SHAKESPEARE 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 return of The Amen Corner

Washington, D.C. May 27, 2021—Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Artistic Director SIMON GODWIN announced the Company’s 2021/22 Season in a virtual townhall meeting for season subscribers, donors, Board members, and STC staff. The Tony Award-winning theatre will resume live performances in September with a season that will showcase “vivacious stories, audaciously shared” explains Godwin.

“We’ve titled our coming season ‘Play On!,’ after the famous opening phrase in Twelfth Night” continues Godwin. “After such a long pause, we are ecstatic to safely welcome audiences back into our theatres for live performances. Play On! captures this playfulness and this urgency for theatre, for community, for being together again.”

“There has been so much encouraging news and we have been planning for so long to safely and effectively reopen to full capacity this autumn,” shares Executive Director CHRIS JENNINGS. “We are so grateful for the generous donors, supporters, and patrons, as well as our incredible staff, who kept the Theatre going during this difficult year.”

The 2021/22 Season officially opens at Sidney Harman Hall in late November with the Broadway-bound musical ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME. Directed and choreographed by internationally acclaimed Drama Desk-nominated artists KEONE and MARI MADRID (Beyond Babel, BTS, Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself”), Once Upon a One More Time features an original story written by JON HARTMERE (bare, The Upside) and the music of Grammy Award winner BRITNEY SPEARS. Creative Consultation for the production is by five-time Tony Award nominee DAVID LEVEAUX (Nine; Romeo & Juliet on Broadway; NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar). The show’s previously announced debut in Chicago was canceled when theater industry operations were suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Casting for the newly scheduled premiere will be announced in the coming months.

“In my first season at STC, I made a promise to offer shows for all-ages for the holidays, and Once Upon a One More Time is a jubilant, funny, and rousing update on classic fairy tales that will delight all audiences,” shares Godwin. “Britney Spears is an American pop icon, and the team of this musical has worked with her to craft a story that captures her joie de vivre and her indominable spirit. We are beyond thrilled to have our first Broadway-bound production, and for it to be this inspiring, empowering musical.” 

“I’m so excited to have a musical with my songs – especially one that takes place in such a magical world filled with characters that I grew up on, who I love and adore,” said Spears in a previous statement. “This is a dream come true for me!”

STC Associate Artistic Director ALAN PAUL (Camelot) will direct Thornton Wilder’s OUR TOWNwith a cast that celebrates the artistic talent of the D.C. area. An American classic set in the fictional town of Grover’s Corners, the play has continued to captivate audiences with its minimalistic set, metatheatrical commentary, and its probing questions about love, life, death, and belonging.

“Shakespeare remains our lodestar,” Godwin says, “and we are excited to produce three Shakespeare-centric titles that we previously announced.”

A co-production with Theatre for a New Audience in New York City, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE will feature the STC debut of JOHN DOUGLAS THOMPSON (Mare of Easttown, Satchmo at the Waldorf) as Shylock. Shakespeare’s problem play will be directed by TFANA’s Resident Director ARIN ARBUS. Thompson and Arbus are both TFANA resident artists.

After the international acclaim for his filmed-for-television production of Romeo & Juliet starring Jessie Buckley and Josh O’Connor for National Theatre of London, Godwin plans to direct MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHINGset in a contemporary cable TV newsroom. “Beatrice and Benedick will bicker in front of the camera while behind the scenes they fall in love,” he explains.

The season will conclude with RED VELVET, written by LOLITA CHAKRABARTI and directed by JADE KING CARROLL about the great Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge. During his lifetime, the American-born Black actor played many of Shakespeare’s most notable roles across Europe, and this thrilling play centers his debut as Othello on London’s greatest stage.

STC is also offering two special pre-season limited engagement productions outside of the subscription season. James Baldwin’s masterpiece THE AMEN CORNERwill return to STC for a two-week-run. Directed by STC Associate Director WHITNEY WHITE, the play was a critical and commercial success, but its original run was curtailed in March 2020 by the pandemic. Academy Award nominee DAVID STRATHAIRN (Good Night, and Good Luck; Nomadland) will play the titular Holocaust witness, activist, and Georgetown professor in REMEMBER THIS: THE LESSON OF JAN KARSKI, written by DEREK GOLDMAN and CLARK YOUNG, and directed by Goldman.

Some previously announced shows remain in development for future seasons, including Whitney White’s production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, which will be a part of the 2022/23 Season.

All dates, titles, and artists are subject to change.

Full 5-show subscriptions as well as 3- and 4-show subscriptions are on sale now at ShakespeareTheatre.org; STC Subscribers have first access to the pre-season limited engagement performances. Tickets for the pre-season shows The Amen Corner and Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski go on sale July 19. Single tickets for all shows will be available for purchase later this year. Advance access to single tickets will be made available to STC Subscribers and Members.

Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2021/2022 Season Sponsors are Michael R. Klein and Joan Fabry and the Harman Family Foundation.

SHOW DESCRIPTIONS

Regular Season

ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME
Inspired by the Music Performed and Recorded by Britney Spears

Written by Jon Hartmere
Directed and Choreographed by Keone and Mari Madrid

Sidney Harman Hall | NOV 30, 2021  – JAN 2, 2022

In this highly anticipated world premiere of the Broadway-bound musical, beloved classic fairytale princesses gather for their fortnightly book club, longing for a new story. When a rogue fairy godmother drops The Feminine Mystique into their corseted laps, it spurs a royal revelation: there is more to life than bird-made dresses and true love’s kiss! Powered by the chart-topping anthems of the Princess of Pop herself, Britney Spears – including “Oops!… I Did It Again,” “Lucky,” “Stronger,” and “Toxic” – Once Upon a One More Time sends audiences on a heartwarming and uproarious musical adventure about smashing the glass slipper and reclaiming your own happily ever after.

Lead sponsorship support for Once Upon a One More Time is generously provided by Michael M. Paese, Esq.

OUR TOWN

By Thornton Wilder

Directed by Alan Paul

Sidney Harman Hall | FEB 17  – MAR 20, 2022

Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Our Town continues to leave audiences awestruck with wonder and a shared sense of our humanity. Guided by an amiable stage manager, the theatre becomes turn-of-the-century Grover’s Corners, where the occurrences of everyday life reveal universal truths about community and love, life and death. “A hauntingly beautiful play” (The New York Times), Our Town is both deeply allegorical and endlessly captivating. Directed by STC’s Associate Artistic Director Alan Paul (Camelot), Our Town will celebrate the artists who call the DMV-area home.

Our Town is generously sponsored by John and Meg Hauge.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

By William Shakespeare

A Co-Production with Theatre for a New Audience

Directed by Arin Arbus

Michael R. Klein Theatre at the Lansburgh | MAR 22  – APR 17, 2022

Shakespeare’s remarkable exploration of justice returns to the nation’s capital, stoking the debate on what is right, what is fair, and what is lawful—and who gets to decide. Tony Award nominee John Douglas Thompson, “one of the most compelling classical stage actors of his generation” (The New York Times), will grace the stage as Shakespeare’s most enigmatic antihero, Shylock. Directed by Obie Award winner Arin Arbus, Shakespeare’s provocative problem play compels us to examine our own prejudices and the true nature of mercy.

This project is part of Shakespeare in American Communities, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Simon Godwin

Sidney Harman Hall | APR 21 – MAY 22, 2022

The course of true love never did run smooth, especially when the ON AIR sign is lit. Shakespeare’s cherished romantic comedy lands in a cable newsroom, where sparring co-anchors Benedick and Beatrice trade barbs behind the news desk. Helmed by Artistic Director Simon Godwin (PBS’ Romeo & Juliet), “one of the most insightful and sensitive directors of Shakespeare today” (WhatsonStage), Much Ado About Nothing is the perfect blend of sparkling screwball comedy and romance.

This project is part of Shakespeare in American Communities, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

RED VELVET

By Lolita Chakrabarti

Directed by Jade King Carroll

Michael R. Klein Theatre at the Lansburgh | JUN 16  – JUL 27, 2022

London’s Theatre Royal, 1833. Theatre history is made when Ira Aldridge becomes the first Black actor to take the stage as Shakespeare’s Othello. As a bill promoting the abolition of slavery sends shockwaves through Parliament, how will London react to Aldridge’s groundbreaking performance? Director Jade King Carroll makes her STC debut with Lolita Chakrabarti’s “gripping, intelligent, and passionate” (The Financial Times) Red Velvet,celebrating a pioneering actor who triumphed in his art despite a tempest of social injustice.

Pre-Season Limited Engagements

THE AMEN CORNER

By James Baldwin

Directed by Whitney White      

Sidney Harman Hall | SEP 14  – 26, 2021

“Brilliantly directed by Whitney White” (Brightest Young Things), James Baldwin’s The Amen Corner returns to Sidney Harman Hall to complete its original run. In a 1950s storefront church in Harlem, Pastor Margaret rails at her congregation and her teenaged son for their vices. Surrounded by “a choir of powerhouse singers” (The Washington Post) belting songs of redemption, Margaret must face the music herself when memories of her own troubled past return. See why The Amen Corner was praised as one of the best productions in 2020 by The Washington Post in this limited, two-week engagement.

REMEMBER THIS: THE LESSON OF JAN KARSKI

By Clark Young and Derek Goldman

Directed by Derek Goldman

Starring David Strathairn

Michael R. Klein Theatre at the Lansburgh | OCT 6  – 17, 2021

In a tour-de-force solo performance, Academy Award nominee David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck; Nomadland) portrays World War II hero and Holocaust witness Jan Karski, a messenger of truth who risked his life to carry his harrowing report from war-torn Poland to the Oval Office only to be disbelieved. Standing tall in the halls of power, Strathairn captures the remarkable life of the self-described “insignificant, little man” whose forgotten story of moral courage can still shake the conscience of the world.

This production was originally created by The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University.

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

ARIN ARBUS

Director, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

Arin Arbus is a Resident Director at Theatre for a New Audience, where she has directed Othello, Measure for Measure, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, King Lear, The Winter’s Tale, The Skin of Our Teeth (Obie Award), and repertory productions of Strindberg’s The Father and Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. In 2019, she made her Broadway debut directing Terrence McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Tony Award nomination for Best Revival of a Play) starring six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald and two-time Oscar nominee Michael Shannon. Arbus staged Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at Houston Grand Opera and La traviata at Canadian Opera Company, The Chicago Lyric Opera, and Houston Grand Opera. In association with Rehabilitation Through the Arts, she led a theatre company of prisoners for five years at a medium-security prison in upstate New York. In 2018, she directed an Arabic adaptation of The Tempest, performed by refugees in a camp in Greece for The Campfire Project.

JAMES BALDWIN

Playwright, THE AMEN CORNER

A celebrated writer of novels, essays, plays, and speeches, James Baldwin’s eloquent and fearlessly honest words grapple with themes including racism, homosexuality, and being Black in America, which made him an essential voice in the civil rights movement and American literature. Born in 1924, James Baldwin grew up in Harlem. The oldest of nine children, he started in his stepfather’s footsteps and became a preacher in his adolescence, which fueled his passion for language and influenced many of his works including The Amen Corner (1954). After securing a writing grant, Baldwin wrote his breakthrough autobiographical novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953). Over the next ten years, while living in Europe, he continued to publish novels (Another Country, 1962) and collections of essays (Notes of a Native Son, 1955) with perspectives on the America he had left behind. As the civil rights movement gained momentum, Baldwin returned from abroad to participate. His commitment to civil rights, from the March on Washington to the marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, came to a head with his revolutionary portrait of racial struggle in The Fire Next Time (1963). The raw emotional drama of his later work, If Beale Street Could Talk (1974), was recently adapted for the screen, earning several Academy Award nominations. A master of language, an advocate for equality, and an unflinching commentator on American life, Baldwin’s works are American classics. By the 1960s, Baldwin was more famous as a public intellectual than as a writer, placing himself at the very center of the civil rights movement. On May 24, 1963, he organized a group of civil rights activists including Lorraine Hansberry, Jerome Smith, Lena Horne, Harry Belafonte, Rip Torn, and Kenneth Clarke to meet with the U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy at the Kennedy family’s Central Park South apartment, covering “the Civil Rights issue” in general and school desegregation in particular.

LOLITA CHAKRABARTI

Playwright, RED VELVET

Lolita Chakrabartiis an award-winning actress and writer. She has worked extensively as an actress on stage and screen. As a writer Red Velvet is her debut play (Evening Standard Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright 2012; Critics Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright 2012; AWA Award for Arts and Culture 2013; WhatsOnStage nominations for London Newcomer of the Year and Best New Play 2012; Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre 2012). Red Velvet premiered at the Tricycle Theatre, London in 2012 where it returned in 2014 before transferring to St. Ann’s Warehouse, New York.  Lolita also wrote Last Seen – Joy for The Almeida Theatre and a five-part adaptation of The Goddess for BBC Radio 4. Lolita runs Lesata Productions with Rosa Maggiora and Adrian Lester.

SIMON GODWIN

Director, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Simon Godwin joined Shakespeare Theatre Company as Artistic Director in September 2019. He has served as Associate Director of the National Theatre of London, the Royal Court Theatre, the Bristol Old Vic, and the Royal and Derngate Theatres (Northampton). While at the Royal Court, Simon directed seven world premieres, including Routes, If You Don’t Let Us Dream, We Won’t Let You Sleep, NSFW, The Witness, Goodbye to All That, The Acid Test, and Wanderlust. He made his debut at the National Theatre with Strange Interlude followed by Man and Superman, and went on to direct The Beaux’ Stratagem, Twelfth Night, a celebrated production of Antony and Cleopatra with Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo, and the world premiere of Simon Wood’s Hansard. Most recently, he returned to the National Theatre to direct Romeo & Juliet,an original film for television (Sky Arts in U.K./PBS in U.S.) starring Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley. Simon has also directed at the Royal Shakespeare Company, including productions of Timon of Athens with Kathryn Hunter in the titular role, which was reimagined in early 2020 for Theatre for a New Audience in New York City and Shakespeare Theatre Company; an acclaimed Hamlet, which toured to the Kennedy Center; and The Two Gentlemen of Verona. In 2019, Simon made his Tokyo debut, directing a Japanese cast in Hamlet for Theatre Cocoon. Other productions include The Little Mermaid, Krapp’s Last Tape/A Kind of Alaska, Faith Healer, Far Away, Everyman, Habeas Corpus, and Relatively Speaking. In 2012 Simon was awarded the inaugural Evening Standard/Burberry Award for an Emerging Director.

DEREK GOLDMAN

Writer and Director, REMEMBER THIS: THE LESSON OF JAN KARSKI

Chair of Georgetown University’s Department of Performing Arts, Director of the Theater & Performance Studies Program; Co-Founding Director of the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics; his award-winning work has been at theaters such as Steppenwolf, Lincoln Center, Arena Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, Folger, Round House, Everyman, Mosaic, Theater J, Synetic, the Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theater, McCarter, Segal Center, Olney Theater (Artistic Associate); Board of Directors of Theatre Communications Group; Vice-President of UNESCO’s International Theatre Institute; Founding Director of the Global Network of Higher Education in the Performing Arts. Derek holds a Ph.D in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and recently received the President’s Award for Distinguished Scholar-Teachers at Georgetown.

JON HARTMERE

Book, ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME

Jon Hartmere has written screenplays and teleplays for Fox, Disney, Amazon, Paramount, TWC, Miramax, Nickelodeon and Sesame Street Productions, including the recent hit The Upside, starring Bryan Cranston, Kevin Hart, and Nicole Kidman. He wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the book of the musical bare, and was a field agent on season 5 of MTV’s Punk’d.

JADE KING CARROLL

Director, RED VELVET

NEW YORK: Off-Broadway: Audible/New York Theatre Workshop: Proof of Love | Lincoln Center Institute: Autumn’s Harvest | Playwright’s Realm: Hello, From the Children of Planet Earth. REGIONAL: McCarter Theatre/Hartford Stage: Detroit ’67 | McCarter Theatre: Intimate Apparel, The Piano Lesson I Hartford Stage: The Piano Lesson | Hartford Stage/Long Wharf Theatre: Having Our Say | Two River Theater/PlayMaker’s Repertory Company: A Trouble in Mind : Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Whipping Man |Portland Stage: Native Gardens | City Theatre: The Revolutionists, Sunset Baby | The Juilliard School/ Perseverance Theatre: A Raisin In The Sun | Chautauqua Theater Company: The Tempest | People’s Light/ Point Park University: Seven Guitars, The Persians | Portland Playhouse: King Hedley II | Atlantic TheaterCompany: Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money | Dorset Theater Festival/Portland Stage/TheatreWorks Silicon Valley/Marin Theatre: Skeleton Crew | Resident Ensemble Players at University of Delaware: From the Author of | Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival: A Member of the Wedding. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR: NEW YORK: Broadway: A Streetcar Named Desire, The Gin Game. REGIONAL: Carnegie Hall: The Children’s Monologues. Jade has developed works with playwrights Chisa Hutchinson, Dael Orlandersmith, Candrice Jones, Sofia Alvarez, Aurin Squire, Jonathan Payne, Kia Corthron, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Joshua Allen, Dominique Morriseau, Sam Chanse,  Kara Lee Corthron, Betty Shamieh, Keith Joseph Adkins, Janine Nabers, Kelli Goff, Kristen Greenidge, C.A Johnson and many others, culminating with readings and workshops at Roundabout Theatre, Playwright’s Horizon, New York Theatre Workshop, The O’Neill Theater Center, McCarter Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Huntington Theatre, Two River Theatre, New Dramatists, Second Stage Theatre, The Lark, Primary Stages, Time Warner New Play Festival, LABryinth, PlayPenn, Joe’s Pub, Goethe Institute, Lincoln Center Institute, and many others. Jade has taught, guest lectured and directed at Juilliard, Princeton, New York University, Rutgers, Penn State, WVU, SUNY, Adelphi, Kean University, NYCDA, Point Park University, Iowa University. Jade was presented with the Paul Green Award from the National Theatre Conference and The Estate of August Wilson. Past Fellowships & Awards: TCG New Generations Future Leader, New York Theatre Workshop, Van Lier, Second Stage Theatre, Women’s Project, McCarter Theatre, SUNY 40 under 40, Gates Millennium Scholar. 

KEONE and MARI MADRID

Direction and Choreography, ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME

Keone and Mari are globally acclaimed artists known for explosively viral dance videos and collaborations with the world’s top musical acts.  After choreographing and starring in Justin Bieber’s hit music video “Love Yourself,” which has been viewed over 1.6 billion times on YouTube alone, they became one the industry’s most sought-after dance teams, choreographing several music videos and historic appearances for the global K-Pop sensation BTS, as well as on projects with Mark Ronson, Billie Eilish, Ed Sheeran, Flying Lotus, and Kendrick Lamar, for which they’ve earned nominations for MTV Video Music Awards and UK Video Music Awards. Their recent work creating, directing, co-producing and starring in their first full-length theatrical Off-Broadway, Beyond Babel, earned them two Drama Desk Award nominations and a New York Times Critic’s Pick. In addition to directing/choreographing Once Upon A One More Time, their upcoming stage work includes choreographing the Broadway-bound Karate Kid musical. As performers, they have appeared on: the hit television series “World of Dance,” “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Ellen”, and “Dancing with the Stars”; in Times Square Billboard campaigns; SKY a 3D musical; and dance competitions worldwide. Their choreography for the new Disney animated short Us Again, told entirely through music and dance, debuted this spring before Raya and The Last Dragon will be available on Disney+ in June. On top of their work as dancers & choreographers, they are teachers & creatives, and husband & wife, who started out on their own paths and eventually found each other through dance, living out a dream of sharing impactful art through storytelling and movement, hoping to inspire others to do the same. 

ALAN PAUL

Director, OUR TOWN

Alan Paul is the Associate Artistic Director of Shakespeare Theatre Company.  His STC credits include the film of All the Devils Are Here (NY Times Critic’s Pick), the world premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s Peter Pan and Wendy, The Comedy of Errors (Helen Hayes Award nomination, Best Director), Camelot, Romeo and Juliet, Kiss Me, Kate, Man of La Mancha (Helen Hayes Award nomination, Best Director), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Helen Hayes Award, Best Director), The Boys From Syracuse, The Winter’s Tale, and Twelfth Night. Recent highlights include Cabaret at Olney Theatre Center (Helen Hayes Award nomination, Best Director), Spring Awakening at Round House Theatre, The Pajama Game at Arena Stage, Kiss Me, Kate at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre, Silence! The Musical (Helen Hayes Award nomination, Best Director) and The Rocky Horror Show at Studio Theatre, and I Am My Own Wife at Signature Theatre. Classical credits include the world premiere of Penny at Washington National Opera, Butterfly/Saigon at Strathmore, Fire and Air at The Kennedy Center, The Pirates of Penzance at Palm Beach Opera (starring Stephanie Blythe), Man of La Mancha at Portland Opera, and numerous collaborations with The National Symphony Orchestra. In 2013, Alan was the only American finalist for the European Opera Directing Prize in Vienna, Austria. Alan has taught at UMD’s Opera Studio and Washington National Opera’s Young Artist Program.

BRITNEY SPEARS is one of the most celebrated entertainers in the history of pop with nearly 150 million records sold worldwide, multiple platinum records, and countless awards and accolades. She has sold more than 70 million albums and hit singles in the U.S. alone. Spears quickly rose to stardom and became a household name as a teenager when she released her first single “…Baby One More Time,” a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 smash and international hit that broke sales records with more than 20 million copies sold worldwide and is currently 14x platinum in the U.S.

Her musical career boasts tremendous awards and accolades, including seven Billboard Music Awards, the Billboard’s Millennium Award, which recognizes outstanding career achievements and influence in the music industry, as well as an American Music Award and the 2011 MTV Video Vanguard Award. To date, Spears has earned a total of six No. 1-debuting albums on the Billboard 200 chart and 34 Top 40 hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100 – four of which went to No. 1. Spears has been nominated for seven GRAMMY Awards and won for Best Dance Recording in 2005.

Britney’s music has not only touched the lives of millions, but she also has used her global platform and voice to support the LGBTQ community on a variety of platforms. As a longtime ally of the community, she most recently received GLAAD’s 2018 Vanguard Award, presented to media professionals who have made a significant difference in promoting equality and acceptance of LGBTQ people.

DAVID STRATHAIRN

REMEMBER THIS: THE LESSON OF JAN KARSKI

Jan Karski

FILM credits include: Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland (Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival; Oscar and Golden Globe Awards for Best Picture); George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck (Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor); Stephen Spielberg’s Lincoln; John Sayles’ Matewan, Eight Men Out, and City of Hope; Doug Magee’s Beyond the Call. THEATRE credits include: American Conservatory Theater: Scorched by Wajdi Mouawad, Underneath the Lintel by Glenn Berger | THEATRE OF WAR productions.

THEATRE FOR A NEW AUDIENCE

Founded in 1979 by Jeffrey Horowitz, Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) is home for Shakespeare and other contemporary playwrights. It nurtures artists, culture, and community. Recognizing that each audience is new and different from the last one, TFANA is dedicated to forging an exchange between artist and playgoer that is immediate and direct, and to the ongoing search for a living, human theatre. With Shakespeare as its supreme guide, TFANA explores the ever-changing forms of world theatre and builds a dialogue spanning centuries between the language and ideas of Shakespeare and diverse authors, past and present. TFANA is committed to building long-term associations with artists from around the world and supporting the development of plays, translations, and productions through residences, workshops and commissions. TFANA is also devoted to economic access and promotes a vibrant exchange of ideas through its humanities and education programs. Its productions have played nationally, internationally and on Broadway. In 2001, it became the first American theatre company invited to bring a production of Shakespeare to the Royal Shakespeare Company. Over the last decade, John Douglas Thompson and Arin Arbus have collaborated on several acclaimed productions at TFANA including Shakespeare’s Othello and Macbeth, and Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Strindberg’s The Father in rotating repertory.

JOHN DOUGLAS THOMPSON

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

Shylock

NEW YORK: Broadway: ​King Lear, ​Jitney (Tony nomination), ​A Time To ​Kill,​ Cyrano de Bergerac, Julius Caesar.​ Off-Broadway: ​Julius Caesar at Public Theater | The Iceman Cometh ​at BAM (Obie, Drama Desk Awards) |​Tamburlaine​ at TFANA (Obie, Drama Desk, AUDELCO Awards​) | Satchmo At The Waldorf​ (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, NAACP Award) at Westside Theater ​| King Lear​, ​Macbeth, Othello​ (Obie, Lucille Lortel, Joe A. Callaway Award) at TFANA | The Emperor Jones ​at​ Irish Rep (Joe A. Callaway Award, Lucille Lortel, Drama League, Drama​ ​Desk nominations) | ​Hedda Gabler ​at NY Theatre Workshop. REGIONAL: ​Joe Turner’s Come And Gone ​at Mark Taper Forum (Ovation Award) | Antony and Cleopatra ​at Hartford​ ​Stage | ​Red Velvet, Othello​,​Richard III​, ​King Lear​, and ​Mother Courage a​t Shakespeare & Co. | Additional productions at Williamstown, Trinity Rep, ART and Yale Rep. TELEVISION:​ The Gilded Age, Mare Of Easttown, For Life, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. FILM: 355, The Letter Room, 21 Bridges, Let Them All Talk, Glass Chin, Malcolm X.

WHITNEY WHITE

Director, THE AMEN CORNER

Whitney White, an Associate Director at Shakespeare Theatre Company,is an Obie Award and Lilly Award-winning director, writer, and musician originally from Chicago. She is a believer of alternative forms of performance, multi-disciplinary work, and collaborative processes. She is the current recipient of the Susan Stroman Directing Award, is part of the Rolex Protegé and Mentorship Arts Initiative and is an Associate Artist at The Roundabout. Recent directing: STC: The Amen Corner | WP Theatre and Second Stage: Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (NYT Critic’s Pick) | The Movement Theatre Company/Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company/American Repertory Theater/The Public Theater: Aleshea Harris’ What to Send Up When it Goes Down (NYT Critic’s Pick) | Long Wharf: An Iliad | IAMATheater Company: Canyon by Jonathan Caren (LA Times Critic’s Choice and recipient of the CTG Block Party Grant) | PlayMakers Repertory Comapny: Jump by Charly Evon Simpson (National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere). DIGITAL PROJECTS include: Finish the Fight by Ming Peiffer (The New York Times, 24K+ viewers) | Animals by Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Williamstown Theatre and Audible) and Soft Light by Aleshea Harris (The Movement Theatre Company). Her original musical Definition will debut at the Bushwick Starr in 2021 and her five-part cycle deconstructing Shakespeare’s women and female ambition is currently in development with American Repertory Theater (Cambridge, MA). Past residencies and fellowships: Sundance Theatre Lab, Colt Coeur, The Drama League, the Roundabout and the 2050 Fellowship at the New York Theatre Workshop. MFA Acting: Brown University/Trinity Rep, BA: Northwestern University.

THORNTON WILDER

Playwright, OUR TOWN

Born in 1897 in Madison, Wisconsin, to a progressive family, his childhood was spent first in Shanghai and Hong Kong, where his father was working as a diplomat, and later settling in California’s East Bay. After graduating from Yale in 1920, Wilder spent a post-graduate year at the American Academy in Rome, where he picked up Italian and saw the world premiere of Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author. He earned his Master of Arts degree in French literature from Princeton University in 1926, translating plays by André Obey and Jean-Paul Sartre. 

Turning first to novels, Wilder won the Pulitzer Prize with his second book, 1927’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey, at the prodigious age of 31. In 1928 and 1931, he published two collections of one-act plays, including classics such as The Long Christmas Dinner, The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden,and Pullman Car Hiawatha.  

In 1938, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Our Town, and he won the prize again in 1943 for his play The Skin of Our Teeth. In 1954, at the behest of Tyrone Guthrie, Wilder reworked his 1938 flop, The Merchant of Yonkers into The Matchmaker. It is a run matched by few in the history of American theatre. The Matchmaker became the basis for the hit 1964 musical Hello, Dolly! 

During World War II, he served in the Air Force Intelligence Unit, winning several awards of distinction. In 1943, he wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt. For the school year of 1950-51, he served as the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard. He also translated plays and wrote libretti for operas in addition to writing several other novels. He received a U.S. National Book Award for the novel The Eighth Day in 1968. His many honorary degrees and awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963.  

CLARK YOUNG

Writer, REMEMBER THIS: THE LESSON OF JAN KARSKI

Clark Young, a writer and teacher based in Brooklyn, co-created every iteration of Remember This from Warsaw and New York City to London and Washington DC. Clark graduated from Georgetown University, and received his Master’s from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where he was recognized for academic excellence in the field of Performance Studies.