett and the Challenge of Verse
Part I By Shannon Stockwell Explore how Mike Bartlett’s future history play echoes Shakespeare in this three-part series. The structure of King Charles III was clear to playwright Mike Bartlett from the first moments of inspiration. “The idea for [the play] arrived in my imagination with the form and content very clear, and inextricably linked,” […]
Read MoreSHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS MIKE BARTLETT’S KING CHARLES III, DIRECTED BY DAVID MUSE AND STARRING ROBERT JOY
Washington, D.C. — Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), in association with Seattle Repertory Theatre and San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater, will present Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III, a modern history play, at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street) from February 7–March 12, 2017. The co-production is directed by David Muse, Artistic Director at Studio Theatre and formerly Associate Artistic […]
Read MoreRevisiting Our Real Secret Gardens
Sadly the gate to our production of The Secret Garden is closing this Sunday. But D.C.’s beautiful gardens remain to remind us of all the understanding, love and power of imagination long after the theatre lights turn dark. We look back on our favorite featured gardens, the lovely gardeners who help keep them and the […]
Read MoreRead: One Thousand Years of Whims and Wars
A History of Royal Power in Britain By Shannon Stockwell Allison Jean White as Kate, Christopher McLinden as Prince William and Robert Joy as King Charles in the American Conservatory Theater production of King Charles III, directed by David Muse. Photo by Kevin Berne. With Britain’s recent vote to leave the European Union, constitutional crisis […]
Read MoreRead: Drewmaturgy: Four Favorites by Hemingway
Hemingway: Four Favorites As I have written elsewhere, there is perhaps no writer whose influence on 20th-century prose—hell, on 20th-century consciousness—is more pronounced than Ernest Hemingway. Starting with his 1920s short stories, Hemingway transmuted his traumatic experiences experiences in World War I into something that, as David Bromwich notes in the New York Review of […]
Read More10 Dramaturgical Resolutions/Articles of Faith for the New Year
10 Dramaturgical Resolutions/Articles of Faith for the New Year By Drew Lichtenberg, STC Resident Dramaturg “The American writer […] has his hands full in trying to understand, describe and then make credible much of American reality. It stupefies, it sickens, it infuriates and finally it is even a kind of embarrassment to one’s own meager […]
Read MoreGarden of the Week: the Netherlands Carillion near Arlington Cemetery
Location: Virginia Hours: Year-round, 6 a.m. to midnight. Perfect views: “The number one thing a visitor gets from this garden is the view of the city. The Garden is just in front of the Netherlands Carillon which you can find out more online about it. The bells ring briefly every 15 mins with longer periods at noon and […]
Read MoreThrough the Eyes of Teen Critics
Every season a group of High School students participate in STC’s Teen Critic Program. These students attend the productions, participate in workshops and craft critical reviews reflecting their unique perspectives on the performances. Click here to find out more about the Teen Critic program. Malaika Bhayana, 10th grade, Bethesda Chevy Chase High School […]
Read MoreThree Questions with Playwright Marsha Norman
Anya Rothman as Mary Lennox and Charlie Franklin as Dickon in Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of The Secret Garden, directed by David Armstrong. Photo by Teresa Wood. This year, the original production of The Secret Garden turns 25 years old. In an interview with Marsha Norman (book and lyrics), we reflect on the lingering effect […]
Read MoreGreen Idea of the Week: Park Rx from NPS
As The Secret Garden reminds us, sometimes the best thing for our health is well-spent time outdoors. Park Prescription Program, or ParkRx, is a collaborative initiative that seeks to promote just that: the use of nature and public land to improve individual and community health. Partners like the National Recreation and Park Association, National Park […]
Read MoreGarden(er) of the Week: Joseph Brunetti of Smithsonian Gardens
Meet a Gardener: Joseph Brunetti, horticulturalist for the Smithsonian Gardens. Joe designs, installs and maintains the gardens around the National Museum of American History, which includes the Victory Garden. One of Joe’s themed gardens is the fusion bed that flanks the south side entrance to the National Museum of American History. Using sweet-smelling plants from […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Look out old Bertie’s back!
This week, Drew continues on his quest to convince us all that Brecht is the playwright for our times. Below, he shows us why the fourth and fifth arguments against Brecht don’t hold water. Catch up on points one through three in the last Drewmaturgy. Why would I want to see an “alienating” theatre? Ah, yes, […]
Read MoreShakespeare Theatre Company Presents Mock Trial: Romeo & Juliet: Wrongful Deaths?
The Shakespeare Theatre Company presents its Winter Mock Trial at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) on Monday, December 12, 2016. The Trial begins at 7 p.m. Guests are invited to hear Romeo & Juliet: Wrongful Deaths? a wrongful death suit issued by the Montagues and the Capulets against Friar Laurence. The prosecution will […]
Read MorePocket Royals: Meet Prince Charles!
Charles, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and heir to the British crown, was born in 1948 and became Heir Apparent at three years old when Elizabeth II was crowned Queen. He was the first Heir Apparent to go to school and earn a university degree rather than have a private tutor and join the […]
Read MoreSmithsonian Garden’s VICTORY GARDEN
On the east lawn of the National Museum of American History is the Smithsonian Gardens’ Victory Garden, so named for the vegetable gardens planted during the early 20th century to to encourage every man, woman, and child to contribute to the national food supply during the first and second world wars. Especially prevalent during World War II, […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Have you met my good friend Bertolt?
Why Brecht is (Still) A Playwright for Our Times By Drew Lichtenberg Last month, the Shakespeare Theatre Company teamed up with four other D.C.-area theatres on a series of free staged readings in the run-up to the election. As Nelson Pressley wrote in the Post last weekend: “the readings were popular. Tickets vanished for Bertolt […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Bartlett’s Bardolatry
By Drew Lichtenberg Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III is one of the most audacious theatrical experiments in recent memory. Initially produced at London’s Almeida Theatre in 2014 before award-winning runs on Broadway and the West End, Bartlett’s play speculatively imagines the future reign of Charles Windsor as King of England. Bartlett employs Shakespeare’s flexible, inherently […]
Read MoreBrian Barr, Director of Horticulture at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens
Brian manages the 25 acres of greenspaces on the former estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post. Originally designed by prominent architects such as Umbreto Innocenti and Richard Webel, Brian and his team now allow Marjorie to “inspire them.” They maintain the grounds, making slight alterations only when they speak to or improve upon the original design. […]
Read MoreThe Friendship Walk
Location: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens Hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. The story goes that on her 70th birthday Marjorie, owner of Hillwood estate, was led through her rose garden to a newly-installed iron gate. A group of her friends had conspired in secret with her chief gardener and landscape architect […]
Read MoreThe Secret Garden at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens
Location: Directly across from the temporary visitor entrance to the garden (across from the gift shop). Turn right at the apple tree. Hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. As Hillwood renovates their terrace, its visitors must enter the garden through their gift shops door. Many visitors keen to start their tour of […]
Read MoreA Bit of Earth, A Bit of Magic
ABOUT THE PLAY By Drew Lichtenberg When The Secret Garden first appeared in 1910, it did not resemble the story that millions of children and their parents have come to know and love. At first titled “Mistress Mary,” individual chapters of the story, 27 in all, appeared each week in The American Magazine, a […]
Read MoreMarsha Norman: Cultivator of a Theatrical Garden
ABOUT THE ARTIST By Hannah Hessel Ratner Marsha Norman is on a mission. The award-winning playwright’s career has covered Broadway, Hollywood and numerous theatres worldwide. Her accolades include a Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award® and, in 2016, the Dramatists Guild Career Achievement Award. She has co-directed the playwriting program at Julliard for nearly a quarter […]
Read MoreUP NEXT: King Charles III
The King Who Would Be Man By Robert Avila British royals these days can have a hard time getting any respect. Lacking a serious role aboard the ship of state, they pitch alongside it, buffeted by alternating waves of admiration and scorn, celebrity and caricature. Perhaps that’s why, all-too-human one moment, gilded cutouts the next, […]
Read MoreIn the Garden: The Life of Frances Hodgson Burnett
By Gretchen H. Gerzina Few people realize that The Secret Garden, the book most readers associate with Frances Hodgson Burnett, was only one of 53 novels she wrote and published, and that most of her books were for adults, not children. Although she had a lifetime of love for children and gardens, she would be […]
Read MoreDREWMATURGY: The Birth of Modern Tragedy
The Birth of Modern Tragedy By Drew Lichtenberg For anyone who knows the definition of Greek tragedy, the six o’clock news is a monstrosity. Invariably, the news anchors will list a series of unfortunate or even accidental events, raise an eyebrow and a gravely intone, in blithe indifference to Aristotle, “tragic developments today …” There […]
Read MoreRomeo & Juliet through the Eyes of Teen Critics
Every season a group of High School students participate in STC’s Teen Critic program. These students attend the productions, participate in workshops and craft critical reviews reflecting their unique perspectives on the performances. Click here to find out more about the Teen Critic program. Camilla Johnson, 9th grade, Georgetown Visitation High School Normally, I […]
Read MoreGarden of the Week: Urban Bird Habitat
Location: South and West Sides of the National Museum of Natural History Hours: Always open, always beautiful. Mary Lennox would tip her hat to the Smithsonian’s Urban Bird Habitat, which sits on the south and west side of the National Museum of Natural History. Up until five years ago, this garden did not exist, but […]
Read MoreMeet a Gardener: James Gagliardi
James Gagliardi, horticulturist at the Smithsonian Gardens. James supervises the gardens outside the Natural Museum of Natural History, the Freer and Sackler Galleries, the Castle, Haupt, Ripley, and Rose Garden. James’s Philosophy for the Pollinator Garden: this garden used to showcase four planting zones: wetland, meadow, woodland edge and urban. James wasn’t using those distinctions […]
Read MoreThe Pollinator Garden
Location: The East side of the National Museum of Natural History at 9th Street between Constitution Avenue and the National Mall Hours: Always open, always beautiful. This garden packs a punch. Over 250 varieties of plants live in an area that until 20 years ago was just an alleyway next to the National Museum of Natural […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Drew Writes an Intro to the Season!
The Classical Paradox By Drew Lichtenberg, Literary Manager Editor’s note: This article is the season intro to our annual Guide to the Season Plays, a booklet of scholarly articles about each and every one of our plays. As always, the guide will be available for purchase for Kindle devices and as a PDF. For the first […]
Read MoreThe Jake Group Wins Webaward Arts Standard of Excellence Award for Shakespeare Theatre Company
WASHINGTON DC (September 21, 2016)—Washington, DC-based digital marketing agency, the Jake Group, has won the 2016 WebAward for Outstanding Achievement from the Web Marketing Association for its work on the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) website. The Standard of Excellence Award was presented to the Jake Group in the Arts category during its annual WebAward Competition. […]
Read MoreD.C. Theatres Collaborate to Bring Politics to the Stage
THEatrical SELECTIONs: A free, politically-charged play reading series In the weeks leading up to the nation’s presidential election, five leading D.C. theatres will collaborate to bring politics and drama to the stage. Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, The John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Signature Theatre and […]
Read MoreShakespeare Theatre Company (STC) Presents The Secret Garden
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Washington, D.C. — 25 years after the Tony Award®-winning Broadway musical production of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic children’s story The Secret Garden, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) and The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle will co-present the timeless tale from November 15–December 31 at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW). The musical is […]
Read MorePostcards from Verona
Inspired by the thousands of letters that are sent each year to Verona, Italy addressed to Juliet, the Shakespeare Theatre Company has set up a pop-up post office in our lobby with a limited amount of original postcards available to be written and addressed by our patrons. Our idea is simple: you write it and we’ll send […]
Read MoreA letter from Michael Kahn about ROMEO & JULIET
Dear Friend, In my opinion, Romeo & Juliet is an ideal Shakespeare play for a young director to work on, for new audiences to discover and for familiar ones to reconsider. There is always more to discover in this play—scenes that have been forgotten, lines that have been cut—beyond the famous phrases. The play seems […]
Read MoreKilling Joys: Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet
By Courtney Lehmann “See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.” act 5, scene 3 In his eulogy for Shakespeare, Ben Johnson made the prescient observation that Shakespeare was “not for an age, but for all time.” The same could be said of Romeo […]
Read MoreUP NEXT: THE SECRET GARDEN An interview with David Armstrong, Director of The Secret Garden
What brought you to this particular show? There are very few plays or musicals that I have directed more than once over the course of my career, but this will be the fourth time that I will stage The Secret Garden. It is almost 20 years since the last time, and I am thrilled to be […]
Read MoreMAPPING THE PLAY. Juliet: Immortal Lover, Excellent Pen-Pal
By Anna Alison Brenner, Artistic Fellow For over 70 years, people have sent letters to Verona, Italy asking for the guidance of one of the most well-known lovers in popular culture: Shakespeare’s Juliet. Volunteers have responded to the letters over the years, but by 1972 the volume of mail sent to Verona had become overwhelming, […]
Read MoreFACES AND VOICES: Their First Time: The cast of Romeo & Juliet reflect on their introduction to Shakespeare
By Hannah Hessel Ratner, Audience Enrichment Manager First times can be magical. This fall, nearly 5,000 students will see Romeo & Juliet—for many, it will be their first Shakespeare play. Not so long ago, the cast of Romeo & Juliet experienced the same thing. From classrooms to bedroom bookshelves, sitting in the audience to taking […]
Read MoreABOUT THE PLAY: The Birth of Modern Tragedy
By Drew Lichtenberg, Production Dramaturg For anyone who knows their Greek tragedy, the six o’clock news is a monstrosity. Invariably, the news anchors will list a series of unfortunate or merely accidental events, cocking a raised eyebrow and uttering, in blithe indifference to Aristotle, “tragic developments today …” Most often, there is no “fatal flaw” […]
Read MoreABOUT THE ARTIST: Triple-Threat Shakespeare: Alan Paul on Directing Shakespeare, Musicals and Romeo & Juliet
By Laura Henry Buda, Associate Director of Communications When Alan Paul was about to graduate from Northwestern’s undergraduate acting program, he had an inconvenient realization: he wanted to be a director. So what was his first foray into the world of professional directing? Based on the wildly successful musicals he has mounted at the Shakespeare […]
Read MoreShakespeare Theatre Company Presents Romeo and Juliet
SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS ROMEO & JULIET DIRECTED BY ALAN PAUL AND STARRING ANDREW VEENSTRA AND AYANA WORKMAN Washington, D.C. — Continuing its 2016–2017 Season, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) presents Romeo & Juliet, directed by STC Associate Artistic Director Alan Paul, and featuring STC Affiliated Artist Andrew Veenstra as Romeo and Ayana Workman as […]
Read MoreAnno Drewmaturgy
Hello all. According to my records, I haven’t written to you in a while—since May 12, to be exact. So what have I been up to? (Warning: links ahoy in the coming paragraphs.) Well, for one thing, I got married in early June (which you can read about here and here). Having just celebrated my two […]
Read MoreRomeo & Juliet is Coming to the Embassy of Italy, DC
Washington, D.C. – To celebrate their forthcoming production of Romeo & Juliet, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) is pleased to announce a partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute-Embassy of Italy. On Tuesday, August 30 at 7 p.m., lead cast members from the show will perform select scenes of the play during a cultural evening at […]
Read MoreBut This Rough Magic
By Hannah Hessel Ratner But this rough magic I here abjure; and, when I have required Some heavenly music (which even now I do) To work mine end upon their senses that This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, And deeper than did ever plummet sound […]
Read MoreDirector’s Words by Ethan McSweeny
DIRECTOR’S WORD: The Tempest By Ethan McSweeny Adapted from remarks to the Company on the first day of rehearsal, November 2014 Not long ago, I was sitting with the costume designer Susan Hilferty and she reminded me that her friend and frequent collaborator Garland Wright once said that each director should encounter The Tempest a […]
Read MoreBrave New World
ABOUT THE PLAY: The Tempest By Drew Lichtenberg, Production Dramaturg In 1609, a group of settlers sailing to the Virginia colony wrecked, after a sudden sea-storm, on a strange island: Bermuda, where they subsisted on bananas and rum until they could rebuild a bark and sail home. Back in England, the survivor William Strachey’s account […]
Read MoreShakespeare Theatre Company (STC) to Honor Charles Dance for Outstanding Contribution to Classical Theatre in America
August 8, 2016 Washington, D.C. – To acknowledge his outstanding contribution to classical theatre in America, British actor Charles Dance will accept the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s (STC) prestigious William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre (Will Award) at the Harman Center for the Arts Annual Gala on Sunday, September 25, 2016, at Sidney Harman Hall (610 […]
Read MoreTalk with Juliet_Bot
Before the star-crossed lovers meet at the Capulets’ soiree, they are more or less typical teenagers. We get to hear all about lovesick Romeo’s infatuation with the mysterious Rosaline—but what was Juliet thinking about before that fateful night? Her parents are angling to marry her off to Paris and have asked her to check him […]
Read MorePatrick Page to Star in 26th Annual Free For All
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 7, 2016 Media Contact: Amy Hughes Press@ShakespeareTheatre.org BROADWAY VETERAN PATRICK PAGE TO STAR IN THE 26TH ANNUAL FREE FOR ALL AT SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY Washington, D.C. — Kicking off its 30th Anniversary Season, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) will present William Shakespeare’s The Tempest as the 2016 Free For All event. Directed […]
Read MoreSTC Presents Mock Trial: The Trial of Winston vs. Oceania-1984
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 9, 2016 Media Contact: Press@ShakespeareTheatre.org SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS MOCK TRIAL: THE TRIAL OF WINSTON VS. OCEANIA-1984 MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 Washington, D.C.—The Shakespeare Theatre Company, recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award®, presents its Annual Dinner and Mock Trial at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) on […]
Read MoreFinishing School Orientation (Extended): Susannah Compton
Throughout the run of The Taming of the Shrew, a dynamic lineup of special events will offer everyone a chance to live in the world of the production. Designed to look like the open-air markets of Padua and curated to appeal to savvy, contemporary customers, the Piazza d’Amore will host unique shopping, show-related discussions, special […]
Read MoreWill on the Hill Returns June 13 With Special Guests Reg E. Cathey and Tom Story
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 6, 2016 Media Contact: Press@ShakespeareTheatre.org Members of Congress and Distinguished Washington Insiders Take the Stage, Featuring Special Guests Reg E. Cathey and STC Affiliated Artist Tom Story Washington, D.C. — On Monday, June 13, 2016, Will on the Hill, a favorite bipartisan event of theatre and political fans alike, returns […]
Read MoreRead: Maulik Pancholy sat down with Metro Weekly to talk about coming out to his family, his marriage, and his career
Read MoreFinishing School Orientation (Extended): Brenda Zhang
Throughout the run of The Taming of the Shrew, a dynamic lineup of special events will offer everyone a chance to live in the world of the production. Designed to look like the open-air markets of Padua and curated to appeal to savvy, contemporary customers, the Piazza d’Amore will host unique shopping, show-related discussions, special […]
Read MoreChildren’s Casting Call for The Secret Garden at STC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 20, 2016 Media Contact: Michael Porto 202.547.3230 ext. 2315 Press@ShakespeareTheatre.org CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT AND LOCAL CHILDREN’S AUDITIONS FOR THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY’S PRODUCTION OF THE SECRET GARDEN Washington, D.C. — Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) announces today casting news for the upcoming production of The Secret Garden, part of STC’s 2016-2017 Season. Daisy […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Seasons Change
Seasons’ Change Ahh, the season. So many events in our lives, as worker bees in the humdrum hivemind of the American regional theatre, revolve around the season. At almost every point in the year, in nonprofit offices around the country, there will be groups of theatre people getting coffee and discussing the season, arguing about […]
Read MoreLetter to our patrons: The Taming of the Shrew
Dear Friend, In my opinion, Shakespeare wrote The Taming of the Shrew as a genre comedy that just happened to involve the “taming” of a young wife. He was working from a pre-made plot, common at the time, and incorporating comic conventions that called for disguise and marital transaction. There was no need to be […]
Read MoreDirector’s Word: Ed Sylvanus Iskandar
I am determined to look Kate’s last speech square in the eye. It is one of the most symmetrical, beautifully composed pieces of rhetoric in all of Shakespeare, and I have never seen it performed without irony or subtext. And it isn’t ironic. It is the sound of someone who is smooth, composed and gracefully […]
Read MoreThe Taming of the Thing
by Gary Taylor When is a person a commodity? When is a human being a thing that can be bought, sold, owned, loaned, inventoried, marketed, discounted and (in cases of loss or depreciation) written off as a tax deduction? The Taming of the Shrew forces us to ask those questions, and many modern readers and […]
Read MoreMapping the Play: Discovering Kate with Maulik Pancholy
By Hannah Hessel Ratner The Taming of the Shrew: the infamous title sets up certain expectations for the audience. It is up to directors and actors to decide how they want to defy those expectations. With Maulik Pancholy as Kate, the so-called shrew, this production takes a fresh perspective on a notorious role. Pancholy may […]
Read MoreFaces and Voices: Finishing School Orientation
By Catherine Shook Throughout the run of this production, a dynamic lineup of special events will offer everyone a chance to live in the world of Shrew. Designed to look like the open-air markets of Padua and curated to appeal to savvy, contemporary customers, the Piazza d’Amore will host unique shopping, show-related discussions, special performances […]
Read MoreAbout the Play: Shrewd Ambiguities
By Drew Lichtenberg, Literary Manager There is perhaps no Shakespeare play that has come down to us in more damaged condition than The Taming of the Shrew. Scholars agree that the play was among Shakespeare’s earliest, written before the plague closed theatres from the early 1590s to 1594. Not yet a member of the Lord […]
Read MoreAbout the Artist: Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, Social Director
By Laura Henry Buda In an industry where originality and vision are basic requirements, Ed Sylvanus Iskandar truly stands out. When STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn saw Iskandar’s production of The Mysteries, featuring 50 plays by 48 authors with 53 actors in the tiny performance space of the Flea Theater in New York, he was […]
Read MoreSonnet 141: A Poem Full of Hate
In preparation for The Taming of the Shrew directed by Ed Sylvanus Iskandar running from May 17 to June 26, STC hosted a Taming of the Shrew Movie Marathon this past weekend. As part of the event, audience members participated in “Kate-themed” activities, one of which included re-writing Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 141” much like Kat does in the movie 10 Things […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: On Slys and Sheiks
The process of preparing the text of Taming of the Shrew with Ed Sylvanus Iskandar was a unique one in many respects. I’ve never worked with a director like Ed before. Ed has many ideas—he’s wonderfully fecund with them, in fact—and they’re not always your garden-variety ideas for working on a Shakespeare text. For instance, […]
Read MoreShakespeare Theatre Company presents The Taming of the Shrew
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 18, 2016 Media Contact: Michael Porto 202.547.3230 ext. 2315 Press@ShakespeareTheatre.org UP NEXT AT SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY: MAULIK PANCHOLY AND PETER GADIOT TO LEAD CAST OF THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, DIRECTED BY ED SYLVANUS ISKANDAR FEATURING THE MUSIC OF DUNCAN SHEIK Washington, D.C.—Next at Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), stage and screen […]
Read MoreDREWMATURGY: Sheer Cloudy Vagueness, or, the Scourge of the Orwellian
Sheer Cloudy Vagueness, or, the Scourge of the Orwellian By Drew Lichtenberg One of the weird quirks about our season model at Shakespeare Theatre is the “international presentation.” Over the past five seasons—since I’ve been here—we have presented Dunsinane and Black Watch by the National Theatre of Scotland, Kneehigh’s Brief Encounter, Mies Julie from […]
Read MoreDavid Ives Returns to STC with The School for Lies
DAVID IVES RETURNS TO THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY WITH THE SCHOOL FOR LIES IN THE 2016-2017 SEASON Washington, D.C. — Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) announces the return of playwright David Ives with The School for Lies in spring of 2017. The Tony Award-nominee pairs once more with Artistic Director Michael Kahn as director, the […]
Read MoreTeen Critic: 1984
The Teen Critic Program at Shakespeare Theatre Company allows high school students interested in theatre, journalism and/or critical writing the opportunity to learn how to view productions with a critical eye and write a savvy, persuasive theatre review. The Teen Critics attend each production, receive a press packet, preferred press seating and have the opportunity to meet […]
Read MoreCommunity Responses to Othello: Antoun Issa
Community Responses to Othello STC’s vision is to create theatre that ignites a dialogue and that connects classic works to our modern world—this vision is especially true for Ron Daniels’ production of Othello. In the context of world events, this tragedy is one of the classics that seems most timely, relevant and urgent. For that reason, we […]
Read MoreDREWMATURGY …From LONDON! Part the Third: Les Blancs
The Les Blancs Adventure As soon as I was confirmed, Yaël and I knew time was of the essence. It was late December, and we would be starting rehearsals at the beginning of February. (To compare, Yaël and I started discussions on Salomé two years before rehearsals began; this was two months.) Yaël introduced me […]
Read MoreCommunity Responses to Othello: Student Edition (Round 2)
Community Responses to Othello: Student Edition (Round 2) STC’s vision is to create theatre that ignites a dialogue and that connects classic works to our modern world—this vision is especially true for Ron Daniels’ production of Othello. In the context of world events, this tragedy is one of the classics that seems most timely, relevant and urgent. […]
Read MoreTeen Critic: Othello
The Teen Critic Program at Shakespeare Theatre Company allows high school students interested in theatre, journalism and/or critical writing the opportunity to learn how to view productions with a critical eye and write a savvy, persuasive theatre review. The Teen Critics attend each production, receive a press packet, preferred press seating and have the opportunity to meet […]
Read MoreCommunity Responses to Othello: Paulette Beete
Community Responses to Othello STC’s vision is to create theatre that ignites a dialogue and that connects classic works to our modern world—this vision is especially true for Ron Daniels’ production of Othello. In the context of world events, this tragedy is one of the classics that seems most timely, relevant and urgent. (We’ve remounted Othello for […]
Read MoreRedactor
A text adventure based on George Orwell’s 1984. Report for your shift at the Ministry of Truth where you’ll spend your workday rectifying “misprints” in newspaper articles to properly reflect the Party’s ever changing version of history and language. But be careful, Big Brother is always watching. Play the Game (works best on desktop computers) […]
Read MoreCommunity Responses to Othello: Rahima Shafiq Ullah
Community Responses to Othello STC’s vision is to create theatre that ignites a dialogue and that connects classic works to our modern world—this vision is especially true for Ron Daniels’ production of Othello. In the context of world events, this tragedy is one of the classics that seems most timely, relevant and urgent. (We’re remounting Othello for the […]
Read MoreCommunity Responses to Othello: Buck Downs
Community Responses to Othello STC’s vision is to create theatre that ignites a dialogue and that connects classic works to our modern world—this vision is especially true for Ron Daniels’ production of Othello. In the context of world events, this tragedy is one of the classics that seems most timely, relevant and urgent. For that reason, we […]
Read MoreCommunity Responses to Othello: Elijah Mendoza
Community Responses to Othello STC’s vision is to create theatre that ignites a dialogue and that connects classic works to our modern world—this vision is especially true for Ron Daniels’ production of Othello. In the context of world events, this tragedy is one of the classics that seems most timely, relevant and urgent. For that reason, we […]
Read MoreLetter to our patrons: 1984
Dear Friend, There is perhaps no work of 20th-century fiction that has been yoked to more contemporary political debates than George Orwell’s cryptic allegorical novel, 1984. As a testimony to the work’s influence, the very number itself, the phrase “Big Brother is watching,” and even the adjective “Orwellian” have all entered our sociopolitical lingua franca. […]
Read MoreCommunity Responses to Othello: Katherine E. Young
Community Responses to Othello STC’s vision is to create theatre that ignites a dialogue and that connects classic works to our modern world—this vision is especially true for Ron Daniels’ production of Othello. In the context of world events, this tragedy is one of the classics that seems most timely, relevant and urgent. For that reason, we […]
Read MoreCommunity Responses to Othello: Michael H. Levin
Community Responses to Othello STC’s vision is to create theatre that ignites a dialogue and that connects classic works to our modern world—this vision is especially true for Ron Daniels’ production of Othello. In the context of world events, this tragedy is one of the classics that seems most timely, relevant and urgent. For that reason, we […]
Read MoreCommunity Responses to Othello: Jessica Young
Community Responses to Othello STC’s vision is to create theatre that ignites a dialogue and that connects classic works to our modern world—this vision is especially true for Ron Daniels’ production of Othello. In the context of world events, this tragedy is one of the classics that seems most timely, relevant and urgent. For that reason, we […]
Read MoreUndo Othello
Othello, Act 4, Scene 1. Iago’s machinations are nearly complete. Could they be foiled with mere words? Would one simple action unravel the entire tapestry? Find out in this annotated interactive exploration. Click here to start. (unavailable on mobile devices) Created by Unmapped Path.
Read MoreSTC Launches Website Redesign
Shakespeare Theatre Company Launches ShakespeareTheatre.org Redesign Washington, D.C. — The Shakespeare Theatre Company announces the launch of a new website, upgrading the look and functionality of ShakespeareTheatre.org to meet the demands of today’s audiences. The new design represents the culmination of a dedicated effort by members of the STC marketing team working with The Jake […]
Read MoreCommunity Responses to Othello: Student Edition
Community Responses to Othello: Student Edition STC’s vision is to create theatre that ignites a dialogue and that connects classic works to our modern world—this vision is especially true for Ron Daniels’ production of Othello. In the context of world events, this tragedy is one of the classics that seems most timely, relevant and urgent. Throughout the […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy … from London! Part the Second: London Eye
In my last Drewmaturgy post, I told the story of how I came to work on Les Blancs. Now, in short order, a report on the process, as well as some notes and observations from my time in London. I remember flying to London four weeks ago, landing at Heathrow on a typically grey London […]
Read MoreA Midsummer Night’s Dream at China’s 27th Macao Arts Festival
SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS ETHAN MCSWEENY’S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM AT CHINA’S 27th MACAO ARTS FESTIVAL Washington, D.C.— Following the Free For All 25th Anniversary performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Ethan McSweeny, the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s (STC) production will travel to Macao, China, to perform this striking rendition of Shakespeare’s iconic comedy at the 27th annual […]
Read MoreThe Consent of the Surveilled by Dr. Paolo Gerbaudo
The Consent of the Surveilled by Dr. Paolo Gerbaudo After the revelations made by the American information analyst Edward Snowden about the operations of the American National Security Agency (NSA), and of its UK equivalent Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ), many have claimed that we live in a present that closely resembles the nightmare scenario of […]
Read MoreThe Orwellian World By Michael Shelden
The Orwellian World By Michael Shelden It was George Orwell’s hope that his creation would blend into the cultural consciousness of society. He once remarked to a friend that a good song can take on a life of its own after the composer has come and gone. The words may change, the composer may be […]
Read MoreBeginning at the End by Dominic Cavendish
Beginning at the End How paying close attention to the appendix in Nineteen Eighty-Four led co-creators Duncan Macmillan and Robert Icke to rip up the theatrical rule book. By Dominic Cavendish It’s not enough that Winston Smith knows in his heart of hearts that the world he’s living in is monstrous—and that he hates it. He […]
Read MoreCommunity Response to Othello: Illustrations by Gareth Hinds
Community Responses to Othello STC’s vision is to create theatre that ignites a dialogue and that connects classic works to our modern world—this vision is especially true for Ron Daniels’ production of Othello. In the context of world events, this tragedy is one of the classics that seems most timely, relevant and urgent. For that reason, we […]
Read MoreSTC Women in Charge: Sally Glass
STC WOMEN IN CHARGE This past fall, more than 50 Washington, D.C. professional theatres participated in the momentous Women’s Voices Theater Festival, showcasing more than 50 world premiere plays by women. In the spirit of the festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company started a blog series to highlight some of its Women in Charge. As part of STC’s […]
Read MoreCommunity Responses to Othello: A Reflection by Katherine Peterlin
Community Responses to Othello STC’s vision is to create theatre that ignites a dialogue and that connects classic works to our modern world—this vision is especially true for Ron Daniels’ production of Othello. In the context of world events, this tragedy is one of the classics that seems most timely, relevant and urgent. For that reason, we have […]
Read MoreArtistic Director Michael Kahn Announces the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2016–2017 Season
UPDATE 3/31/2016: David Ives’s The School for Lies, directed by Michael Kahn, will play in the slot previously announced for Women Beware Women. Learn more here. Washington, D.C.— Following the successes of the first half of this season—from the multiple Helen Hayes Award nominations for Salomé and Kiss Me, Kate, to the critical acclaim of […]
Read MoreShakespeare Theatre Company Presents Othello
Starring Faran Tahir and Directed by Internationally Acclaimed Director Ron Daniels Washington, D.C. — This February, the Shakespeare Theatre Company presents William Shakespeare’s Othello, helmed by internationally acclaimed director Ron Daniels and featuring stage and screen performer Faran Tahir in the titular role and Jonno Roberts as Iago. Director Ron Daniels, an honorary associate director at the Royal […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy … From London!
Starting the Conversation. By Drew Lichtenberg It’s late February, and I am writing to you from a rehearsal room on the South Bank of the Thames River, in London, England. I have been here for three weeks (out of four), working on a production of Lorraine Hansberry’s Les Blancs at the National Theatre. I was […]
Read MoreSTC Women in Charge: Becky Williams
STC WOMEN IN CHARGE This past fall, more than 50 Washington, D.C. professional theatres participated in the momentous Women’s Voices Theater Festival, showcasing more than 50 world premiere plays by women. In the spirit of the festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company started a blog series to highlight some of its Women in Charge. As part of STC’s […]
Read MoreSTC Women in Charge: Denise Aitchison
STC WOMEN IN CHARGE This past fall, more than 50 Washington, D.C. professional theatres participated in the momentous Women’s Voices Theater Festival, showcasing more than 50 world premiere plays by women. In the spirit of the festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company started a blog series to highlight some of its Women in Charge. As part of STC’s […]
Read MoreLetter to our patrons: Othello
Dear Friend, There is perhaps no play in Shakespeare’s canon that delves deeper into our modern tensions of racial, ethnic, and even religious identity than Othello. Othello, as everyone knows, is the “Moor of Venice,” but what exactly did Shakespeare mean by those terms? Was he imagining the character as a sub-Saharan African or an […]
Read MoreBehind-the-Scene (Shop): Othello
Othello, his troops, and their companions journey from Venice to Cyprus; take a journey with the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) from the scenes on stage to behind-the-scenes, and get a sneak-peek into our scene shop. Below, check out STC artists creating the drop of the imposing Lion of Venice that bears witness to this Shakespearean […]
Read MoreGiving them Props: Drums in Othello
We’re sure you’ve noticed that when you go to plays, the actors always seem to be holding things, exchanging things, fighting over things, fighting with things, or even, sometimes, hitting the things themselves. Props are the unsung heroes of theatre—they help to establish the world of the play and for whatever the actors are going to […]
Read MoreThe Beauty in Complexity: Ron Daniels and Faran Tahir talk Othello
By Laura Henry Buda A few weeks before rehearsals for Othello began, director Ron Daniels and his lead actor, Faran Tahir, were in opposite hemispheres. Daniels had spent more than eight months in Brazil, his home country, directing an epic series of productions: Hamlet, Measure for Measure, and The Testament of Mary. A veteran director […]
Read MoreDirector’s Word: Ron Daniels
[Adapted from remarks to the company on the First Day of Rehearsal] Othello begins as an epic. We start in Venice, which we can imagine as the absolute center of civilization, and which has been embroiled for centuries in a deadly war against the Turks. Othello is summoned to battle, and he lands with a […]
Read MoreMeet the Directors’ Studio: Jason Schlafstein
Meet the Directors’ Studio In an effort to continue its vision to provide a training ground for the next generation of theatre artists, the Shakespeare Theatre Company has launched its first-ever Directors’ Studio, a series of workshops and discussions designed to investigate the craft of theatrical direction created for local, early-career directors. By application, […]
Read More“A timely investigation….I wish I could tell my younger self to read this!”
This winter, STC has affectionately poked fun at the figure that all theatre makers at once fear and admire, laud and condemn, pretend to disregard but actually want to take out for drinks—the theatre critic. In both Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Critic and Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound, we are able to live out our […]
Read MoreMeet the Directors’ Studio: Angela Pirko
Meet the Directors’ Studio In an effort to continue its vision to provide a training ground for the next generation of theatre artists, the Shakespeare Theatre Company has launched its first-ever Directors’ Studio, a series of workshops and discussions designed to investigate the craft of theatrical direction created for local, early-career directors. By application, six […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Of Metropolitan, Critics, and Hounds
One of my favorite movies of all time is Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan. A minimal masterpiece about bored young preppies (the “urban haute bourgeoisie,” or “UHB’s” in Stillman’s parlance), the film is neither fast-paced nor particularly cinematic. Its plot is minor, turning on subtle shifts in the relationship between the red-headed Tom Townsend and the doe-eyed […]
Read MoreWatch Michael Kahn accept STC’s Tony Award
On June 10, Artistic Director Michael Kahn accepted the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award on behalf of STC. Watch his full acceptance speech.
Read MoreMeet the Directors’ Studio: Carter Lowe
Meet the Directors’ Studio In an effort to continue its vision to provide a training ground for the next generation of theatre artists, the Shakespeare Theatre Company has launched its first-ever Directors’ Studio, a series of workshops and discussions designed to investigate the craft of theatrical direction created for local, early-career directors. By application, six […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Finding Othello in Morocco
I’m not sure when or why I decided to visit Morocco this holiday season, but I’d like to think it had to do with my experience working on Salomé. The cast was truly international, and meeting and working alongside artists from Syria (Ramzi Choukair and Lubana Al Quntar), Morocco (Ismael Kanater), or Israel (Yuval Boim […]
Read MoreMeet the Directors’ Studio: Rick Hammerly
Meet the Directors’ Studio In an effort to continue its vision to provide a training ground for the next generation of theatre artists, the Shakespeare Theatre Company has launched its first-ever Directors’ Studio, a series of workshops and discussions designed to investigate the craft of theatrical direction created for local, early-career directors. By application, six […]
Read More“A succinct and quick-witted examination of a venerated craft…told by true masters!”
This winter, STC has affectionately poked fun at the figure that all theatre makers at once fear and admire, laud and condemn, pretend to disregard but actually want to take out for drinks—the theatre critic. In both Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Critic and Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound, we are able to live out our […]
Read MoreGiving them Props: Swords in The Critic
We’re sure you’ve noticed that when you go to plays, the actors always seem to be holding things, exchanging things, fighting over things, or even, sometimes, fighting with things. Props are the unsung heroes of theatre—they help to establish the world of the play and for whatever the actors are going to do, props help give […]
Read MoreMeet the Directors’ Studio: Lee Liebeskind
Meet the Directors’ Studio In an effort to continue its vision to provide a training ground for the next generation of theatre artists, the Shakespeare Theatre Company has launched its first-ever Directors’ Studio, a series of workshops and discussions designed to investigate the craft of theatrical direction created for local, early-career directors. By application, six […]
Read MoreI, CRITIC by Jeffrey Hatcher
I, CRITIC Jeffrey Hatcher I was a critic once. It was forty years ago. I wrote book and movie reviews for my high school newspaper. The only pieces I remember are ones of John le Carré’s novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and the disaster flick The Towering Inferno. I liked giving my opinion—yea on Tinker, […]
Read MorePragmatic Theatre by Tom Stoppard
Pragmatic Theatre Tom Stoppard [The following is based on a speech given at the New York Public Library, subsequently reprinted in The New York Review of Books, Sep. 23, 1999.] There’s a man on the stage and a woman on the stage. The man says, “Would you care for a drink?” The woman says, “Yes, […]
Read MoreDrama Criticism: The Old Age of an Age-Old Profession by Robert Brustein
Drama Criticism: The Old Age of an Age-Old Profession by Robert Brustein The Shakespeare Theatre’s decision to stage together two plays that touch on critical subjects—Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Critic and Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound—not only guarantees an evening of robust entertainment, but demonstrates how these issues keep recurring from one age to […]
Read MoreMeet the Directors’ Studio: Catrin Davies
Meet the Directors’ Studio In an effort to continue its vision to provide a training ground for the next generation of theatre artists, the Shakespeare Theatre Company has launched its first-ever Directors’ Studio, a series of workshops and discussions designed to investigate the craft of theatrical direction created for local, early-career directors. By application, six directors […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Critic, Hound, and Kahn
Last week was the first week of rehearsals for The Critic and The Real Inspector Hound, directed by our estimable Artistic Director, Michael Kahn. Michael’s shows are always special, for a simple reason: Michael is special. He’s a true legend in the field; one of the pivotal figures in the regional theatre movement of the […]
Read MoreTeen Critic: Kiss Me, Kate
The Teen Critic Program at Shakespeare Theatre Company allows high school students interested in theatre, journalism and/or critical writing the opportunity to learn how to view productions with a critical eye and write a savvy, persuasive theatre review. The Teen Critics attend each production, receive a press packet, preferred press seating and have the opportunity […]
Read MoreTeen Critic: Lydia Gompper on Kiss Me, Kate
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Kiss Me, Kate By Lydia Gompper, 11th grade, George Mason High School The musical, like all art forms, is a constantly evolving entity. In 2015, with the most popular shows on Broadway, including a multicultural rap musical about one of America’s founding fathers, it is clear that modern theatre is, both in form […]
Read More100 (mostly obscure) plays you have to see before you die.
THE DREW LICHTENBERG BUCKET LIST 100 (MOSTLY OBSCURE) PLAYS YOU HAVE TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE Ground rules: * can’t be a play that STC has produced previously * no more than one play per author (except for my favorites) * no musicals! * no 21st-century plays; it’s just too soon to tell When you […]
Read MoreTying shoes outside Sidney Harman Hall
by Austin Auclair On the corner down the street, someone has tied his shoe for the fourth time. The sidewalk clear of prying pedestrians, he kneels once more, but instead of tightening his shoelaces he surreptitiously runs his fingertips underneath a nearby bench. His hand settles on something. He pulls it free, looking around as he unscrews the lid of a small container. […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Pssst… It’s Time to ReDiscover.
Imagine if you can: it’s a Monday night, theatres all over America are “dark” as the actors, stage managers and run crew take their one night off a week.* A group of theatre-lovers—actors and an audience—have gathered at the Lansburgh to hear something that could introduce them to their new favorite author, character or speech. […]
Read MoreUp Next: The Critic and The Real Inspector Hound
AN INTERVIEW WITH STC ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MICHAEL KAHN, DIRECTOR OF THE CRITIC AND THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND Are you a fan of critics? I’m a director who’s actually known to be friendly with critics. I basically like them. However, they regularly have a chance to tell me what they think of my work, and […]
Read MoreIt takes Two (Times Two)
By Jonathan Padget Love stories are lovely (and plentiful), aren’t they? But a great love-hate story—that’s something else entirely, and that’s what makes the heart of Kiss Me, Kate beat with passion, intensity and joy. Like the original Broadway production starring Alfred Drake and Patricia Morison, or the film adaptation with Howard Keel and Kathryn […]
Read MoreThe Taming of the Screwball
By Drew Lichtenberg, Literary Manager The success of Kiss Me, Kate in 1948 could not have been more unexpected. Cole Porter, who had experienced a glittering string of successes in the 1930s, was yesterday’s news by the mid-’40s. His previous two Broadway ventures, Seven Lively Arts (1944) and Around the World in Eighty Days […]
Read MoreKiss Me, Kate Music Director’s Word
DOUG PECK ON COLE PORTER It’s funny to say about someone you don’t know, but I’m very proud of Cole Porter. Much of his previous work before Kiss Me, Kate is from an era when people could not care less about fitting songs to the plot. You know, “Someone will juggle, then we’ll sing a […]
Read MoreKiss Me, Kate Director’s Word
ALAN PAUL We started work on this project a year ago, so I’ve had a long time to think about Kiss Me, Kate and what precisely makes it so special. One of the reasons it isn’t produced often is because it’s very hard to do. You need a company of triple-threats who can dance, sing, […]
Read MoreSTC Women in Charge: Anne Kohn
STC WOMEN IN CHARGE This fall, more than 50 Washington, D.C. professional theatres are participating in the momentous Women’s Voices Theater Festival, showcasing more than 50 world premiere plays by women. In the spirit of the festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company wants to highlight some of its Women in Charge. Theatre is a collaborative art, and […]
Read MoreSTC Women in Charge: Samantha K. Wyer
STC WOMEN IN CHARGE This fall, more than 50 Washington, D.C. professional theatres are participating in the momentous Women’s Voices Theater Festival, showcasing more than 50 world premiere plays by women. In the spirit of the festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company wants to highlight some of its Women in Charge. Theatre is a collaborative art, and […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Rehearsal Diary, Part 4.
Week 4 It was a make-or-break week that began with two big breakthroughs: the first was on Monday (we rehearsed Monday and Tuesday and then had Wednesday off for Yom Kippur; many in the cast are observant). After rehearsal, Yaël, Rob Jansen (the assistant director), and I stuck around with T. Ryder Smith (Pilate) and […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Rehearsal Diary, Week 3.
Week 3 We were continuing “runs,” though the piece was still very much in the process of forming. Yaël was pulled between three tracks—trying to review scenes she’d already created, trying to blend them together, while also trying to introduce new material for the crucial end of the show. Since our revelatory run-through at […]
Read MoreSTC Women in Charge: Wendy Stark Prey
STC WOMEN IN CHARGE This fall, more than 50 Washington, D.C. professional theatres are participating in the momentous Women’s Voices Theater Festival, showcasing more than 50 world premiere plays by women. In the spirit of the festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company wants to highlight some of its Women in Charge. Theatre is a collaborative art, and a successful production involves […]
Read MoreSTC Women in Charge: Carter Wooddell
STC WOMEN IN CHARGE This fall, more than 50 Washington, D.C. professional theatres are participating in the momentous Women’s Voices Theater Festival, showcasing more than 50 world premiere plays by women. In the spirit of the festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company wants to highlight some of its Women in Charge. Theatre is a collaborative art, and a successful production involves […]
Read MoreSTC Women in Charge: Elaine Sabal
STC WOMEN IN CHARGE This fall, more than 50 Washington, D.C. professional theatres are participating in the momentous Women’s Voices Theater Festival, showcasing more than 50 world premiere plays by women. In the spirit of the festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company wants to highlight some of its Women in Charge. Theatre is a collaborative art, and a successful production involves […]
Read MoreSTC Women in Charge: Ellen O’Brien
STC WOMEN IN CHARGE This fall, more than 50 Washington, D.C. professional theatres are participating in the momentous Women’s Voices Theater Festival, showcasing more than 50 world premiere plays by women. In the spirit of the festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company wants to highlight some of its Women in Charge. Theatre is a collaborative art, and a successful production involves […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Rehearsal Diary, Part 2.
Week 2 Scenes have started to emerge. Yaël continued to start each day with physical exercises, now running them together in a long unbroken chain. So many specific images have emerged, and they flowed together at such length (about 45 minutes), that it was more accurate to say that the physical exercises are the show. Unlike […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Rehearsal Diary, Part 1.
How does a dramaturg help to usher a new work into being? Here’s how it happened, week by week, on our production of STC’s Salomé. Week 1 When we regathered the actors and designers in Washington, the first week was largely about getting back to where we ended up during last spring’s workshop. Actors – […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Drew Reports from a Sacred Space.
Since I last wrote in late August, STC has prepped for the arrival of the company of Yäel Farber’s Salomé, and four weeks of rehearsal have unfolded. In other words, it’s been four weeks since my last post, and it feels like a lifetime. Of the projects we’ve done in my five seasons at the theatre, […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Drew Gets a New Draft of The Critic
In early August, STC scheduled a private (closed) reading in New York of Jeffrey Hatcher’s new adaptation of The Critic. Michael Kahn, our Artistic Director, is directing it this year, in rep with Tom Stoppard’s Real Inspector Hound. We had decided to commission our own adaptation so we could pair these two classic comedies about […]
Read MoreKiss Me, Kate and “The Bard of Stratford-on-Avon”
Kiss Me, Kate and “The Bard of Stratford-on-Avon”: Shakespeare’s Play Is Still the Thing by Geoffrey Block Chronologically midway between The Boys from Syracuse and West Side Story lies Kiss Me, Kate, Samuel and Bella Spewack’s liberal adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew with lyrics and music by Cole Porter. Although the version that […]
Read MoreSalomé as History and Fetish
Salomé as History and Fetish by Gail P. Streete The modern history of the character known as Salomé, together with her dance, really begins in 1891, when Oscar Wilde wrote a drama in French called Salomé: A Tragedy in One Act, the title role allegedly intended for Sarah Bernhardt. Because, since the time of Elizabeth […]
Read MoreDrewmaturgy: Welcome! & Drew goes to Omaha.
What is Drewmaturgy? Welcome to Drewmaturgy. I am Drew Lichtenberg, the literary manager and resident dramaturg at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. My colleagues in Marketing and I have gone back and forth on the title. For some reason this is the one that stuck in everybody’s mind, probably because it made everyone laugh. And I […]
Read MoreEducation at STC: Making Dreams Come True
A core tenet of the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s vision is the high-quality educational programs we provide for students. Take a moment to explore the scope and impact of our educational endeavors.
Read MoreProps at STC: Bringing Dreams to Life
Published on Jun 24, 2015 Ever wonder how the magic of theatre is made real? Peek behind the curtain into the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Costume Shop and learn about the making of the donkey’s head for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Read MoreASIDES: Coup de Théâtre
FACES & VOICES French Drama Takes Over at STC by Laura Henry Buda The French theatrical tradition has given us so many great plays, one might expect the Shakespeare Theatre Company had been producing French classics from the first. Surprisingly, STC’s first foray into French theatre wasn’t until 2004—but since then, eight of the last […]
Read MoreASIDES: Passion Play
By Drew Lichtenberg, Literary Manager As James Magruder writes in his article, “One suspects American audiences admire Molière more than they enjoy him.” And it’s true. For one of the greatest geniuses of the theatre, it’s surprising how underappreciated Molière (née Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) is in comparison to his dramaturgical peers, especially in America. Unlike, say, Chekhov, […]
Read MoreASIDES: Looking for the Magic of Things
A Conversation with Tartuffe Director Dominique Serrand By Lexi Diamond, Excerpted from the Berkeley Repertory playbill Tartuffe director Dominique Serrand took some time with us to shed light on his unique approach, his visionary production of Tartuffe, and his view on making theatre today. LEXI DIAMOND: I’ve heard your approach described as devised and physical…. DOMINIQUE SERRAND: […]
Read MoreASIDES: Just Enough to be Funny
Or: The Funny Medium By James Magruder “Medan agan” reads one of the legends carved on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. One of the touchstones of Greek civilization, it means “nothing in excess.” Its implicit corollary is “everything in moderation” or “the happy medium.” Literary illustrations of this Hellenic watch-cry are the main business […]
Read MoreBehind the Scenes: Tartuffe
Join us for behind-the-scenes glimpses into the inspirations for Tartuffe’s design. This week, Director and Co-Scenic Designer Dominique Serrand shares a few thoughts on the insprations behind the show’s monumental set. The set is inspired by 17th-century architecture, the Hotel des Invalides–known for its lean and clean limestone–and by the stunning frontal doorway of the Eglise Saint […]
Read MoreOpening Night at STC: Experience the Excitement
We invite you experience the glitz and glamour, the hustle and bustle, and the romance and excitement of a Shakespeare Theatre Company Opening Night.
Read MoreBehind the Scenes: Tartuffe
Join us for behind-the-scenes glimpses into the inspirations for Tartuffe‘s design. This week, Costume Designer Sonya Berlovitz shares her design inspirations and the challenges in bringing the show to life. Our version of the play sprang from a very contemporary adaptation that laid the groundwork for a historically eclectic design vision. This is reflected in the costumes as […]
Read MoreUP NEXT: Tartuffe
An interview with Tartuffe director Dominique Serrand What was your inspiration for this production? The very first time we approached this piece was when the religious right began comparing artists to pornographers. We thought, “Now is the time to do Tartuffe.” Once you pursue a piece, you realize what you could do better. For the design, we wanted a 17th-century interior that could get […]
Read MoreInside the Shops: Making a Sword Bend
How the Trick Sword was Made Special contribution from Eric Hammesfahr, Props Painter/Sculptor One of the swords in Man of La Mancha had to bend unnaturally as part of an effect. It needed to bend in a “U” shape then snap back into shape. Although the creative team had a particular style of sword in mind […]
Read MoreTeen Critics: Man of La Mancha
The Teen Critic Program at Shakespeare Theatre Company allows high school students interested in theatre, journalism and/or critical writing the opportunity to learn how to view productions with a critical eye and write a savvy, persuasive theatre review. The Teen Critics attend each production, receive a press packet, preferred press seating and have the opportunity to meet with professional […]
Read MoreASIDES: El Hombre de La Mancha
(To read the original English version, click here.) Las fases de Don Quijote De Edward Friedman. Traducción de Jessica Peña. Revisiones por Sara Mercedes Medina González. El Hombre de La Mancha es un tributo de Dale Wasserman, Joe Darion y Mitch Leigh al Don Quijote de Miguel de Cervantes. El musical es más que un intento […]
Read MoreASIDES: Men of La Mancha
(Para leer en Español, haga click aquí.) Stages of Don Quixote By Edward Friedman Man of La Mancha is a tribute by Dale Wasserman, Joe Darion, and Mitch Leigh to Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote. The musical is an adaptation, more of a “reading” than an attempted recreation of the novel, but it captures the spirit and much of the tone of the […]
Read MoreEn un lugar de La Mancha
In recognition of Cervantes’ legacy, we at STC want to extend our content to the Spanish-speaking community. We asked Jessica Peña Torres, STC Sales Associate and ASIDES Editorial Intern, to share her thoughts on Man of La Mancha, in her native language. (Click here for a translation) Por Jessica L. Peña Torres. Revisiones por Sara Mercedes Medina González. […]
Read More“Somewhere in La Mancha”
In recognition of Cervantes’ legacy, we at STC want to extend our content to the Spanish-speaking community. We asked Jessica Peña Torres, STC Sales Associate and ASIDES Editorial Intern, to share her thoughts on Man of La Mancha, in her native language. (Para leer en Español, haga click aquí.) By Jessica L. Peña Torres. Revisions by Sara Mercedes […]
Read MoreASIDES: The Impossible Musical
By Drew Lichtenberg One of the first things to know about Man of La Mancha, perhaps the most popular adaptation of Don Quixote, is that it isn’t an adaptation at all. During a 1959 trip to Madrid, Dale Wasserman read the book (or parts of it, it isn’t entirely clear) and came away convinced that […]
Read MoreASIDES: A Cast of Characters
Alan Paul, Director of Man of La Mancha and STC Associate Artistic Director, sits down with cast members Anthony Warlow (Don Quixote), Amber Iman (Aldonza), and Nehal Joshi (Sancho) to discuss how they came to be a part of the production and what they have discovered along the way. And visit YouTube.com/ShakespeareTheatreCo to see more in-depth […]
Read MoreASIDES: Bienvenidos a la produccion de El hombre de La Mancha
The opening line of Don Quixote is as resonant in Latino cultures as Dickens, Twain, or Austen might be in English literature. In recognition of Cervantes’ legacy, we at STC want to extend our content to the Spanish speaking community. We asked Jessica Peña Torres, STC Sales Associate and ASIDES Editorial Intern, to translate Artistic Director Michael […]
Read MoreTeen Critics: The Metromaniacs
The Teen Critic Program at Shakespeare Theatre Company allows high school students interested in theatre, journalism and/or critical writing the opportunity to learn how to view productions with a critical eye and write a savvy, persuasive theatre review. The Teen Critics attend each production, receive a press packet, preferred press seating and have the opportunity to meet with professional […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Virtual Poet-in-Residence Courtney Sexton
As we go into the final weekend of The Metromaniacs and the Poets Are Present poetry residency, we have asked one more poet to be “virtually” present. In this final poet interview, Courtney Sexton, who co-founded the reading series The Inner Loop, shares her thoughts on collaboration, what words should be present and the D.C. poetry scene (we completely […]
Read MoreASIDES: The Journey Errant
FACES & VOICES To Dream and Keep Dreaming: A Journey to the Journey Errant By Hannah Hessel Ratner Since its first publication Don Quixote has inspired readers to dream of their own quests. It’s no surprise that the word “quixotic” has entered the popular lexicon as an idealistic striving towards a potentially unrealistic and impractical goal. Throughout the centuries many have seen elements of […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Virtual Poet-in-Residence Simone Feigenbaum
Now that The Metromaniacs is extended we are eager to continue our virtual Poets Are Present poetry residency as well. This time around, we asked American University MFA candidate Simone-Marie Feigenbaum our poetry questions and to write us a poem. She told us we were the first to do that–seeing what she came up with, we don’t think we’ll be […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Kim Peter Kovac
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Sarah Ann Winn
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Andrew Jarvis
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Doritt Carroll
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MoreTeen Critics: Dunsinane
The Teen Critic Program at Shakespeare Theatre Company allows high school students interested in theatre, journalism and/or critical writing the opportunity to learn how to view productions with a critical eye and write a savvy, persuasive theatre review. The Teen Critics attend each production, receive a press packet, preferred press seating and have the opportunity to meet with professional […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Buck Downs
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Jessica Young and Regie Cabico
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Regie Cabico
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Beenish Ahmed
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Sheila McMullin
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Donald Illich
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Katherine Smith
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Terrylene
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Andrew Jarvis
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Jessica Young
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MoreUP NEXT: Man of La Mancha
An interview with Alan Paul, Man of La Mancha director and Associate Artistic Director at STC Can you tell us how you came to direct Man of La Mancha? The story begins in 2011, when I directed La Mancha at Catholic University. That detail stuck in Michael Kahn’s mind, and on opening night of A […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Andrew Ratner
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Katherine E. Young
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MoreGuest Post: Dunsinane: Shattering the Vase
This article is part of a series hosted by The Strategy Bridge and CIMSEC, entitled #Shakespeare and Strategy. Thanks to STC’s Young Professionals Consortium for setting up the series. Arthur McBain as English Soldier, Toyin Omari Kinch as Eric the Archer, Tom Gill as The Boy Soldier, Matt McClure as English Soldier. Photo by KPO Photo. The […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Tafisha Edwards
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Tony Mancus
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Sarah Ann Winn
The lovely Sarah Ann Winn joined us last evening for Poets are Present. Here is her poem inspired by her time as the poet in residence: Notes for a Cold Reading By Sarah Ann Winn 1. Tonight, the part of the audience will be played by the actors. Ushers will assist the real audience to dressing […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Virtual Poet-in-Residence Gary Logan
Our third virtual poet for the Poets Are Present poetry residency is STC’s own Gary Logan, Director of the Academy for Classical Acting. Gary sat down with us to chat poetry (in perfect diction) and even wrote us two new poems inspired by our conversation. STC:What is the story that started you on your poetry career? Gary Logan: […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Suzanne Zweizig
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets are Present: DC Youth Slam Team
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Bob Blair
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Doritt Carroll
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MoreGuest Post: Duty and Perseverance in Dunsinane
This post is the second in a series hosted by The Strategy Bridge and the Center for International Maritime Security, entitled #Shakespeare and Strategy. Thanks to the Young Professionals Consortium of the Shakespeare Theatre Company for setting up the series. All posts contain the authors’ opinions alone and do not represent any of the military […]
Read MoreGuest Post: Scotland, Counter-Insurgency, and Sea Control
This post is the second in a series hosted by The Strategy Bridge and the Center for International Maritime Security, entitled #Shakespeare and Strategy. Thanks to the Young Professionals Consortium of the Shakespeare Theatre Company for setting up the series. All posts contain the authors’ opinions alone and do not represent any of the military services or the Department of […]
Read MoreAn interview with Dunsinane playwright David Greig
Playwright David Greig shares an inside look at why he wrote Dunsinane. What made you want to expand on a Shakespeare play? That seems gutsy… I know! All I can say is, it didn’t seem particularly hubristic when I first though of it. It felt cheeky and interesting. In the mid 2000’s I saw many productions […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Capitol Hill Writing Group
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Michael H. Levin
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to write. […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Paulette Beete
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Maureen Thorson
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MoreGuest Post: Stumbling on Peace: The Exposition of Strategic Misstep
This article is part of a series hosted by The Strategy Bridge and CIMSEC, entitled #Shakespeare and Strategy. Thanks to the Young Professionals Consortium for setting up the series. David Greig’s Dunsinane, while set in the centuries-ago land of Scotland, offers a modern perspective on the nature of war, peace, language, and politics. The events of the […]
Read MoreGuest Post: Knowing and Not Knowing. The Intangible Nature of War.
This post is the second in a series hosted by The Strategy Bridge and the Center for International Maritime Security, entitled #Shakespeare and Strategy. Thanks to the Young Professionals Consortium of the Shakespeare Theatre Company for setting up the series. All posts contain the authors’ opinions alone and do not represent any of the military services or the Department of […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Virtual Poet-in-Residence Tom Gill
To continue the virtual component to our Poets Are Present poetry residency, we asked spoken word poet Tom Gill, who plays Boy Soldier in Dunsinane, to answer a few questions about his poetry and to share a few links to his work. STC: What is the story that started you on your poetry career? Tom Gill: I went […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Magus Magnus
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Meg Eden
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MoreInside the Shops: Costumes of The Metromaniacs Part 3
Welcome to Part 3 of our series inside the costume shop with The Metromaniacs. Sandra Thomas, First Hand in the STC costume shop, documents the process of bringing a costume to life from the designer to the actor. Join us for an inside peek of designer Murell Horton’s luxurious designs for The Metromaniacs. (See Part 1 here) […]
Read MoreGuest Post: Dunsinane as a Window into War and Warfare
This post is the first in a series hosted by The Strategy Bridge and the Center for International Maritime Security, entitled #Shakespeare and Strategy. Thanks to the Young Professionals Consortium of the Shakespeare Theatre Company for setting up the series. All posts contain the authors’ opinions alone and do not represent any of the military […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Pages Matam
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Karren LaLonde Alenier
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets are Present: J.D. Smith
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MorePoets are Present: Katherine E. Young
Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to […]
Read MoreGuest Post: Introducing #Shakespeare and Strategy
Welcome to a special series of guest posts to ASIDES Online. We kick off with an introduction from the members of our Young Professionals Consortium. This February, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is bringing the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of David Greig’s Dunsinane to the nation’s capital. The STC’s Young Professionals Consortium, in partnership with […]
Read MorePoets Are Present: Virtual poet-in-residence Adam LeFevre
We are honored to welcome Adam LeFevre, who plays Francalou in David Ives’s The Metromaniacs, as our first “virtual” poet-in-residence. As part of Poets are Present, the month-long poetry residency through which a different poet will be in the Lansburgh Lobby for one hour prior to Mr. Ives’s poetically charged farce, Adam answered questions submitted […]
Read MoreInside the Shops: Costumes of The Metromaniacs Part 2
Welcome to Part 2 of our series inside the costume shop with The Metromaniacs. Sandra Thomas, First Hand in the STC costume shop, documents the process of bringing a costume to life from the designer to the actor. Join us for an inside peek of designer Murell Horton’s luxurious designs for The Metromaniacs. (See Part 1 […]
Read MoreUP NEXT: The Metromaniacs
An interview with Michael Kahn, The Metromaniacs director, and Artistic Director of STC What prompted you to select The Metromaniacs? Our relationship with David Ives has been a tremendous one. His previous two translations of French verse comedies for us have become staples of theatres all through the United States. We wanted to find a third, to make a trilogy. The last two (The […]
Read MoreInside the Shops: Bringing the costumes of The Metromaniacs to life
Sandra Thomas, First Hand in the STC costume shop, documents the process of bringing a costume to life from the designer to the actor. Join us for an inside peek of designer Murell Horton’s luxurious designs for The Metromaniacs. Part 1. Mocking it Up After the costumer produces their renderings and designs for the production, […]
Read MoreUP NEXT: Dunsinane
“Dunsinane is a new play, inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth, by one of Scotland’s greatest contemporary writers, David Greig,” says STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn. “If it had been available for us to put it on, I believe we would have done it. However, the National Theatre of Scotland, with whom we have had a great relationship since Black Watch, decided to bring their production to the United States, and we […]
Read MoreThe Tempest Teen Critics
The Teen Critic Program at Shakespeare Theatre Company allows high school students interested in theatre, journalism and/or critical writing the opportunity to learn how to view productions with a critical eye and write a savvy, persuasive theatre review. The Teen Critics attend each production, receive a press packet, preferred press seating and have the opportunity to meet […]
Read MoreASIDES: These Charms Dissolve: On Shakespeare’s The Tempest
By Paul A . Kottman There are at least two truisms about Shakespeare’s drama, generally, and The Tempest, in particular, with which many audiences are likely to be familiar. First, Shakespearean drama contains many “meta-theatrical” moments, or scenes in which the plays seem to reflect on themselves— as if Shakespearean drama is sometimes about itself, […]
Read MoreASIDES: For the Wyn
Fourth Time’s the Charm for Geraint Wyn Davies and STC By Drew Lichtenberg, Production Dramaturg, from ASIDES It can be dangerous to have brunch if you’re Geraint Wyn Davies. One recent morning, at a favorite Capitol Hill haunt, the veteran of stage and screen was partaking in some breakfast when he was interrupted. Three different […]
Read MoreAs You Like It: Teen Critics
The Teen Critic Program at Shakespeare Theatre Company allows high school students interested in theatre, journalism and/or critical writing the opportunity to learn how to view productions with a critical eye and write a savvy, persuasive theatre review. The Teen Critics attend each production, receive a press packet, preferred press seating and have the opportunity to meet […]
Read MoreASIDES: Brave New World
By Drew Lichtenberg, Production Dramaturg, from ASIDES In 1609, a group of settlers sailing to Virginia (named in 1584 for the “Virgin Queen,” Elizabeth) wrecked on the shore of a strange island after a sudden sea-storm. They landed in Bermuda, the beginning of that island’s ill associations with lost travelers. Uniquely for Shakespeare, this episode […]
Read MoreASIDES: Mapping the Play, The Tempest
Director Ethan McSweeny and his artistic team design the desert island of his/your/our imagination By Laura Henry Buda, Community Engagement Manager How can a team of artists construct a world as ubiquitous and mysterious as a deserted island? Artists search for inspiration everywhere, and in theatre, the early stages of the design process usually include visual research: pouring […]
Read MoreASIDES: UP NEXT with The Tempest director Ethan McSweeny
Can you discuss your relationship to The Tempest? Well, The Tempest was the first play that I ever directed! I chose it while a junior at Columbia University right around the time that I was discovering that I might actually want to be a director. Aside from great hubris, I am not sure what motivated such a decision except that I had […]
Read MoreASIDES: An interview with Zoe Waites and Tara Giordano
FACES AND VOICES From the U.K. to the District: Classical training for the Classical stage By Hannah Hessel Ratner You may have heard that the best way to get to Carnegie Hall is practice but no amount of reciting Romeo and Juliet in front of the mirror will get you cast in one of Shakespeare’s […]
Read MoreASIDES: Mapping the Play, As You Like It
By Garrett Anderson, Artistic Fellow, from ASIDES Typically, productions of As You Like It are filled with pastoral representations of British forests, farmland and fauna. Traversing the world of Arden, however, proves tricky for the characters in the play, who are exposed to a magical, theatrical world of lions and serpents, olive groves, chestnut trees and antique roots, one where there are “sermons in stones, books […]
Read MoreThe Play’s the Thing
Tonight we celebrate the 80th birthday of beloved actor and Affiliated Artist Ted van Griethuysen. To mark the occasion, Ted performs “The Play’s the Thing,” a one-man exploration of the Bard’s most celebrated and debated text, Hamlet. Througout his extensive career, Ted has taken on Hamlet numerous times, embodying Hamlet (twice), Laertes (twice), The Ghost (twice), Claudius, Polonius, […]
Read MoreASIDES: The Many Colors of Michael Attenborough
The Decorated Director Makes his D.C. Debut with Shakespeare’s Comedy of Desire, Passion and Gender, As You Like It By Drew Lichtenberg, Literay Associate and Resident Dramaturg at STC, from ASIDES. One of the subtle things you notice about Michael Attenborough after spending a week in rehearsal with him is his shoes. He owns nine […]
Read MoreASIDES: Wanderlust
Tonight we open As You Like It, Shakespeare’s playful comedy where poetry, mistaken identities and true love abound. In celebration, we take you deeper into the world of the play with a look at one of our feature articles from ASIDES, written by Drew Lichtenberg, Literary Associate and Resident Dramaturg at STC. Wanderlust Many scholars believe that As […]
Read MoreWelcome to the new ASIDES
As we start our 2014-2015 Season, we want to take a few moments to welcome you back and show off a new look—both in the theatre and online. When you come to Shakespeare Theatre Company, everyone who attends will receive the ASIDES, a merged publication that combines our show program with Asides, our dramaturgical magazine. This […]
Read MorePrivate Lives in Perspective
[Private Lives] remains for many people Noël’s most perfect play and it is currently the most revived play on Broadway—English or American.
Read MoreAn Experiment in Chemistry
Over the course of Private Lives’ three acts the audience must experience a roller coaster relationship that veers between passionate love and ultimate abuse.
Read MorePotent Glamour – The Starry World of Private Lives
In late 1929, Noël Coward set off for an extended trip to the Far East. Planning to meet his traveling companion in Tokyo, he settled into the Imperial Hotel for an early night and recalled that “the moment I switched out the light, Gertie appeared in a white Molyneux dress on a terrace in the South of France, and refused to go again until 4 a.m., by which time Private Lives, title and all had constructed itself.”
Read MoreCoward’s Leading Lady
“Although I never knew him, Coward has had a profound influence on my life,” Maria Aitken says, and it is easy at once to see why. With her patrician good looks and posh accent, as well as her droll, understatedly wicked theatre stories, she is the spitting image of the Noël Coward aesthetic.
Read MoreCoward’s fascinating rhythms
In June of 1921, Noël Coward made his first visit to New York City. Among the many things that impressed the then 22-year-old were Coney Island at night, Harlem’s cabarets, the writers and wits that lunched at the Algonquin Hotel, and theatrical impresario David Belasco’s purple silk dressing gown. The experience that had the most significant effect on the fledgling playwright, however, came on his first night in Manhattan: seeing a Broadway show.
Read MoreTeen Critics reviews: Henry IV, Part 1 & 2
STC’s Teen Critic’s program provides District area high school students with a chance to refine their writing skills and critical eye. Below are excerpts from their reviews of Henry IV, Part 1 & 2.
Read MorePublic Portrayal In Private Lives
The artist [Raoul Dufy] that was a direct influence for Allen Moyer’s scene design of Coward’s classic comedy isn’t one that would immediately come to mind. Nor is the school of art to which he belonged.
Read MorePaul Huntley’s wigs make the man
When floozy Doll Tearsheet, played by Maggie Kettering, enters a tavern scene in Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Henry IV, Part 2, your gaze is drawn to her crowning glory. Ringlets in extraordinary hues from rust to ruby cascade down her shoulders to perfectly cap her bawdy, worn attire. Learn more…
Read MoreThe final Chimes at Midnight by Stacy Keach
In this final installment of Stacy Keach’s blog, he talks about working with Michael Kahn as a younger actor, and shares some favorite Washington theatre memories. – DL
Read MoreChimes at Midnight with Stacy Keach Week 7
In this second-to-last installment of “Chimes at Midnight,” Stacy reflects on a busy week which saw the opening of the two shows in the Henry IV repertory, as well as the city and industry-wide party known as the Helen Hayes Awards. – DL
Read MoreCoffee and Prejudice
Join the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Zeitgeist DC (Austrian Cultural Forum Washington, Goethe-Institut Washington and the Embassy of Switzerland) and the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University for performances of the Swiss theater company MerciMax’s Coffee and Prejudice as part of “Participatory Theater: The Intersection of Theater and Social Action.”
Read MoreHenry IV Production History
Over the course of more than 400 years, both parts of Henry IV have remained a living part of our cultural vocabulary.
Read MoreChimes at Midnight with Stacy Keach Week 6
Stacy catches us up on the show’s progress, as he prepares for opening nights on Tuesday, April 15 and Friday, April 18. He also opens up about secrets of the actor’s trade, and some of his superstitions. You might be shocked. – DL
Read MoreRoyal Bodies
Hilary Mantel spoke about royal bodies in the London Review of Books’ Winter Lectures Series at the British Museum on February 4, 2013. The Shakespeare Theatre Company is reprinting the article here, in edited form, with her generous permission.
Read MorePlaying at History
In 1784, in a study of Shakespeare, an English critic wrote that “the First Part of Henry IV is, of all of our author’s plays, the most excellent.” Learn more from David Scott Kastan…
Read MoreChimes at Midnight with Stacy Keach Week 5
In this installment, Stacy shares some memories about his performance as King Lear, and on the differences – as well as one big similarity – between Lear and Falstaff. The answers might surprise you. – DL
Read MoreStacy Keach and Christopher Henley discover what they have in common
“When I started,” Stacy Keach told me, “my goal, my objective was to try to combine pop art with classical work. Like Leonard Bernstein with music, or André Previn. Agents and producers don’t like that. They want you to be one thing or the other.” Read more from Christopher Henley at DC Theatre Scene.
Read MoreThe Strange and Unlikely Friendship of King Henry and Sir John Falstaff
Longtime friends Stacy Keach and Edward Gero reunite, reminisce and recount 24 years of Friendship and Shakespeare.
Read MoreLove, Sex and Violence | Henry IV Parts 1 & 2
It’s not very often that you hear Shakespeare’s plays described as “sexy.” But to actors John Keabler and Kelley Curran, Henry IV is as sexy as it gets. The onstage couple plays hot-blooded warrior Hotspur and his wife Lady Percy in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s (STC) productions of Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2.
Read MoreChimes at Midnight with Stacy Keach Week 4
In this installment, Stacy reports on the Invited Dress Rehearsal from Sunday night, and his thoughts on the underrated, powerful Henry IV, Part 2. – DL
Read MoreMore characters in Part 2?!
Continuing from Part 1, Henry IV Part 2 also boasts a wide collection of characters. Here’s a handy chart to help keep them straight.
Read MoreThe Dream of Escape
In Henry IV, Part 2, the burdens of the crown hinted at in Henry IV, Part 1 begin to bear down with ever intensifying weight. Read more from Stephen Greenblatt…
Read MoreBrief Encounter: The Back Story
In 1936 Noël decided it was time to revive the one act play form. Looking for a vehicle for himself and “darling old Gertie” Lawrence to follow up the success of Private Lives (1930), he came up with a sequence of ten short plays. Read more from Barry Day…
Read MoreChimes at Midnight with Stacy Keach Week 3
In this installment, Stacy expounds on the actor’s craft. Specifically, his thoughts and intentions on playing the role of Falstaff. -DL
Read MoreThe Two Sides of Hal
Actor Matthew Amendt, starring as Prince Hal at STC, reflects on his unusual relationship with the character and the role.
Read MoreLunch Break with Michael Kahn
Early February. A month and a half away from opening night. Michael Kahn stretches out on his sofa in the Barracks Row offices of the Shakespeare Theatre Company. It’s a one-hour lunch break before four more hours of rehearsal. He has been rehearsing nonstop for weeks now, on both parts of Henry IV, ten acts and two inductions in all. Read more…
Read MoreChimes at Midnight with Stacy Keach Week 2
Welcome back to the latest installment of Stacy Keach’s blog, as he reports from the rehearsal room of HENRY IV, PARTS 1 and 2 at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. In this installment, Stacy begins to delve into the role of the fat knight, Sir John Falstaff. It’s a role which, as you’ll see, brings up many memories for the longtime star of stage and screen. –DL
Read MoreToo many characters?
Have a hard time with Shakespeare’s history plays and remembering all the characters? Here’s an easy chart from Mya Gosling to help you!
Read MoreThe Henry IV repertory in six easy panels
Heading to the plays and short on time? Take a look at this quick 6 panel summary by Mya Gosling. It’s a quick a synopsis as you can get!
Read MoreChimes at Midnight with Stacy Keach Week 1
Longtime stage and screen star Stacy Keach is no stranger to the Shakespeare Theatre Company, having appeared at STC (and won three Helen Hayes awards) as Richard III, Macbeth, and King Lear. He has never before, however, had a blog.
Read MoreTeen Critic Reviews: The Importance of Being Earnest
Participants in STC’s Teen Critics program recently saw The Importance of Being Earnest. Read excerpts from their reviews.
Read MoreUneasy Heads (Or, Two Men and a Baby Prince)
Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 is a very unusual family drama. Instead of showing us a traditional nuclear family – Hal’s mother is famously absent from the plays, mentioned only twice, and both times in jest – Shakespeare instead gives us two father figures for Hal, each with their own characteristic virtues and vices.
Read MoreSiân Phillips talks about her road to Oscar Wilde’s Lady Bracknell with The Washington Post
“[Working] is what I love doing. So to be able to just do it, and not have anyone breathing down my neck, is so wonderful.” said Phillips, who spoke with The Washington Post about her “roles and unrehearsed life.”
Read MoreThe Pleasure of The Importance of Being Earnest
Comedy is a genre focused on pleasure. From the time of the Greeks, it has invited us to engage in the communal pleasure of laughing with others, as well as the sharper, and sometimes darker, pleasure of laughing at the expense of something or someone else.
Read MoreThe importance of eating in Earnest.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to eat a blueberry muffin again after I’m done with this,” [Anthony Roach] told The Washington Post.
Read More“All Existence in an Epigram”: The Paradox of Oscar Wilde
Entering America for the first time, Oscar Wilde reportedly told a customs agent, “I have nothing to declare but my genius.”
Read MoreBetter casting through chemistry, a look at Earnest’s male leads with The Washington Post Express
What makes ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’s’ cast perfect? Best friends as the leading men.
Read MoreHatching Wilde: Jeffrey Hatcher on Oscar Wilde
STC decided to write to one of our favorite contemporary comic playwrights Jeffrey Hatcher (his adaptation of The Government Inspector opened our 2012-13 Season) to get his thoughts on Oscar Wilde’s inimitable style. What he said might surprise you…
Read MoreWilde’s Aesthetic Ride
Before he was known for his clever plays and essays, Oscar Wilde was known for his personality. Personality is indeed the word that Wilde chose to talk about how individuals present themselves in the world.
Read MorePlay in Process: The Importance of Being Earnest
Catch a glimpse of STC’s upcoming production of The Importance of Being Earnest through these rehearsal photos.
Read MoreTalking Wilde: An Afternoon Tea with Keith Baxter
Hearing Keith Baxter talk is like peering behind the curtain and realizing that the wizard is real.
Read MoreManners for Manors
Need an orientation on parties in Oscar Wilde’s time?
Learn the rules for social gatherings in the Victorian era from Garrett Anderson.
The Science of Comedy
Humor is more human than you think, writes Garrett Anderson — and analyzing it can kill it dead.
Read MoreAnton Chekhov’s ‘Man in a Case’ and ‘About Love’
Read the stories that were adapted to the stage in the STC Presentation Man in a Case.
The Man in a Case
About Love
Baryshnikov discusses his love of theatre and Man in a Case with The Washington Post
“Theater is more complicated because, let’s say, choreographers trust you more,” Mikhail Baryshnikov tells The Washington Post‘s Peter Marks.
Read MoreTragedy Tomorrow, Comedy Tonight
Bruce Dow (Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) reflects on comedy, tragedy and what binds us together.
Read More29 Going on 90
Native son and STC Associate Director Alan Paul talks about growing up in D.C., his theatrical apprenticeship and his love for doing it all.
Read MoreHow to Write a Plautine Comedy in 3 Easy Steps!
by Laura Henry Buda Illustrations by S. Christian Taylor-Low
Read MoreBehind the Scenes: the Eunuchs’ Costumes
See the Eunuch costumes that the STC Costume Shop created for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
Read MoreBehind the Scenes: Gymnasia’s Costume
The STC Costume Shop gives an exclusive peek at how they created Gymnasia’s costume for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
Read MoreCreative Conversations: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
STC’s Creative Conversations discussion series gives audiences a chance to connect deeply with the work on our stages.
Read MoreRoman Holiday
Rob Weinert-Kendt explores the 2,000-year history of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, from ancient Rome to Broadway.
Read MoreSondheim Speaks!
“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum was to be the first Broadway show that featured my own music attached to my own lyrics.”
Read MoreYael Farber discusses Mies Julie adaptation with The Washington Post
“My task always is to see where the heat lies inside a narrative, and then to go there,” Yael Farber tells The Washington Post.
Read MoreTeen Critic Reviews: Measure for Measure
Participants in STC’s Teen Critics program recently saw Measure for Measure. Read excerpts from their reviews.
Read MoreThe New York Times review of Mies Julie: “The temperature never stops rising”
Ben Brantley reviewed Yael Farber’s Mies Julie during its 2012 engagement at St. Ann’s Warehouse.
Read MoreMeasure Cabaret Song #3: Naughty Nuns
“A bluesy, sinuous, chromatic quality”: Adam Wernick discusses the striptease in Measure for Measure.
Read MoreMeasure Cabaret Song #2: Time and Again
Adam Wernick found “just the right way to convey Mariana’s descent into sorrow and loneliness” in Measure for Measure.
Read MoreMeasure Cabaret Song #1: Measure out the Measure
In this number, Measure for Measure composer Adam Wernick created a “mix of schoolgirl innocence, sexiness and lust.”
Read MoreInto the Weimar Underground
Take a behind-the-scenes look at the cabaret world of STC’s Measure for Measure with composer Adam Wernick.
Read MoreBeyond Expression
STC’s Artistic Fellow Garrett Anderson walks us through art of the period in which Jonathan Munby sets his production of Measure for Measure.
Read MoreSee production photos: Measure for Measure
See photos of STC’s striking production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, directed by Jonathan Munby.
Read MoreA Tale of Two Cities
Laura Henry Buda, STC’s Education Coordinator, breaks down the history of Vienna and Berlin as it pertains to Measure for Measure.
Read MoreThe Power to Judge
Hannah Hessel, STC’s Audience Enrichment Manager, discusses justice and the divine right of kings in context of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.
Read MoreSTC reaches Lansburgh Theatre agreement
The Shakespeare Theatre Company will continue to occupy its longtime home in the Lansburgh Theatre.
Read MoreDevil’s Advocate: Defending Angelo
Trustee and chair of the Bard Association Abbe D. Lowell defends Angelo’s choices in a hypothetical court of law.
Read MorePlay in Process: Measure for Measure
Catch a glimpse of STC’s upcoming production of Measure for Measure through these rehearsal photos.
Read MoreA Stricter Measure
Shakespeare scholar Theodore Leinwand muses on the regulation of desire in ‘Measure for Measure.’
Read MorePushing the Boundaries
STC’s Literary Associate and production dramaturg, Drew Lichtenberg, talks with Jonathan Munby about taboo, transgression and Measure for Measure.
Read MoreFree For All Support
We’d like to thank all of our sponsors who help make the Free For All possible. Thank you for supporting this beloved Washington tradition!
Read MoreShakespearean Quips
Look to Shakespeare to devise your own “impossible slanders!” In this quick-witted play, there are many “merry war”s from which to choose.
Read MoreMuch Ado Production Photos
See a sneak peek of what this year’s Free For All production of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ will look like!
Read MoreAll’s Fair in Love (And War)
Are Beatrice and Benedick Shakespeare’s most progressive couple? Read on in this article from STC’s Literary Associate Drew Lichtenberg.
Read More‘Much Ado About Nothing’: Synopsis
Learn about the friendships, rivalries and romantic trysts that make Shakespeare’s play so engaging.
Read MoreTales Told
Take a look at notable past productions of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, from Winthrop Ames’ to Michael Kahn’s.
Read MoreSmall Cast, Big Impact
STC’s Laura Henry Buda explores how productions with reduced casts are finding new ways to tell stories.
Read MoreClimate Change
“If A Midsummer Night’s Dream has a complex relationship to genre,” writes Drew Lichtenberg, “then The Winter’s Tale is practically unclassifiable.”
Read MoreWeaving the Tapestry
Crafting transformations in STC’s production of The Winter’s Tale, directed by Rebecca Taichman.
Read MoreMother Courage: The Power of Women in War
In Coriolanus and Wallenstein, two generations of women fight masculine battles from a position of weakness.
Read MoreHow to Unscramble a Teutonic Egg: Wallenstein, or, Democracy in Deutschland
“Friedrich Schiller is often classified as ‘Germany’s Shakespeare,’ but he is in fact a son of the Enlightenment,” writes Drew Lichtenberg.
Read MoreDownload the Winter’s Tale Asides
Read more about the play, the production, and the artists both on the stage and behind the scenes.
Read MoreSee MORE production photos: The Winter’s Tale
See a selection of newly released photos from STC’s production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, now playing at the Lansburgh Theatre.
Read MoreDownload the Hero/Traitor Repertory Asides
No need to pick up a hard copy of Asides from the theatres. Download a PDF of the Coriolanus/Wallenstein issue right now.
Read MoreDirector’s Note: Coriolanus
David Muse talks about his interest in Shakespeare’s “surprisingly modern” Coriolanus and his vision for the “neglected gem.”
Read MoreDirector’s Words: Wallenstein
Michael Kahn discusses the importance of the world premiere of Wallenstein and the play’s similarities to Shakespeare’s work.
Read MoreSee production photos: The Winter’s Tale
See photos of STC’s beautiful production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, directed by Rebecca Taichman.
Read MoreTheatricality, Artifice and the Mended World in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale
Columbia professor Jean E. Howard, Ph.D., discusses The Winter’s Tale and Shakespearean metatheatre.
Read MoreBringing the Music of Shakespeare to Life
The Winter’s Tale composer Nico Muhly, composer of film scores, classical music and operas, is no stranger to theatre.
Read MoreSee production photos: Wallenstein
See photos of STC’s striking production of Friedrich Schiller’s Wallenstein, directed by Michael Kahn.
Read MoreSee production photos: Coriolanus
See photos of STC’s powerful production of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, directed by David Muse.
Read MoreThe Washington Post: A poet laureate tackles a German classic in Shakespeare Theatre’s Wallenstein
Peter Marks explored the process of bringing Wallenstein to life on the STC stage. Read an excerpt and link to the full article.
Read MoreExploring the percussion in Coriolanus
Composer/Sound Designer Mark Bennett talks about his work creating the sounds of the show.
Read MoreCreative Conversations: Coriolanus and Wallenstein
STC’s Creative Conversations discussion series gives audiences a chance to connect with the work onstage.
Read MoreHow we built the drums for Coriolanus
Chris Young, STC’s Lead Props Artisan, explains how he built two large steel drums for the production.
Read MoreSee Renderings for the Hero/Traitor Repertory
The Set and Costume Designers for Coriolanus and Wallenstein share some of their renderings.
Read MoreAn interview with Wallenstein board game designer Dirk Henn
STC’s Austin Auclair talks with Dirk Henn, the designer behind the board game Wallenstein. Learn more, and join us for German Game Night on April 26.
Read MoreQuick Questions with Patrick Page (Coriolanus) and Steve Pickering (Wallenstein)
We asked the actors about their characters, the plays and what would be on Coriolanus’ and Wallenstein’s iPods.
Read MorePower Lunches and Marble Columns
Kenneth Adelman shares his reflections on Shakespeare’s Rome—and today’s Washington, D.C.
Read MoreAn Unlikely Leader: Friedrich Schiller’s Wallenstein
German Studies scholar Julie Koser explores the intellectual context of Friedrich Schiller’s Wallenstein.
Read More“I banish you”: Shakespeare’s Coriolanus
Warren Chernaik, Emeritus Professor of English in the University of London, writes about Coriolanus’ unique place in the canon and controversial production history.
Read MoreA Note by Robert Pinsky
Former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky discusses adapting Schiller’s Wallenstein for STC’s North American premiere.
Read MoreSTC Internships & Fellowships: Meet Jessica and Max
Learn what it’s like to work at STC from the current Interns and Fellows during our week-long profile series.
Read MoreSTC Internships & Fellowships: Meet Hillarie, Jeremy and Kevin
Learn what it’s like to work at STC from the current Interns and Fellows during our week-long profile series.
Read MoreSTC Internships & Fellowships: Meet Edwin, Caitlin and Jenny
Learn what it’s like to work at STC from the current Interns and Fellows during our week-long profile series.
Read MoreSTC Internships & Fellowships: Meet Shelly, Jon and Alison
Learn what it’s like to work at STC from the current Interns and Fellows during our week-long profile series.
Read MoreSTC Internships & Fellowships: Meet Alison, Chris and Kate
Learn what it’s like to work at STC from the current Interns and Fellows during our week-long profile series.
Read MoreSee rehearsal photos: Coriolanus/Wallenstein
See Patrick Page, Steve Pickering and the rest of the cast rehearse for the Hero/Traitor Repertory.
Read MorePlay Wallenstein at German Games Night on April 26
This spring, STC and the Goethe-Institut will host a German Games Night featuring Wallenstein and other board and card games.
Read More2012 Year in Review
Take a look back over STC’s productions in 2012 and consider voting for us in Washington City Paper’s Best of DC 2013 Readers’ Poll.
Read MoreDrew’s Desk: Hughie
As he did in Strange Interlude, O’Neill experiments with dramatic form in Hughie. Drew Lichtenberg discusses.
Read MoreSee production photos: Hughie
See photos of Richard Schiff and Randall Newsome in STC’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s ‘Hughie.’
Read MoreThe Real American Gangster: Arnold Rothstein
Meet the king of the 1920s New York City underground, considered to have been at the center of the city’s moral underbelly.
Read MoreOn the Hero/Traitor Repertory
Michael Kahn discusses his interest in staging Coriolanus and Wallenstein in repertory and some of the artists involved.
Read MoreWelcome na de Shrine!
It’s Lagos, Nigeria—the late 70’s. The hottest musician in Africa is Fela Kuti. His club he calls The Shrine.
Read MoreSee rehearsal photos: Hughie
See photos of the talented cast rehearsing in New York City for STC’s production of the Eugene O’Neill play.
Read MoreA Shared Fascination
STC sat down with Richard Schiff and Doug Hughes to hear about the birth of STC’s production of Hughie, a passion project.
Read MoreComing, Going and Standing Still
Hughie, like many plays, is set in a hotel. Take a look at the influence of a hotel setting on storytelling.
Read MoreRenderings: Hughie
Catch the first glimpse of the set and costumes of Hughie, courtesy of the production’s talented design team.
Read MoreCoriolanus and The Body Politic: Martius’ Butterfly
STC’s Bard Association brings us a thought-provoking article about Shakespeare’s exploration of the body politic.
Read MoreTeen Critic Reviews: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Participants in our Teen Critic Program share their thoughts on the design, cast and concept of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Read MoreWatch the trailer for A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Watch the commercial for STC’s magical production of the Shakespeare classic, now playing through January 6.
Read MorePhotos of STC’s Family Week
This programming series of kid-friendly events was held in conjunction with STC’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Read MoreOpening up New Worlds
STC’s Text Alive! program invites students to re-imagine the classics, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Read MoreSTC wins preliminary injunction in Lansburgh lawsuit
Yesterday the D.C. Superior Court ruled in favor of STC at a hearing relating to STC’s lawsuit against Lansburgh Theatre, Inc.
Read MoreCostume Renderings: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
See Costume Designer Jennifer Moeller’s sketches for Demetrius, Titania, Helena, Puck, Hermia and Oberon.
Read MoreLike a Stradivarius
Director Ethan McSweeny discusses his vision of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Read MoreSee production photos: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Magic and laughter are filling Sidney Harman Hall! See photos of Ethan McSweeny’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Read MoreDrew’s Desk: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
“One of the striking things about A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the extent to which the popular understanding of the play is still in many respects a 19th-century one,” writes STC’s Literary Associate.
Read MoreThe Washington Post reviews The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart
“‘Prudencia Hart’ will weave its spell, drawing you in as a willing collaborator in its multitudinous shenanigans,” writes Peter Marks.
Read MoreThe Dream, Translated
Explore notable adaptations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream from 1692 to 1970, and tell us about your favorite.
Read MorePlay in Process: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
See photos of the talented cast in rehearsal for STC’s production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Read MoreThe Midsummer Theatre of Transformation
David Bevington examines Shakespeare’s exploration of comedy and theatre exposed through transformation and trickery.
Read MoreJules Horne on The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart
The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart is a storytelling show based on the Border ballads. See it November 13-December 9.
Read MoreDrew’s Desk: The Government Inspector
“Inspiration can be a funny thing,” writes STC’s Literary Associate Drew Lichtenberg, “especially in theatre.”
Read MoreGet to know the cast of The Government Inspector
We asked the amazing cast of The Government Inspector what they were looking forward to. Check out their answers.
Read MorePutting Russia On Stage: Gogol’s National Comedy
When Nikolai Gogol wrote The Government Inspector in 1836, there was no such thing as a Russian drama.
Read MoreHolding a Funhouse Mirror Up to Society
Soviet director Vsevolod Meyerhold, political controversy and adaptations of The Government Inspector through history.
Read MoreCarson Elrod and Steven Epp receive Emery Battis Acting Award
The Emery Battis Acting Award is given based on the recommendation of a panel of 11 individuals.
Read MoreSee production photos: The Government Inspector
The inspector has arrived! See photos of Michael Kahn’s production of The Government Inspector, featuring Derek Smith, Nancy Robinette, Tom Story and other familiar faces.
Read MoreGogol’s Giggles: The Dialectic of Corruption and Humor in The Government Inspector
Gogol’s The Government Inspector, a case study of a corrupt society, is simple, ingenious and contains the seeds of social observation.
Read MoreFurther Reading
Want to learn more? Here are some of the sources used in creating the issue of Asides for The Government Inspector.
Read MoreRaising Russia: From Serfdom to Superpower
An exploration of Russia’s modernization: Peter the Great, the age of the tsars, serfdom, revolt and revolution.
Read MoreSeeing Black Watch: A Front Line Perspective
Journalist, author and filmmaker David Pratt recounts the powerful experience of seeing Black Watch for the first time.
Read MoreThe Godfather of Russian Literature
In Russia, Nikolai Gogol’s name is as important as Shakespeare’s. Explores Gogol’s place in writing and Russia.
Read MoreSTC Invites Media/Social Media to Exclusive First Look at “Black Watch”
Members of the media and social media are invited to a special behind-the-scenes sneak peak of “Black Watch” coming soon to STC.
Read MoreWhat Are We Laughing at When We Laugh at Gogol?
NYU Associate Professor of Russian Literature Anne Lounsbery asks, Should we make sense of The Government Inspector?
Read MoreSlavic Satire
Adapter Jeffrey Hatcher discusses The Government Inspector’s Russianness—and its universality.
Read MorePlay in Process: The Government Inspector
See photos of the talented cast and Michael Kahn in rehearsal for STC’s production of The Government Inspector.
Read MoreD.C. food trucks are coming to the Free For All
Visit Sidney Harman Hall for a food truck treat on the weekends of the Free For All: August 25-26 and September 1-2!
Read MoreShakespearean Quips
Want to learn how to tease someone with Shakespearean language? Take a look at these selections from ‘All’s Well That Ends Well.’
Read MoreShakespeare is Free For All
Picnics, parks, pants falling off — read about the history of the Free For All in this excerpt from the book ‘An American Classic.’
Read MoreStudents for Shakespeare brings the classroom to the theatre
STC aims to bring 1,800 young theatregoers to the Free For All performance of William Shakespeare’s ‘All’s Well That Ends Well.’
Read MoreSneak a peek at ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’
See photos from the production, which we’ll remount for the Free For All at Sidney Harman Hall, August 23-September 5, 2012.
Read MoreGrowing up with Shakespeare
STC’s Audience Enrichment Manager Hannah J. Hessel reflects on coming of age while attending STC and participating in STC Education programs.
Read MoreA Lansburgh Theatre update from Chris Jennings
STC’s Managing Director discusses the impact of last week’s court hearing regarding the Lansburgh dispute.
Read MoreRichard Schiff to appear in Hughie
Eugene O’Neill’s Hughie, starring Richard Schiff and directed by Doug Hughes, has just been added to the 2012-2013 Season.
Read MoreWhat the Critics Said: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Love him or hate him: critics and writers from the 18th Century to present day consider the character of Falstaff.
Read MoreGreetings from Camp Shakespeare 2012
Camp Shakespeare participants ages 9-18 are spending their summer with Shakespeare. Sessions run through August 11; join the fun!
Read MoreBritain and the Great War: A Timeline
Explore the years leading up to 1919, the year in which STC’s production of The Merry Wives of Windsor is set.
Read MorePostwar Women: Britain in 1919
Consider the changing role of women in 1919, a caesura between the horrors of World War I and the chaos of the Jazz Age.
Read MoreDrew’s Desk: Notes and Observations from STC’s Literary Associate
STC’s Literary Associate explores the unique elements and the use of language in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Read MoreCheck out our talented patron’s original cartoon, inspired by The Servant of Two Masters
Carlton and Susanne Stoiber sent us their review of the production, and included a drawing of Truffaldino with a message for everyone.
Read MoreWatch Michael Kahn accept STC’s Tony Award
On June 10, the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award was presented to STC. Watch Michael’s acceptance speech on YouTube.
Read MoreCast interviews: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Hear what Veanne Cox, Caralyn Kozlowski and David Schramm have to say about The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Read MoreIn Falstaff’s Footsteps
Catch up with STC’s Falstaffs, past (Pat Carroll, Ted van Griethuysen and David Sabin) and present (David Schramm).
Read MoreTeen Critic Reviews: The Servant of Two Masters
Our Teen Critics examine STC’s production of The Servant of Two Masters. Read excerpts from their reviews.
Read MoreDownload the ‘Merry Wives’ Asides
No need to wait to pick up a hard copy of Asides from the theatres. Download a PDF of our new issue right now.
Read MoreDirector’s Words: The Creation of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor director Stephen Rayne talks about the time period the play was written in and the setting Rayne is placing his production in.
Read MoreShakespeare’s England—Where Money Definitely Matters
Often overlooked in discussions of Shakespearean comedies, The Merry Wives of Windsor merits much more consideration than it is traditionally given.
Read MoreCreative Conversations: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Interested in learning more about William Shakespeare and The Merry Wives of Windsor? Let our education and artistic teams lead you through the play’s history, background, and previous productions during these free educational events.
Read MoreA How-To Guide for Teaching Comedy
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Teaching Artists share their craft with hundreds of students through STC’s classes. Here, they talk to Audience Enrichment Manager Hannah J. Hessel about how to help others make people laugh.
Read MorePlay in Process
Check out these photos from rehearsal with the cast of The Merry Wives of Windsor, and see what’s in store for the production!
Read MoreThe Washington Post and Washingtonian review The Servant of Two Masters
Peter Marks of The Washington Post and Jane Horwitz of Washingtonian recently saw our production of The Servant of Two Masters, which they call “deliriously happy-making” and “simply a riot.”
Read MoreSpotlight on Rachel Spencer Hewitt
Rachel Spencer Hewitt, who plays Beatrice in The Servant of Two Masters, talks about how she got involved with acting and her favorite roles.
Read MoreMeet the Cast of The Merry Wives of Windsor
Take a look at our Meet the Cast event at the Lansburgh Theatre with the cast of The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Read MoreWhat the Critics Said: The Servant of Two Masters
Learn more about Servant and Carlo Goldoni from scholars and critics throughout history, as compiled by STC’s Literary Associate.
Read MoreDrew’s Desk: Notes and Observations from STC’s Literary Associate Drew Lichtenberg
STC’s Literary Associate Drew Lichtenberg gives his thoughts on Servant‘s place in theatrical history, and the “modern-day commedia renaissance.”
Read MoreSpotlight on Liz Wisan
Liz Wisan, who plays Smeraldina in The Servant of Two Masters, talks about how she got involved with acting and what it’s like to perform in this production again.
Read MoreMerry Revenge
STC’s Audience Enrichment Manager Hannah Hessel talks about how the characters in The Merry Wives of Windsor are driven forward by their ambition, jealousy and greed.
Read MoreLots of Lazzi
The Servant of Two Masters Adapter Constance Congdon talks about the process of adapting commedia for a modern audience (and the enduring power of potty humor).
Read MoreSpotlight on Steven Epp
Steven Epp, who plays Truffaldino in The Servant of Two Masters, talks about what it’s like to play the role again and his theatre background.
Read MoreWhat Makes Me Laugh
In honor of the comedic The Servant of Two Masters, we’ve asked a few STC favorites what makes them laugh. Check it out!
Read MoreCommedia Connections
Commedia‘s masks have influenced modern storytelling in some important ways. Take a look at these examples of modern commedia characters from our First Folio guide and see if you can come up with more!
Read MoreA Gallery of Rogues
Learn more about the history behind some of the commedia dell’arte masks used in The Servant of Two Masters from STC’s Literary Associate Drew Lichtenberg.
Read MoreAgents of Chaos
The Servant of Two Masters director Christopher Bayes and actor Steven Epp spoke to STC Literary Associate Drew Lichtenberg about their relationship with commedia dell’arte, and connecting the art form with modern audiences.
Read MoreReviews of Yale Repertory’s The Servant of Two Masters
Check out some reviews and feature stories from Yale Repertory’s production of The Servant of Two Masters and get excited for this production at STC!
Read MoreDirector’s Words
The Servant of Two Masters director Christopher Bayes talks about the playfulness and musicality in the production.
Read MoreMeet the Cast of The Servant of Two Masters
Take a look at our Meet the Cast event at the Lansburgh Theatre with the cast of The Servant of Two Masters.
Read MoreTeen Critic Review: Strange Interlude: Finding Happiness Outside the Box
The second review of Strange Interlude in our Teen Critic series comes from TC Williams student Sarah Paez, who writes about Nina Leeds’ journey as a woman, wife and mother.
Read MoreWatch Michael Kahn on “Charlie Rose”
Michael Kahn discussed Shakespeare and his plays, and Michael’s favorite productions, on a recent episode of “Charlie Rose.”
Read MoreStrange Interludes from Michael Kahn: Week 8
Michael Kahn closes his Strange Interlude blog for DC Theatre Scene by discussing life after the production has opened and “belongs to the actors and the audience.”
Read MoreThe New York Times reviews Strange Interlude
Charles Isherwood calls the production “a rollicking mixture of ripe melodrama and acerbic comedy.”
Read MoreStrange Interludes from Michael Kahn: Week 7
In his seventh blog for DC Theatre Scene, Michael Kahn discusses Technical rehearsals (otherwise known as “Tech Week”) for Strange Interlude.
Read MoreTeen Critic Review: Jarring Intimacy Makes Strange Interlude Personal
As part of STC Education’s Teen Critic program, Sidwell Friends School’s Emma Marshall reviews Strange Interlude as an emotionally voyeuristic experience.
Read MoreA Well-Made Comedy: The Legacy of commedia dell’arte & Carlo Goldoni
In his scholar article for our Guide to the Season’s Plays, The University of Maryland’s Matthew R. Wilson writes about the emergence of commedia dell’arte and Carlo Goldoni’s personal impact on the medium.
Read MorePreview The Servant of Two Masters: Photos from Yale Repertory Theatre
Enjoy a preview of The Servant of Two Masters with this gallery of production photos from Christopher Bayes’ Yale Repertory Theatre production in 2010.
Read MoreCreative Conversations: The Servant of Two Masters
Interested in learning more about Carlo Goldoni and The Servant of Two Masters? Let our education and artistic teams lead you through the play’s history, background, and previous productions during these free educational events.
Read MoreStrange Interludes from Michael Kahn: Week 6
In his sixth week of blogging about his directorial experiences with Strange Interlude, Michael Kahn discusses his methods of working a runthrough rehearsal.
Read More“Eugenic O’Neill” and Strange Interlude
In his review of the original 1928 production of Strange Interlude, critic Walter Winchell neatly identified the play’s central concern and O’Neill’s preoccupation with heredity by announcing: “Another Eugenic O’Neill Baby.”
Read MoreAnnouncing our 2012-2013 STC Presents Series
See the international shows that will appear at STC next season, and read an excerpt of Peter Marks’ announcement in The Washington Post.
Read MoreStrange Interlude: Twitter Night
Do you love Twitter as @ShakespeareinDC does? STC is hosting a Strange Interlude Twitter Night for discussions before, during intermissions and after the performance. (Just don’t Tweet during the performance!)
Read MoreSpotlight on Strange Interlude’s Ted Koch
Ted Koch who plays Sam Evans in Strange Interlude answers a few questions about why he began acting and some of his pre-show rituals.
Read MoreWhat is a “Strange Interlude”?
STC’s Literary Associate Drew Lichtenberg has assembled a collection of critics’ responses to Strange Interlude, past and present. Do you agree with any of these quotes? Join the conversation and comment.
Read MoreStrange Interlude: Marx Brothers Style
Watch the hilarious Marx Brothers as they put a new twist on Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude.
Read MoreA Mis-Remembrance of Things Past: O’Neill’s “Nostalgic Comedy”
Learn more about Eugene O’Neill’s artistic and dramatic use of nostalgia from Aaron Malkin, Arena Stage’s Production Dramaturg for ‘Ah, Wilderness!’
Read MoreStrange Interludes from Michael Kahn: Week 5
In his fifth blog for DC Theatre Scene, director Michael Kahn focuses on the process of fine-tuning Strange Interlude during rehearsals. He talks in depth about finding the right tone for the play’s final scenes.
Read MoreSpotlight on Strange Interlude’s Joseph Smelser
Throughout the run of Strange Interlude we will be spotlighting different staff, designers and artists who have contributed to the play. This week’s spotlight focuses on STC’s Resident Production Stage Manager Joseph Smelser.
Read MoreRemembering Jared Neff: Memorial on April 10
STC will hold a public memorial to honor and remember Jared Neff on Tuesday, April 10, 2012, at the Lansburgh Theatre.
Read MoreStrange Interlude Production Photos
Looking forward to seeing Strange Interlude and curious how it’s shaped up since rehearsals have ended? Take a look at the actors in action in our production photos by photographer Scott Suchman.
Read MoreStrange Interludes from Michael Kahn: Week 4
In Micheal Kahn’s DC Theatre Scene blog from Week 4, he discusses the actors’ budding relationships with their characters, and the importance of maintaining emotional awareness while performing Eugene O’Neill’s work.
Read MoreIn Pursuit of Happiness: Michael Kahn’s Journey to Strange Interlude
Opening on Broadway in 1927, Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude shocked audiences with a plot line that incorporated abortion, adultery and eugenics. For STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn, the play’s power comes from an even more complicated topic: happiness.
Read MoreSpotlight on Strange Interlude’s Robert Stanton
Robert Stanton who plays Charles Marsden in Strange Interlude answers a few questions about his acting career, including some of his favorite roles.
Read MoreThe Battle at Journey’s End: Eugene O’Neill and Carlotta Monterey O’Neill
Arthur Gelb and Barbara Gelb, who have written two biographies on Eugene O’Neill, write about his relationship with wife Carlotta and her influence on his estate following his death.
Read MoreA Strange Sensation
STC Artistic Fellow Laura Henry details the initial impact of Strange Interlude‘s unprecedented length and structure, highlighting how this play defined O’Neill as a playwright and artist.
Read MoreAbstract Stagecraft
STC’s Audience Enrichment Manager Hannah Hessel talks about the use of abstract imagery in Petrushka, and the origins of abstraction in the fine and performing arts, in advance of tomorrow’s Conversation with Basil Twist.
Read MoreSome words from the STC Interns
Members of the intern company work alongside some of the most renowned artists and professionals in the world to produce and support the mainstage season at the nation’s premier classical theatre. Check out what some STC Interns are saying!
Read MoreStrange Interludes from Michael Kahn: Week 3
In the third installment of his weekly blog on DC Theatre Scene, Michael Kahn discusses the language of Eugene O’Neill and the exploration of all the characters in Strange Interlude.
Read MoreThe Eugene O’Neill Festival
Eugene O’Neill’s hauntingly beautiful plays have touched generations of audiences since his first premiere in 1916. Shakespeare Theatre Company and Arena Stage have partnered with area institutions to celebrate O’Neill’s immense and continuing contribution to American Theater with this exciting two month long festival.
Read MoreSome words from the STC Fellows
STC provides a unique opportunity for up to eight actors to participate in our full season of plays. Acting Fellows comprise the non-equity ensemble for most or all of our mainstage plays, serve as understudies, and receive training. Check out what our current Fellows are saying!
Read MoreStrange Interludes from Michael Kahn: Week 2
In the second installment of his weekly blog on DC Theatre Scene, Michael Kahn discusses his approach to the first week of rehearsal and interpreting O’Neill’s complex and multi-faceted script.
Read MorePlay in Process
Get an insider’s look at the rehearsal process for Strange Interlude with these action shots from rehearsal!
Read MoreExplore Petrushka
Learn more about the puppetry behind Basil Twist’s Petrushka by attending a lunchtime Happenings presentation of local puppeteers or our Conversation with Basil Twist. Both events are free!
Read MoreDirector’s Words
Michael Kahn talks about why he wanted to direct Strange Interlude for so long and his vision for this production.
Read MorePetrushka: A Note from the Creator
Curious about our upcoming presentation of Petrushka as part of the Washington, D.C., Basil Twist festival? Learn more about the story behind Petrushka and puppetry from the creator himself.
Read MoreCongrats, Two Gents Cast and Crew!
The Two Gentlemen of Verona closes today after its January-March run in the Lansburgh Theatre. Congratulations to all of the cast members, crew, designers and director!
Read MoreACA Brings Back Grabowski and Clare to Direct Summer Repertory Season
Every summer, the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s MFA program, the Academy for Classical Acting (ACA), produces two plays in repertory with that year’s Participants.
Read MoreTeen Critic: Two Gents, Review 3
In the third installment of our Teen Critic series, Langley High School student Jenny Rossberg explains why Two Gents is perfect for “stubborn high school kids who still claim they don’t like Shakespeare.”
Read MoreStrange Interludes from Michael Kahn
Curious about what goes on in depths of Michael Kahn’s creative and innovative mind? (We are too!) Keep abreast of his new blog on DC Theatre Scene, Strange Interludes from Michael Kahn.
Read MoreGet Cast
Pat McCorkle of McCorkle Casting, LTD and Laura Stanczyk of Laura Stanczyk Casting, both leading casting agencies in New York, gave me the rundown on what it’s like to cast a Shakespeare Theatre Company production, what really happens before the rehearsal process begins and how actors can improve their chances of being cast.
Read MoreTeen Critic: Two Gents, Review 2
Designed for high school students interested in journalism and/or critical writing, the Teen Critic Program teaches students how to view theatrical productions with a critical eye and how to write an informed comprehensive theatre review.
Read MoreOn SHAKESPEARIENCE
STC’s Community Engagement Manager discusses the theatre’s SHAKESPEARIENCE program, which brings students to the Lansburgh Theatre for Two Gents and other mainstage performances throughout the season.
Read MoreAn Interview with Floyd King – “Don’t Fear”
An STC Affiliated Artist and D.C. favorite, Floyd King is one-of-a-kind. He is not only an actor, but also an instructor of STC’s Master Acting Classes and STC’s Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University. For anyone who hasn’t seen his work, comedy is his fortè.
Read MoreWhat is your ideal Valentine’s Day?
We asked the cast of The Two Gentlemen of Verona what their and their characters’ ideal Valentine’s Day would be. Check out their answers!
Read MoreBlood/Fights: How Does It Look So Real?
There are quite a few fights in The Two Gentlemen of Verona and certainly a good amount of blood. To make it all look real, STC turned to the professionals, fight choreographer Paul Dennhardt and STC’s own Lead Props Artisan Chris Young.
Read MoreTeen Critic: Students Review Two Gents
In the coming weeks, we’ll be showcasing several reviews of Two Gents from our Teen Critic program participants. Here’s Emma Marshall’s take on the performance.
Read MoreA Round of A-paws
Our publications coordinator sat down with The Two Gentlemen of Verona‘s canine cast member, Oliver, and his handler, Kathryn Zaremba, to talk about a dog’s life on stage.
Read MoreDiagnosing the Bard on Twitter: Part 2
Audience Enrichment Manager Hannah Hessel recaps the recent #pmdhes Twitter discussion on Shakespeare. In this installment, Hessel looks at Shakespeare in the classroom.
Read MoreA Question of Authorship
STC’s Bard Association brings us a thought-provoking article about intellectual authorship and how to define who “owns” Shakespeare.
Read MoreCast: Adam Green
The Two Gentlemen of Verona actor Adam Green shares his experiences about what it was like to be a teenager in love for the first time.
Read MoreAnnouncing the 2012-2013 Season
Today STC’s Artistic Director Michael Kahn announced the production titles for the upcoming 2012-2013 Season. Click here to browse next season’s plays!
Read MoreThe Two Gentlemen of Verona: Shakespeare’s Apprentice Work
Two Gentlemen is among a handful of strong candidates for Shakespeare’s first foray into solo playwriting. Yet despite allegations of its immaturity, the play flourishes in theatrical production.
Read MoreCast: Nick Dillenburg
The Two Gentlemen of Verona actor Nick Dillenburg relates to his character and talks about his early experiences with love.
Read MoreTeaser: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Curious about the story behind The Two Gentlemen of Verona? Take a peek at our teaser about the troubles encountered by young lovers…
Read MoreDiagnosing the Bard on Twitter: Part 1
Audience Enrichment Manager Hannah J. Hessel recaps Michael Kahn’s first experience on Twitter, with this past Friday’s “Soul of Shakespeare” discussion (organized by Howard Sherman and Peter Marks).
Read MoreDrew’s Desk
Just what is it about Launce’s monologue with his dog Crab that so delights and teases the imagination? STC’s Literary Associate gives a few thoughts on Two Gents‘ famous canine.
Read MoreProduction Photos: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
In honor of Opening Night, we’ve posted production photos for Two Gents. Whether you’ve seen it in previews or are still looking forward to it, take a look!
Read MoreCast: Miriam Silverman
Miriam Silverman, who plays Julia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, talks about the first week of the rehearsal process.
Read MoreGuare & Company
In preparation for Bard’s Broadway, STC’s Hannah Hessel and Drew Lichtenberg asked John Guare about Two Gentlemen of Verona (a rock opera)
Read MoreTeenage Dream
Local theatre journalist Maggie Lawrence speaks to Director PJ Paparelli about the concept behind his new Two Gents.
Read MoreDownload the Asides PDF!
Want to print a copy of Asides? A downloadable PDF will always be available in the upper right corner of your screen. Printed copies are also available in the lobbies of our theatres for your convenience.
Read MoreWhat the Critics Said
See how past critics have responded to performances of Two Gents from 1765 to 1972 in this collection, compiled by Literary Associate Drew Lichtenberg.
Read MoreShouldn’t every D.C. student see a Shakespeare play live?
Learn more about District Shakespeare, a new initiative from the Education Department that aims to give every DCPS the opportunity to see an STC production.
Read MoreCreative Conversations: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Whether you are interested in historical background, theological perspective, creative points of view or voicing your own experiences, we have a discussion for you.
Read MoreA Hundred Two Gentlemen
Censored and abridged, structurally rearranged and reinterpreted in song, The Two Gentlemen of Verona has nevertheless proven remarkably durable throughout the ages.
Read MorePlay in Process
Get an insider’s peek into The Two Gentlemen of Verona through rehearsal photos, costume renderings from designer Paul Spadone and set models from designer Walt Spangler.
Read MoreDirector’s Words
Director PJ Paparelli talks about his return to STC and his vision for “The Two Gentlemen of Verona.”
Read MoreMuch Ado Young Prose Night Photos
Designed with young professionals in mind, the Much Ado STC Young Prose Night invited savvy theatregoers ages 21-35 for a fantastic performance and time to mingle.
Read MoreCuban Coolers
Try out some fun cocktail recipes inspired by Much Ado About Nothing‘s sultry Caribbean setting. Check back often for new recipes and a taste of Cuba!
Read MoreA Responsibility for Discussion
In the midst of all the great reviews that our current production of Much Ado About Nothing has been receiving there has been a note of discord.
Read MoreWhat the Critics Said: Much Ado About Nothing
Examine critics’ statements about Much Ado About Nothing, as compiled by STC’s literary associate, Drew Lichtenberg.
Read MoreMuch Ado Audience Testimonials
Audiences enjoy Much Ado About Nothing‘s “tropical twist,” calling it a “fast-paced” production with “great energy”. Hear what they have to say.
Read MoreMuch Ado About Nothing Production Photos
Now that Much Ado About Nothing has officially opened at Sidney Harman Hall, we have some great production photos to share.
Read MoreDrew’s Desk
Notes and Observations on Much Ado About Nothing from STC’s Literary Associate, Drew Lichtenberg
Read MoreClose and Distant: A Journey to Cuba
We have another picture of Cuba, a picture created before Castro. This picture is tropical, filled with music, rum and cigars, luxurious resorts and rural estates. It is romantic and exotic.
Read MoreThe Power of Noting in Much Ado About Nothing
Commentators on Much Ado About Nothing usually point out that the words “nothing” and “noting” were pronounced alike in Shakespeare’s time, and that the title can refer to the great stir caused by faulty “noting.”
Read MoreAsidesLIVE Symposium: Much Ado About Nothing
For the intellectually curious, there are a variety of ways to connect with a Shakespeare Theatre Company production.
Read MoreMuch Ado at STC, Part 2
In the final installment of interviews about Much Ado productions past, Michael Kahn chats with 1992’s Beatrice and Benedick, Kelly McGillis and David Selby.
Read MoreDownload the Asides PDF
Want to print a copy of Asides? A downloadable PDF will always be available in the upper right corner of your screen. Printed copies are also available in the lobbies of our theatres for your convenience.
Read MoreEthan McSweeny chats about his Cuban influence
Director Ethan McSweeny talks about bringing the story of Much Ado to life through a combination of historical, costuming, dance, song, and other ambient elements.
Read MoreMuch Ado at STC, Part 1
In this installment of interviews, Mark Lamos, Dan Snook and Karen Ziemba discuss memories of their 2002 production of Much Ado at STC.
Read MoreA Letter from Michael Kahn
One of the most beloved plays in the Shakespearean canon, Much Ado is one of the well-springs of romantic comedy, the first of countless works in the Western drama in which a pair of likeminded wits fight their way into love.
Read MoreWhy Cuba? ¿Por Qué No?
Ethan McSweeny invites Asides readers to learn about his creative process, as he explains his choice of setting and direction for Much Ado
Read MorePlay in Process
Get an insider’s peek into Much Ado About Nothing through rehearsal photos, costume renderings from designer Clint Ramos and set models from designer Lee Savage.
Read MoreDerek Smith (Benedick) on Much Ado About Nothing
Derek Smith takes a moment to chat about working with Ethan McSweeny, and the process of rehearsing Much Ado About Nothing in a Cuban setting.
Read MoreHow to Become a Benedick
Perhaps the greatest Shakespearean actor born in North America during the 20th century, Christopher Plummer chats with Artistic Director Michael Kahn about being Benedick.
Read MoreNews Flash! Take a Tropical Getaway with Much Ado About Nothing!
Need a break from the holidays? Looking for something the whole family will like? STC is giving you a one-way ticket to the tropical vacation you’ve wanted, for a limited time!
Read MoreMuch Ado About Something
Derek Smith chats with director Ethan McSweeny about bringing his character to life in a Cuban setting and what it means to play Shakespeare’s Benedick.
Read MoreCreative Conversations
Join the FREE exchange of ideas! STC’s Creative Conversations give our audiences the chance to connect deeply with the work on stage.
Read MoreThe Descendants of Beatrice and Benedick: Much Ado’s influence through the ages
The most famous couplings in romantic comedy all bear a resemblance to Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing.
Read More“Thou teachest like the Fool…”
Literary Associate Drew Lichtenberg interviews The Heir Apparent’s Floyd King and Nancy Robinette, two of STC’s Affiliated Artists, about 25 years of making people laugh.
Read MoreComedy Tonight
Broadway playwright David Ives writes on his new “transladaptation” of Jean-François Regnard’s The Heir Apparent.
Read MoreReDiscovery at STC: The Life of an Unknown Play
More than 300 years after his death, Regnard’s name is virtually unknown in the American theatre, but thanks to STC’s ReDiscovery series, Regnard has found new life on stage.
Read MoreRegnard and the French Comedy after Molière
Marvin Carlson explores Jean-François Regnard’s place in the history of French theatre, and the implications of following the great comedic playwright, Molière.
Read MoreBuilding Bridges Between Past and Present
Audience Enrichment Manager Hannah J. Hessel interviews Teaching Artists at STC’s SHAKESPEARIENCE to shed light on how they connect Shakespeare’s text to younger audiences.
Read MoreThe Mistiness of the Past
Pinter’s characters live as much in the past as in the present, and are haunted by a recollection, however fallible, manipulative or imaginary, of some lost and vanished world in which everything was secure, certain, fixed.
Read MoreHolly Twyford Takes a Pause
For the first time, Holly Twyford graces a Shakespeare Theatre Company production as Anna in Old Times. Tim Treanor sits down with Twyford to discuss theatre and her new role.
Read MoreTwo Directors, Two Directions, One Coffee Break
STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn and director Ethan McSweeny (Ion, Major Barbara, The Persians) sat down during a break between auditions in New York City to discuss their upcoming productions.
Read MoreCommerce and Controversy
Despite its memorable protagonists, however, what has kept The Merchant of Venice so popular for so long has been its memorable antagonist. This character appears in only five scenes, but makes such a strong impression that great leading actors have flocked to play him.
Read MoreThe Merchant of Venice: Comedy or Conundrum?
One publisher of Shakespeare’s works listed The Merchant of Venice as a tragedy. History? Comedy? Tragedy? In the end, the play seems more of a conundrum than anything else.
Read MoreMerchants of Magic: Thank you to our in-kind partners
How long would it take you to clean all of the togas in Julius Caesar? Fortunately the Shakespeare Theatre Company has an amazing Production team that effortlessly manages logistics with the support of in-kind partners.
Read MoreShakesPEERS: New Neighborhoods, New Focus
ShakesPEERS is a unique program at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in which D.C. teens spend their afternoons exploring the work of William Shakespeare on their own terms.
Read MoreRemembering Sidney Harman
Sidney was fond of quoting Maxwell Anderson’s editorial: “if we are to be remembered as more than a mass of people who lived and fought wars and died, it is for our arts that we will be remembered.”
Read MoreDressing Wilde: An Interview with Robert Perdziola
An Ideal Husband is the 13th Shakespeare Theatre Company production for which Robert Perdziola has served as Costume Designer.
Read MoreDirector’s Words
In Oscar Wilde’s day, London was ruled by Society. Although Wilde passed through the rooms of Society, he was not a part of it.
Read MoreBefore the Fall
By 1893, it seemed that Oscar Wilde had done everything. Originally celebrated for his work as a poet and lecturer, Wilde became an influential journalist, editor and critic.
Read MoreAn Ideal Husband Additional Events
Experience Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband beyond stage and text: take advantage of exclusive STC resources and events.
Read MoreExpanding STC Education
Whether you’re a theatre enthusiast or a practicing theatre artist, there will always be a program for you at the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Read MoreSeeing Black Watch: A Front Line Perspective
Every war reporter has them. Snapshots from the memory banks of horror, forever lurking and impossible to erase.
Read MoreAn Interview with John Tiffany, director of Black Watch
Theatre is a live, visceral art form so I think a piece of theatre about the army—which has threads of movement and music running through it—it’s a natural home…
Read MoreThe Tale of Cymbeline
Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, often likened to a fairy tale, shares many motifs with traditional fairy tales. Learn about some of the romances and myths that contributed to Shakespeare’s play.
Read MoreDirector’s Words
In order to navigate this wild and sprawling story, I’ve chosen to add the frame of a storyteller and a little girl. Cymbeline calls to mind the classic dark fairy tales, and I’m leaning into this aspect through the framing device.
Read MoreCasting a Spell
A divine visitation and miraculous reunions, William Shakespeare’s Cymbeline is more magic show than history play.
Read MoreLeonard Bernstein: Notes on a Legend
This timeline shows the extraordinary career of this great American artist.
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The Making of Voltaire’s Candide
Subtitled “Optimism,” Candide grew out of an ongoing—and heated—debate about the existence of evil in a divinely created universe.
Read MoreDirector’s Words
I’ve always been drawn to adapt thorny, difficult, epic old texts. Voltaire’s Candide has that epic sweep and broad range of feeling that I like, and it is full of difficult things to stage, which I like as well.
Read MoreCandide’s Travels
“There’s more of me in that piece than anything else I have ever done,” Leonard Bernstein said of his 1956 musical Candide.
Read MoreFree For All Returns to Sidney Harman Hall
The Free For All returns to Sidney Harman Hall to kick-start the 2010–2011 Season with 22 free performances of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which The Downtowner called “gorgeously romantic… as brand new as a first kiss.”
Read MoreDirector’s Words: Mrs. Warren’s Profession
I’ve always been intrigued by the play, but the productions that I have seen have stuck too closely to Shaw’s writings about the play, rather than to the text of the play itself.
Read MoreThe Road to Equality
In Shaw’s vast community of characters, the playgoer will find a large assortment of women: saints, sinners, sphinxes and scatter-brains.
Read MoreNotes on a Scandal
By the time Mrs. Warren’s Profession made its public debut in England in 1925, George Bernard Shaw’s play had earned a rap sheet a mile long…
Read MoreWelcome letter from Michael Kahn
Welcome to the final play in our 2009–2010 Season, George Bernard Shaw’s provocative Mrs. Warren’s Profession.
Read MoreThe Whole Truth About The Liar
When my agent called and asked if I’d be interested in translating Corneille’s The Liar for the Shakespeare Theatre Company of Washington, I had never heard of the play.
Read MoreDirector’s Words
Several years ago, we received a grant from the Beech Street Foundation that allowed us to commission five adaptations of lesser-known plays.
Read MoreIs All Fair in Love and War?
The plot of Pierre Corneille’s play The Liar raises the question of whether all is fair, proper, or even necessary to succeed in romance. Can we expect honesty in the prelude to seduction or afterwards?
Read MoreDon’t Miss a Word
An original, published script of the comedy The Liar by Broadway playwright David Ives is now available in the theatres’ gift shops.
Read MoreComic Relief
When Pierre Corneille unleashed his comic masterpiece The Liar on Paris in 1643, audiences must have been shocked.
Read MoreAbout the Plays: Family Affair
William Shakespeare’s history plays are not history lessons. They often swerve from real history in favor of a good story.
Read MorePresident Bill Clinton on Shakespeare’s Lessons in Leadership
My first exposure to Shakespeare’s lessons in leadership came from tragedies I read in high school.
Read MoreDirector’s Words On Henry V
Before working on it, I had always thought that Henry V was a rah-rah, pro-Henry, pro-England, pro-war play.
Read MoreDirector’s Words On Richard II
When we were planning the season last year, it really interested me to deal with an issue that was on everyone’s mind before the presidential election (and still is today): what are the qualities we look for in a leader in a time of crisis?
Read More