Photo Flash: First Look at Robert Sean Leonard in The Old Globe's KING RICHARD II

The Old Globe presents the first offering in the 2017 Summer Shakespeare Festival: William Shakespeare's epic King Richard II, helmed by award-winning director Erica Schmidt (Off Broadway's A Month in the Country, All the Fine Boys, Humor Abuse) in her Globe debut. The play will run now through July 15, 2017, in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. Opening night is tomorrow, June 18, and BroadwayWorld has a first look at Robert Sean Leonard and the company in action below!

The Old Globe's summer season kicks off with one of the greatest of Shakespeare's towering cycle of history plays. Convinced of his divine right to rule, King Richard acts recklessly and provides the canny Henry Bolingbroke an opening to seize the crown. Filled with magnificent verse and memorable characters, the exciting and dramatic King Richard II is a moving and insightful portrait of how the forces of history collide and combust to shape a nation's political landscape.

As previously announced, Tony Award winner Robert Sean Leonard will take on the title role of King Richard II. Globe audiences will remember him from his memorable roles as Henry Higgins in Pygmalion in 2011 and Edgar in Jack O'Brien's King Lear in 1993 opposite HAl Holbrook. Leonard is probably best known for playing Dr. James Wilson for eight seasons on the hit television series "House" and for playing Neil Perry in Dead Poets Society, his film debut. He also has over a dozen Broadway credits, including The Invention of Love, Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Music Man, Arcadia, and this season's Sunday in the Park with George.

Joining him in the cast are John Ahlin (Broadway's Waiting for Godot, Journey's End, Macbeth) as Earl of Northumberland; Jake Horowitz (King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream, David Cromer's Our Town Off Broadway) as Duke of Aumerle; Old Globe Associate Artist Charles Janasz (32 productions at The Old Globe, most recently 2013 Shakespeare Festival) as John of Gaunt and Gardener; Patrick Kerr (Globe's Love's Labor's Lost and Twelfth Night, "Frasier," "Curb Your Enthusiasm") as Duke of York; Tory Kittles ("Colony," "True Detective," "Sons of Anarchy") as Henry Bolingbroke; Ian Lassiter (The Cherry Orchard and War Horse on Broadway) as Thomas Mowbray, Welsh Captain, and Keeper; Lizabeth Mackay (Globe's Faith Healer, Broadway'sCrimes of the Heart) as Duchess of York and Servingwoman; James Joseph O'Neill (a dozen Globe credits, include Macbeth last year) as Bishop of Carlisle; and San Diego local Connor Sullivan (Globe's Sense and Sensibility, The Metromaniacs) as Lord Willoughby.

The cast also includes students in The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program: Amara James Aja as Bushy and Sir Stephen Scroop; Samuel Max Avishay as Harry Percy; Nora Carroll as Queen Isabel; Renardo Charles Jr. as Lord Ross; Ajinkya Desai as House of Norfolk Herald; Talley Beth Gale as Lady 1 and Servingwoman; Daniel Ian Joeck as Bagot and Earl of Salisbury; Lorenzo Landini as Green and Duke of Surrey; Jose Martinez as House of Hereford Herald; Christina A. Okolo as House of Norfolk Herald and Servingwoman; Suzelle Palacios as Lady 2, Groom, and Servingwoman; Larica Schnell as House of Hereford Herald, Gardener, and Servingwoman; and Samantha Sutliff as Duchess of Gloucester, Gardener, and Servingwoman.

The creative team of King Richard II includes two-time Tony Award winner John Lee Beatty (Scenic Design), Andrea Lauer (Costume Design), Stephen Strawbridge (Lighting Design), Sten Severson (Sound Design), Ursula Meyer (Voice and Text Coach), Jim Carnahan, CSA (Casting), and Anjee Nero(Production Stage Manager).

Single tickets to King Richard II start at $30 and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE [234-5623], or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

Photo Credit: Jim Cox