Welcome letter from Michael Kahn

Dear Friend,

Welcome to the final play in our 2009–2010 Season, George Bernard Shaw’s provocative Mrs. Warren’s Profession. Keith Baxter, whose flair for period works has given us riveting productions of The Rivals, Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Imaginary Invalid, returns to direct this classic that was originally banned from the stage. We are heart-broken at the loss of the great Dixie Carter, but it is a true pleasure to welcome  back Elizabeth Ashley to star as the resourceful Mrs. Warren. She was last seen on our stages in The Little Foxes and Sweet Bird of Youth.

I have wanted to include Mrs. Warren’s Profession in a season for quite a few years. The story of a mother and daughter with clashing points of view about the world, Mrs. Warren’s Profession asks us to consider how we feel about spending money that comes from a dubious enterprise. Shaw, like Shakespeare, puts the best answers in the mouth of the person with whom you would most disagree. The result in Mrs. Warren’s Profession is a wonderful exploration of morality and family dynamics.

I would like to thank the Artistic Leadership Fund for providing production support for Mrs. Warren’s Profession. The Artistic Leadership Fund is an exciting new membership initiative at STC designed to acknowledge clearly what our donors do: ensure artistic excellence on our stages. The group is composed of some of the theatre’s most generous friends, and we are deeply grateful for
their support.

Also in this issue, you will find information about our upcoming 2010–2011 Season, which includes Mary Zimmerman’s inventive mounting of Leonard Bernstein’s musical Candide our first staging of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline and the return of Keith Baxter to direct Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband.

To kick off the 2010–2011 Season, we are bringing back the smash hit Twelfth Night for the ever-popular Free For All, which returns to Sidney Harman Hall for a second year. In an ongoing effort to showcase superb international works, STC will also host two influential plays from the U.K.: The Tricycle Theatre’s The Great Game: Afghanistan and the National Theatre of Scotland’s Black Watch. A complete calendar of these and other events is included in this Asides edition, as well as on ShakespeareTheatre.org.

Thank you for joining us this season, and I hope to see you again next season!

Best always,
Michael Kahn
Artistic Director, Shakespeare Theatre Company