2018 Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival Announces Season

The Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival has announced its new season of dynamic, world-class productions, centered around stagings of two of Shakespeare's greatest works, Othello and The Merchant of Venice. The 2018 NDSF season will examine issues of race, immigration, and religion, and will encourage audiences, actors, scholars, and artists to consider the topics raised, and their implications for the community.

"We Must Obey The Time," the theme of the 2018 season, comes from a line from Othello, spoken by the titular Moor to his ill-fated love, Desdemona. In a world currently wracked with unprecedented displays of hostility towards "the outsider" and "the other," this new season is intended to explore the experiences of those whom society excludes, and to gain fresh insights into the world from the perspectives of those outside of the mainstream.

The 2018 season is highlighted by the NDSF Professional Company's provocative new take on the Tragedy of Othello, Moor of Venice, directed by Cameron Knight (last year's memorable Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing) and starring film, television, and stage actor Esau Pritchett (Netflix's Orange is the New Black, HBO's The Night Of) in the title role. NDSF artists will present a contemporary approach to the play, with our customary devotion to Shakespeare's rich language and imagination. Performances will run August 14-26, 2018 in the Patricia George Decio Theatre at Notre Dame's DeBartolo Performing Arts Center (DPAC). Tickets to the NDSF Professional Company production will be available beginning February 14, 2018.

The 2018 NDSF Touring Company will present a lively new production of the piquant comedy The Merchant of Venice, directed by Jemma Alix Levy. Performed by NDSF apprentices, the production will honor the rich comedy abundant in Shakespeare's play while exploring the playwright's choice of a Jewish moneylender as its principal villain. Performances will tour throughout Michiana during July and August of 2018.

NDSF's Community Company presents the fifteenth year of ShakeScenes, an annual mashup of Shakespeare performed by young people from throughout the Michiana region. This year ShakeScenes too will take up the plight of the other, the stranger, or the outcast. This day of short ShakeScenes often involves as much comedy as it does pathos, and has served as the first experience with Shakespeare for thousands of young people. ShakeScenes will take place Saturday, July 14, 2018.

Back after a sellout inaugural year is Shakespeare After Hours, in which audiences enjoy Shakespeare at his bawdy, boozy, bloody best. Local civic theatres and dance companies present scenes intended for a mature audience. Patrons will raise a glass (literally) and toast the Bard's scandalous side. Shakespeare After Hours kicks off the 2018 season Friday, July 13, 2018 at LangLab in South Bend.

Auditions & interviews for the 2018 Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival will be held Friday, January 26, 2018 at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Stay tuned for more information.

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