Shakespeare Theatre Company To Celebrate Publication of SHAKESPEARE IN THE THEATRE

Shakespeare Theatre Company has announced a special event celebrating the publication of Shakespeare in the Theatre: Shakespeare Theatre Company, co-authored by STC's Artistic Producer Drew Lichtenberg and Deborah C. Payne, Professor of Literature at American University and former Research Consultant for STC.

The event, From Kahn to Godwin: STC History in Conversation, takes place on Tuesday, October 15, and brings the authors together with STC former and current Artistic Directors Michael Kahn and Simon Godwin for a discussion about the company's storied history, moderated by the New York Times's Maureen Dowd.

Shakespeare in the Theatre: Shakespeare Theatre Company chronicles the history of STC from its time as a small repertory troupe at the Folger Theatre to an internationally renowned theatre with two theatre buildings in Washington's Penn Quarter. From the three-decade tenure of founding Artistic Director Michael Kahn to his British successor Simon Godwin, the book chronicles the company's artistic vision and growth alongside social and economic factors in the nation's capital.

On October 15, Kahn and Godwin will come together for the first official event since the beginning of Godwin's tenure to discuss with Lichtenburg and Payne the history of STC, its unique blend of telling classical stories and contemporary stories of epic scope, all while situated in the Nation's capital.

Tickets for the event are free for STC subscribers and donors, and $25 for the general public. Subscribers and donors can reserve their tickets beginning today, and remaining tickets will go on sale on Friday, September 13. A signing of the book with the authors will follow the discussion.

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS

Maureen Dowd is a columnist for The New York Times Opinion Pages and a feature writer for The Times's Style and Arts & Leisure sections. Ms. Dowd won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999, in the commentary category, for her “unsparing columns on the hypocrisies involved in the Lewinsky affair and the effort to impeach President Clinton.” Ms. Dowd was appointed a columnist for the Op-Ed page of The New York Times in January 1995 and has covered ten presidential campaigns. She served as White House correspondent during the first Bush administration and the Clinton administration, gaining a wide following of admirers and imitators for her witty, incisive, and acerbic portraits of the powerful. In 2012, she received an honorary doctorate from National University of Ireland, Galway. She has written three best-selling books: Bushworld, Are Men Necessary?, and most recently The Year of Voting Dangerously. Born in Washington, D.C., she received a B.A. degree in English literature from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. in 1973 and honorary doctorates from Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., and the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. She received her master's degree in English literature from Columbia University in 2023. Ms. Dowd lives in Washington, D.C.

Simon Godwin joined Shakespeare Theatre Company as Artistic Director in September 2019. His directing credits at STC include Comedy of Errors, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Timon of Athens, and the 2024 production of Macbeth with Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma, which also played in Liverpool, Edinburgh, and London. He is an Associate Director of The National Theatre of London, and has served as Associate Director of 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. 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. He returned to The National Theatre to direct Much Ado About Nothing featuring Katherine Parkinson and John Heffernan, and Romeo & Juliet, an original film for television (Sky Arts in U.K./PBS in U.S.) starring Josh O'Connor and Jessie Buckley. In 2023, he directed Romeo & Juliet for the Washington National Opera. He has 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.

Michael Kahn joined STC in 1986 and received a Helen Hayes Award nomination for best director for his inaugural production of Romeo and Juliet. Under his leadership, STC made tickets accessible with free ticket initiatives and educational programs for students and residents of D.C. During his 30-year tenure, he oversaw the move of STC from the Folger Shakespeare Library to the Lansburgh building in Penn Quarter to its now home in Sidney Harman Hall at the Harman Center for the Arts. In 2012, STC was the recipient of the Regional Theatre Tony Award. Kahn's adaptations of Shakespeare have been performed around the globe. His production of The Oedipus Plays was presented at the Athens Festival in Greece, Love's Labor's Lost was performed in Stratford-upon-Avon in England, and A Midsummer Night's Dream traveled to Macao, China. Kahn is also the founder of the Academy of Classical Acting at George Washington University. He served as the Richard Rodgers Director of the Drama Division at Juilliard, and taught at the school for over five decades. He was honored by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the arts and was recognized as a Commander of the British Empire in 2013. He is also in the Theater Hall of Fame recognizing his work as STC artistic director, his tenure at Juilliard, and his work as a director on Broadway.

Drew Lichtenberg is Shakespeare Theatre Company's Artistic Producer. As the dramaturg in residence since 2011, he has worked on dozens of productions, ranging from Shakespeare and the Greeks to award-winning world premieres. He has also worked at the Royal National Theatre in London, on and off Broadway, and at regional theaters around the country. He has taught at Catholic, Yale, and the New School, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, and he is the author of two books, including the first-ever critical history of Shakespeare Theatre, coming this fall from the esteemed Arden Shakespeare. He holds a doctorate of fine arts from Yale School of Drama.

Deborah C. Payne is Professor of Literature at American University, USA. She was the Humanities Research Consultant at the Shakespeare Theatre Company from 2000 – 2009, and she has dramaturged for Studio Theatre, Arena Stage, the Kennedy Center, and the Bach Sinfonia. Her publications include The Business of English Restoration Theatre, 1660 – 1700 (2023), Revisiting Shakespeare's Lost Play (2016), Four Restoration Libertine Plays (2005), The Cambridge Companion to English Restoration Theatre (2000) and Cultural Readings of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century English Theatre (1995).

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