WILL 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 West Wing Writers, Met by Moonlight presented a humorous political take on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As politicians, bureaucrats, ambassadors and support staff leave the D.C. heat to head for cooler climates, they stumble upon a series of Shakespeare’s supernatural beings with impish senses of humor, and perhaps a lesson or two for both parties.

To open the show, students from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia performed the iconic balcony scene from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The young actors are part of STC’s Text Alive! program, one of STC’s many educational, artistic and community engagement programs that deepen the connection to classical theatre in learners of all ages.

“Our education and outreach work is only made possible by Will on the Hill and through the support of numerous corporations, foundations, individuals and public agencies. We are incredibly grateful to the well-known political faces and professional actors who generously donated their time to help raise vital funds for our programs,” said STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn.

About the Cast

The production featured 30 Rock’s Maulik Pancholy. The NBC show garnered 80 awards and 310 nominations. He is also widely recognized for playing Sanjay over six seasons of the Showtime hit series Weeds, created by Emmy Award-winner Jenji Kohan (Orange Is the New Black). He will soon appear on the upcoming CBS series Star Trek: Discovery, which will be the first Star Trek series to air since 2005. Pancholy is the voice of Baljeet on Disney’s Phineas and Ferb, and the title character of Sanjay on Nickelodeon’s Sanjay and Craig. He played Katherina in STC’s The Taming of The Shrew in 2016. No stranger to the Washington community, Pancholy was appointed by President Obama and served for two years on the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders. Ian Kahn currently stars as George Washington in AMC’s critically acclaimed series Turn: Washington’s Spies, which returned for its fourth and final season this month. Kahn has appeared in numerous high-profile television series, including Sex and the City, Suits, Law & Order, Castle, The Unusuals and Shameless and he is widely recognized for his roles as Danny Brecher in Dawson’s Creek and Marty Decker in Bull. This past television season, he recurred on Showtime’s Homeland and Billions. One of Broadway’s foremost leading men, Santino Fontana has cemented himself as a formidable screen talent with his numerous and recognizable roles in film and television, including Greg on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. He is perhaps best known to broader audiences for lending his voice to the character of Prince Hans in Disney’s Academy Award-winning animated feature Frozen. He was also seen in Universal Studio’s Sisters, starring opposite Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. D.C. native Emily Swallow is best known for playing Kim Fischer on The Mentalist and as Amara/The Darkness in the eleventh season of Supernatural.

From the political world, the cast included U.S. Secretary of the Interior The Honorable Ryan Zinke, British Ambassador to the U.S. The Honorable Kim Darroch and many Members of Congress, including Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) and Representatives Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Brendan Boyle (D-PA), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Daniel M. Donovan (R-NY), Jim Himes (D-CT), George Holding (R-NC), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and Dina Titus (D-NV Other illustrious cast members included Marla Allard, Wa’el Alzayat (Executive Director, EmergeUSA), Gregory Angelo (President, Log Cabin Republicans), Jess Bravin (Supreme Court correspondent, The Wall Street Journal), Ron Christie (Political Strategist), Steve Clemons (Editor At Large, The Atlantic), Maggie Coons, Bob Cusack (Editor in Chief, The Hill), William Christian (Director of Government Affairs at Citizens Against Government Waste), Johanna Derlega (Publisher, The Hill), Karen Dunn (Partner at Boies, Schiller, & Flexner LLP, consultant for House of Cards), Dr. Michael Eric Dyson (Georgetown University professor, host of The Raw Word, and author), Rich Edson (Fox News correspondent), John Feehery (Political Communications Strategist), Lee Goodman (Member and former Chair of the Federal Election Commission), Rick Klein (Political Director, ABC News), Maria Teresa Kumar (President, Voto Latino), Dana Milbank (Columnist, The Washington Post), Erica Moody (Deputy Editor, Washington Life), Grover Norquist (Americans for Tax Reform), Christina Sevilla (Deputy Assistant, USTR), Rina Shah (Political consultant at Run with Rina), Ari Shapiro (Host, NPR), Pamela Lynne Sorensen (Pamela’s Punch), and Kelly Jane Torrance (Deputy Managing Editor, The Weekly Standard),

The Shakespeare Theatre Company is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The Company does not retain or employ registered lobbyists or foreign agents.

WILL ON THE HILL COMMITTEE

Bernie McKay, Co-Chair, Intuit; Karishma Page, Co-Chair, K&L Gates; Nick Allard, Past Chairman, Dentons; Janet Boyd, The Dow Chemical Company; Peter Cherurkuri, 1776, Carol Danko, SIFMA;

The Honorable Tom Davis, Past Chairman, Deloitte, LLP; Michelle Dimarob, Altria Group; Gloria Story Dittus, Story Partners; W. Michael House, Past Chairman, Hogan Lovells US; John Howes, Computer and Communications Industry Association; Jerry Jasinowski, Business Consultant, Former President of NAM; Karen Kuhlman, United Air; Gail MacKinnon; Andy Navarrete, Capital One; Steve Ryan, Past Chairman, McDermott, Will & Emery; Bill Signer, The Carmen Group; June Silverberg, Silverberg Associates; Julie Slocum, Wells Fargo & Co; Rob Smith, Venable, LLP;

Elizabeth Varley, Ameriprise Financial, Inc.; Katie Vlietstra, National Association for the Self-Employed; Rich Whiting, Past Chairman, American Association of Bank Directors; Jonathan Yarowsky, WilmerHale.

 

 SUPPORT FOR WILL ON THE HILL

Will on the Hill is made possible in part by its Lead Sponsor: Deloitte LLP; Executive Sponsors: Intuit, Inc.; McDermott Will & Emery; Director Sponsors: Nick and Marla Allard; Altria Group; Brown-Forman Corporation; Capital One; Green Dot Corporation; Hogan Lovells US LLP; Humana Inc.; Quicken Loans; Stephen and Lisa Ryan; WilmerHale; Producer Sponsors: Aflac; Computer and Communications Industry Association; CLS Strategies; Cozen O’ Connor; Debbie Driesman and Frank F. Islam; Goldman Sachs & Co.; K&L Gates LLP; Nissan North America, Inc.; Sovereign Strategy Limited; Visa Inc.; Vulcan Materials Company Foundation; West Wing Writers, Lynn and Jonathan Yarowsky; Patron Sponsors: Alston & Bird LLP; Bloomberg Philanthropies; Duke Energy Corporation; Ernst & Young LLP; H&R Block; Mike and Gina House; Jerry and Isabel Jasinowski; Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals; Gail and Jeff MacKinnon; Bernard and Mary McKay; Oracle America Corporation; Karishma and Jonathan Page; Reset Public Affairs; Story Partners; TPG Capital; Wells Fargo Philanthropy; Whirlpool Corporation; Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America; Benefactor Level Sponsors: American Express Company; American Legislative Exchange Council; Association of Flight Attendants-CWA; AT&T Services, Inc.; Capitol Counsel LLC; Charter Communications;  Cornerstone Government Affairs, LLC; Cox Enterprises, Inc.; Fierce Government Relations; Forbes Tate Partners; Franklin Square Group; FTI Consulting; Alice and John Goodman; Greenberg Traurig LLP; National Association of Realtors; National Credit Union Foundation; National Multifamily Housing Council; Navigators Global; The OB-C Group, LLC; Software and Information Industry Association; The Smith Free-Group LLC; Southern Company; Time Warner Inc.; United Airlines; The Washington Examiner. Supporter Level Sponsors: Ameresco; Doug and Nina Boggs; Janet C. Boyd; Michael Evans; Grant Thornton LLP; International Brotherhood of Boilermakers; Melissa Moss; Andy Navarrete; OCNC Group;Liz Varley; Washington Resource Associates; Xcel Energy; Media Partner: The Hill.

 

 ABOUT THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY

Recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award®, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) is the nation’s leading premier classical theatre company. Today, STC is synonymous with artistic excellence and making classical theatre more accessible to audiences in and around the nation’s capital.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Michael Kahn and Executive Director Chris Jennings, STC’s innovative productions inspire dialogue that connects classic works to the modern human experience. The Company focuses on works with profound themes, complex characters and poetic language written by Shakespeare, his contemporaries and the playwrights he influenced in order to preserve and promote classic theatre—ambitious, enduring plays with universal themes—for all audiences.

A leader in arts education, STC has a stable of initiatives that teach and excite learners of all ages, from school programs and adult acting classes to accessible community programming like play-relevant discussion series and the Free For All. For the past 25 years the Free For All program has offered an annual remount of a popular production completely free of charge to all audience members.

Located in downtown Washington, D.C., STC performs in two theatres, the 451-seat Lansburgh Theatre and the 774-seat Sidney Harman Hall. In addition to STC productions appearing year-round, these spaces also accommodate presentations from outstanding local performing arts groups and nationally renowned organizations. The Company has been a fixture in the vibrant Penn Quarter neighborhood since 1992.