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ARTISTIC 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 together a diverse season of renowned plays, including celebrated 20th-century playwrights, a classic musical, a world premiere and, of course, Shakespeare.
STC begins the 2017-2018 Season with a double bill of one-act plays from Harold Pinter: The Collection and The Lover. Following the success of his 2011 production of Old Times, Michael Kahn returns to Pinter’s gripping realm of doubt and disquiet, considering how we construct our own realities, which truths we tell and which lies we choose to believe. “In a time when the definitions of truth and fact have become controversial, Pinter feels like a powerful reflection of our current anxieties,” said Kahn. “I have always been fascinated by the way these two early works pair with each other and with what they say about the mysterious nature of desire and identity. Pinter is quite simply a master and I look forward to being in his world again.”
Shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria, the quick-witted Viola assumes the disguise of a page boy in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and finds herself at the center of an explosive love triangle in which identity, passion and gender all threaten to come undone. “I’m delighted to welcome our friend Ethan McSweeny back to STC. After his great successes with A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest, I’m eager to see how he will bring the melodic and joyous world of Twelfth Night to life,” said Kahn.
Kahn will also direct a second production in the 2017-2018 Season: Hamlet. “I am always finding new things to discover in this endlessly compelling play, which has a surprising amount to say about our contemporary politics. Very exciting plans are already in the works for casting.” Arguably Shakespeare’s greatest masterpiece, in Hamlet the greatest character of Western literature confronts the meaning of life, the bonds and limits of flesh and blood, and the line between madness and inspiration.
Continuing the tradition of National Theatre of Scotland’s Dunsinane, Headlong’s 1984 and Elevator Repair Service’s The Select (The Sun Also Rises), STC will welcome Druid, a prominent Irish theatre company, with an exciting production of a classic.
“It is always a joy to share new artists with the D.C. community, especially those who are continuously reinventing the classics and creating important work both here and abroad,” Kahn said. “This year, we are pleased to host Druid, Ireland’s most celebrated theatre ensemble, and Tony Award®-winning director Garry Hynes.” Druid will present the American premiere of their critically acclaimed production of Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett’s absurd, anarchic masterpiece.
To close the season, STC’s own Associate Artistic Director Alan Paul (Man of La Mancha, Kiss Me, Kate) will once again helm a classic musical: Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot. “This musical is a celebration of enlightened government and the dangers we all feel when it is taken away. I believe it will feel very current under Alan’s talented direction and that audiences will experience it in a fresh and immediate way.”
The final slot in our upcoming season will be a D.C. premiere production to be performed in early 2018. More details about this exciting show will be available in the coming weeks.
FREE FOR ALL
Free For All will begin the 2017–2018 season with Ron Daniels’ powerful production of Shakespeare’s Othello. Among the exotic airs and mysterious shadows of Cyprus, newly married and promoted Moorish general Othello finds himself the pawn in the manipulative games of his right-hand man, Iago.
To find out about special offers and group bookings or to become a season subscriber please call the box office on 202.547.1122 or visit www.shakespearetheatre.org
