STC Sets 40th Season Featuring Wendell Pierce, Bill Irwin and More

Shakespeare Theatre Company has revealed the lineup of its upcoming 25/26 Season, celebrating the company’s 40th season exploring classic storytelling in Washington, D.C. The season features two Shakespeares, including Othello, which will be directed by STC Artistic Director Simon Godwin and feature Wendell Pierce (Elsbeth, The Wire) in the title role.

The season starts in Harman Hall with Merry Wives, reimagined by Jocelyn Bioh, who transports Shakespeare’s Sir John Falstaff, Mistress Quickly, and more, into a vibrant South Harlem community of West African immigrants. Visionary and award-winning director Taylor Reynolds makes her STC debut with Merry Wives, following sold-out shows in D.C. at Studio and Signature Theatres. 

Merry Wives will be followed by The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen, a playwright whose powerful words have not appeared on an STC stage in nearly a decade, adapted by David Eldridge. Directed by Simon Godwin in the Klein Theatre, Ibsen’s examination of family secrets and the elusive value of truth is ripe for re-examination and is produced in association with Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA). This production marks the fifth production of Ibsen at STC, making him the most produced playwright at the theatre after Shakespeare.

For the holiday season, Harman Hall will be bursting with song and dance when Washington National Opera Artistic Director Francesca Zambello makes her STC debut directing Guys and Dolls. The crowd-pleasing Tony Award-winning musical centers on lovable degenerates Nathan Detroit and Sky Masterson, whose souls may yet be saved by the likes of one Sarah Brown. Zambello will be joined by choreographer Joshua Bergasse (Smash, Broadway's Bull Durham).

In the new year, the writings of Samuel Beckett will be dissected and performed by the preposterously charismatic Bill Irwin in his funny and insightful one-man show On Beckett. Irwin (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Eureka Day, Sesame Street) is a Tony Award-winning actor and master clown who has spent a lifetime captivated by Beckett. 

Harman Hall will then have back-to-back explorations of Shakespeare. First, from the Royal Shakespeare Company, in its first time at STC, comes the U.S. premiere of Hamnet, an “elegant and beguiling” (Evening Standard) staging of the beloved best-selling novel by Maggie O’Farrell. Hamnet is adapted by award-winning playwright Lolita Chakrabarti (Life of Pi, Red Velvet) and directed by Erica Whyman. The story explores the romance and marriage of Agnes and William, their family, and the tragic loss that inspired one of the greatest plays ever written.

Closing the season, Godwin returns to the director’s seat with Othello with the Olivier and Tony Award-nominee Wendell Pierce (Death of a Salesman, Elsbeth, The Wire).

Merry Wives

By William Shakespeare
Adapted by Jocelyn Bioh
Directed by Taylor Reynolds
SEP 9 – OCT 5
Harman Hall

William Shakespeare's farce gets a joyful spin from Jocelyn Bioh (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding), dropping the debaucherous Falstaff into the melting pot of modern Harlem. Short on cash, Falstaff pursues the purses of two sharp-witted West African wives. As their proud husbands' suspicions rise, the wives cook up a scheme to shame the would-be homewrecker and prove that "wives may be merry, and yet honest too" in this "spirited, sharp, and silly" (Variety) celebration. Taylor Reynolds (Fat Ham) makes her STC directorial debut in the play’s regional premiere.

The Wild Duck

By Henrik Ibsen
Adapted by David Eldridge
Directed by Simon Godwin
OCT 18 – NOV 16
Klein Theatre
Produced in Association with Theatre for a New Audience

The eccentric son of a wealthy businessman wreaks havoc when he embarks on a crusade to unveil the false foundations of his friend's life. Ignorant of the adults' machinations, a young girl tries to shield a fragile creature from the hurts of the world. Artistic Director Simon Godwin (Macbeth) directs Henrik Ibsen's unflinching tale about truth's tragic toll in a timeless story “that explains why Ibsen is the greatest dramatist after Shakespeare” (The Guardian).

Guys and Dolls

Based on a Story and Characters of Damon Runyon
Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser
Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows
Choreographed by Joshua Bergasse
Directed by Francesca Zambello
DEC 2 – JAN 4
Harman Hall

The oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York just got busted and Nathan Detroit needs cold hard cash to get it up and running again. Enter high-roller Sky Masterson, who Nathan wagers can’t get a date with the straightlaced Sarah Brown, a Salvation Army missionary trying to save them all from sin. Directed by Washington National Opera Artistic Director Francesca Zambello and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse (Smash, Broadway's Bull Durham), dance the night away to "Luck Be a Lady Tonight," "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat," "A Bushel and a Peck," and more classic tunes in the must-see show of the holiday season.

On Beckett

Conceived and performed by Bill Irwin
An Irish Repertory Theatre Production, Produced in association with Octopus Theatricals
FEB 11 – MAR 8
Klein Theatre

Tony Award-winning actor and master clown Bill Irwin (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Sesame Street) has spent a lifetime captivated by Samuel Beckett. With little more than a funny hat and a podium, Irwin mines the comedy and tragedy of Beckett’s work—including Waiting for Godot, Texts for Nothing, and more—in a nonstop display of jovial verbal and physical comedy that has become Irwin’s signature. Whether you’re encountering the Nobel Prize winner’s writings for the first time or building on a body of Beckett knowledge, the “pure, energizing joy” (The New York Times) of Irwin’s dynamic showcase is not to be missed.

Hamnet

by Maggie O'Farrell

Presented by The Royal Shakespeare Company and Neal Street Productions

Adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti
Directed by Erica Whyman
MAR 17 – APR 12
Harman Hall

When the plague steals 11-year-old Hamnet from his loving parents, Agnes and William, they must each confront their loss alone. And yet, out of the greatest suffering, something of extraordinary wonder is born. Experience the U.S. premiere of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s “sweeping and sentimental” (The Guardian) stage adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling novel, adapted by award-winning playwright Lolita Chakrabarti (Life of Pi) and directed by Erica Whyman.

Othello

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Simon Godwin
MAY 19 - JUN 21
Harman Hall