Matthew Broderick & More to be Featured in Shakespeare Theatre Company 24/25 Season

Shakespeare Theatre Company has revealed the lineup of its upcoming 24/25 Season. Two-time Tony Award-winner Matthew Broderick makes his STC debut in Babbitt, a new adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s classic satirical novel.  

“We are thrilled to reveal the first play in Harman Hall this fall will be Babbitt, starring Matthew Broderick,” says STC Artistic Director Simon Godwin. “This new adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s beloved novel, crafted by Joe DiPietro and led by Matthew’s incredible charisma and talent, is something I can’t wait for our audiences to experience.” 

Babbitt, which completed a highly praised world-premiere run at La Jolla Playhouse in December, is a satirical comedy that captures the plight of the modern middle-class American man. Based on Lewis’s 1922 novel, Babbitt follows George F. Babbitt (Broderick), a successful real estate agent, who plunges recklessly into extraordinary rebellion against the conformity of everyday life. Also coming to STC with this production are Ann Harada (Avenue Q), Matt McGrath (The Legend of Georgia McBride), Chris Myers (STC’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and director Christopher Ashley. 

The season begins in the Klein Theatre with Comedy of Errors, directed by Simon Godwin and featuring Alex Brightman and David Fynn. Brightman and Fynn, known for playing Dewey in School of Rock in the Broadway and West End productions, respectively, will play the wayward twins, each named Dromio, servants to the similarly twinned Antipholus(es). Cases of mistaken identity abound in one of Shakespeare’s most off-kilter comedies.  

The holiday season will see the arrival of Tom Stoppard’s recent Tony and Oliver Award-winning Leopoldstadt about a Jewish family in Vienna over the course of 60 turbulent years. This new co-production with The Huntington will be directed by Stoppard’s frequent collaborator Carey Perloff.  

“My mother is a Viennese refugee who fled the Nazis in March 1938, so Stoppard’s gorgeous and heartbreaking play has enormous resonance for me personally. I’m so honored that STC is giving me the chance to stage the first American production, in the city where I grew up,” says Perloff. “Leopoldstadt is a family play, a rich story about how we are shaped by politics and history, and as such, it feels like a perfect fit for DC audiences. It is also Stoppard’s most deeply personal play, in which he reckons with the impact of his own Jewish heritage on his life and work, and he will be a crucial part of our collaboration. I have loved working in DC in recent years and am greatly looking forward to collaborating with Simon and the whole STC team!" 

The new year will see the arrival of Kunene and the King,  written by and starring Tony Award-winning South African actor, activist, and playwright John Kani (Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island), and directed by Tony Award-winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson (The Piano Lesson, Skeleton Crew). The play follows the unexpected bond between a terminally ill Shakespearean actor and his caregiver Lunga Kunene (Kani), set 25 years after the first post-apartheid democratic elections in South Africa. 

“Kunene and the King has been a special gift to me as a writer,” says Kani. “I wrote the play to deal with some questions that I had within myself. Kunene and the King asks, ‘We fought for liberation. We fought for freedom. We ended up with democracy. What the hell is democracy?’” 

Next, Godwin will direct Anton Chekov’s complex comedy Uncle Vanya, starring Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey). “In addition to his extensive classical work, Hugh is a gifted comedic actor,” says Godwin. “I look forward to embracing this skill in the role of Vanya.” The show will be a co-production with Berkeley Repertory, based on the recent adaptation of the script by Conor McPherson (Girl from the North Country). 

“I’m delighted to be returning to the stage in Uncle Vanya and am particularly excited to be performing in not one but two prestigious American theatres,” says Bonneville. “With Simon Godwin directing, and with the team we are assembling, I know we’ll give audiences a wonderful theatrical experience of wit, warmth, and human frailty, so brilliantly evoked in Chekov’s timeless tale of flawed characters muddling through life.” 

The season concludes with the world premiere adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, commissioned by STC from National Theatre Associate Director Emily Burns. Burns (Jack Absolute Flies Again) most recently worked with STC on its productions of Much Ado About Nothing and this season’s highly anticipated production of Macbeth. 

“For two centuries, Frankenstein's creature has proved a rich parable—of ambition, of responsibility, and of abandonment,” says Burns. “I’m excited to revisit this story for the STC audience, reveling in the terror and largesse of the original, while mining the rich seam of this fable for its most contemporary resonance.” 

In addition to the six-play mainstage subscription series, STC will see the return of Patrick Page in his hit Off-Broadway show All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain, directed by Godwin, as a limited engagement run in December. The "thrillingly theatrical” (The New York Sun) production was originally produced as a film during STC’s lockdown season. This newly revised version of the show will return Page to the Klein Theatre where Godwin last directed him in the box office smash production of King Lear. 

“STC has been a partner on this piece since its premiere as a filmed production during Covid,” says Page. “What a joy to bring it back to D.C., fully realized, as part of the next evolution of this show. I’m especially pleased to have Simon Godwin at the helm, following our partnership on King Lear last season. STC has continued to be an artistic home for me, and I look forward to sharing such a personal piece with its audiences in person.” 

The season will also include a special add-on reading of a new piece commissioned by Shakespeare Theatre Company, based on Ann Petry’s 1953 novel, The Narrows. The novel, which explores intersecting themes of race, class, and gender through a tragic love story, is being adapted by actor and playwright Regina Taylor (Crowns, Drowning Crow). This reading will be an invitation-only event for subscribers and donors. 

Full casting and artistic team details will be announced for each show at a future date.

Show Descriptions

Comedy of Errors

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Simon Godwin
SEP 10 – OCT 6, 2024

Two sets of twins. Two rival cities. Infinite hilarity. 

Confusions collide in this hilariously illogical comedy. Lookalikes Alex Brightman (School of Rock on Broadway) and David Fynn (School of Rock on the West End) come together as Dromio and Dromio (respectively) to add a splash of rock ‘n’ roll to Shakespeare’s most deliriously funny play. Artistic Director Simon Godwin (Much Ado about Nothing, Macbeth) directs this raucous reflection of families lost and found, topsy-turvy love, and the utterly human desire to belong.

Matthew Broderick in 

Babbitt

By Joe DiPietro 
Adapted from the Novel by Sinclair Lewis 
Directed by Christopher Ashley 
Produced in association with La Jolla Playhouse 
OCT 1 – 27, 2024

Two-time Tony-winner Matthew Broderick (The Producers, Plaza Suite) makes his STC debut in this breathtaking political satire. 

Meet George F. Babbitt: real estate broker, father of two, a fine, upstanding, middle-class American everyman. Seeking meaning to his humdrum existence, Babbitt plunges headlong into the most spectacular rebellion of his life (using the guest towel) and unwittingly turns the world around him upside down. Prepare to be amazed by this exhilarating adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s satirical masterpiece. 

Leopoldstadt

by Tom Stoppard
Directed by Carey Perloff
Produced in association with The Huntington
NOV 30 – DEC 29, 2024

Five-time Tony winner Tom Stoppard (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead) offers his most personal story in Leopoldstadt.

A Jewish family grows and struggles over the course of nearly 60 years, beginning with their initial assimilation into Viennese culture, negotiating the outbreak of two World Wars through to the aftermath of the Holocaust. Traversing decades of joy and strife, the family strives to maintain their delicate bonds of shared history. Directed by celebrated playwright/director Carey Perloff, in a new arrangement she crafted with Stoppard, Leopoldstadt is a Tony and Olivier Award-winning play.

Kunene and the King

By John Kani 
Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Produced in association with Octopus Theatricals
FEB 16 – MAR 16, 2025

South African actor, activist, and playwright John Kani (Black Panther, Sizwe Banzi Is Dead/The Island) stars in his story of Shakespeare’s unifying force. 

It’s a quarter century since the first post-apartheid democratic elections, and Jack Morris has just been given a career-defining role as King Lear—and a life-changing diagnosis. As the celebrated classical actor faces his own mortality, he clashes and connects with his at-home caregiver, Lunga Kunene (Kani), in this “poignant two-hander" (The Guardian).

Uncle Vanya

by Anton Chekhov
Adapted by Conor McPherson 
Directed by Simon Godwin
Produced in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre
MAR 30 – APR 20, 2025

One of the UK’s most beloved actors makes his D.C. debut in STC’s first ever production by Anton Chekhov. 

When the distinguished elderly owner of a rural estate returns with a new, young wife, Yelena, chaos erupts. Tensions run high, marriages reach their limits, confessions—and vodka—flow freely, and weapons are drawn. Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey, Paddington) plays Uncle Vanya, in this heartbreaking comedy about the eternal battle between futility and change. 

Frankenstein

By Mary Shelley
Adapted and Directed by Emily Burns
JUN 3 – 29, 2025

Buckle in for an electrifying take on a classic tale. 

Emily Burns (adaptor of STC’s Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing), reimagines Mary Shelley's romantic gothic science fiction masterpiece as a chilling exploration of what it means to create a new life. Visceral and provocative, this world-premiere production reveals the inner lives of Elizabeth and Victor Frankenstein in bold new ways. Riding the edge of cinematic thriller and intense drama, Frankenstein redefines the legend we know, the name we fear, and the monstrous act at the heart of the story.

LIMITED ENGAGEMENT: 

An Octopus Theatricals Production 

All the Devils Are Here

How Shakespeare Invented the Villain 
Created and Performed by Patrick Page 
Directed by Simon Godwin
DEC 6 – 29, 2024

A beguiling bonanza of Shakespearean devilry. 

Tony Award-nominee and Grammy Award-winner Patrick Page (King Lear, Hadestown) has never shied away from exploring his dark side. Now, with this tour de force show, Page turns to the twisted motivations and hidden humanity at the heart of Shakespeare’s greatest villains. Moving swiftly through the canon, Page illuminates Shakespeare’s evolving conception of evil by delving into more than a dozen of his most wicked creations, offering a thrilling masterclass on the most terrifying subject of them all: human nature. Previously seen onscreen, now is the chance for audiences in DC to experience an enhanced version live on stage. 

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