ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL Opens Shakespeare Theatre Co's 2012-2013 Season Tonight, 8/23

Currently midway through the Shakespeare Theatre Company's celebratory 25th Anniversary Season, Artistic Director Michael Kahn announced the Company's 2012-2013 Season. 

The new season features the return of repertory productions, as STC will mount two productions as part of the new Clarice Smith Repertory Series; the Hero/Traitor Repertory will be comprised of Shakespeare's Coriolanus and Friedrich Schiller's Wallenstein, adapted by Robert Pinsky who served as Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress. Also included in the lineup are a beloved Shakespeare comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream; one of Shakespeare's late romances, The Winter's Tale; George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman and Nikolai Gogol's comedy The Government Inspector adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher.

"This exciting season is a lot of firsts for me," says Artistic Director Michael Kahn. "We have a world premiere adaptation of Schiller's Wallenstein by Robert Pinsky, the first Russian play to grace our stages and the STC directorial debut of Aaron Posner who is directing a terrific play, Shaw's Man and Superman. I'm also thrilled to welcome the return of repertory productions through the generous sponsorship of Clarice Smith. It will be quite the exhilarating season."

These six productions represent the full Shakespeare Theatre Company subscription series. Patrons will have the chance to also see STC's annual Free For All production, a remounting of All's Well That Ends Well, originally directed by Michael Kahn in 2010.

Shakespeare Theatre Company'S 2012-2013 SEASON

Free For All – William Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well
original direction by Michael Kahn
directed by Jenny Lord
August 23 – September 9, 2012
Sidney Harman Hall

Helena, the daughter of a doctor, cures the ailing King of France, who promises her the husband of her choice. But the King doesn't know that non-committal Count Bertram is the object of her affection. Confronted with the word of a King, Bertram attempts to escape through harsh words, disdainful actions and a romance with another woman. With resourceful deception and ample persistence, our heroine Helena overcomes one obstacle after another in this romantic season opener.

Nikolai Gogol's
The Government Inspector
adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from the original by Nikolai Gogol
directed by Michael Kahn
September 13 – October 28, 2012
Lansburgh Theatre

In Gogol's witty and hilarious satire of provincial Russian bureaucracy, Khlestakov, a civil servant who is running out of money, travels from Saint Petersburg to a small town where his imagination runs rampant. When bumbling town officials mistake him for an incognito inspector investigating them for corruption, a comedy of errors begins and chaos ensues. Directed by Artistic Director Michael Kahn, The Government Inspector portrays self deception, mockery and pandemonium in this ironic comedy.

William Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night's Dream
directed by Ethan McSweeny
November 15 – December 30, 2012
Sidney Harman Hall

Mismatched lovers Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena flee to the forest outside Athens, but they run into a supernatural squabble that will alter their destinies forever. Will mischievous Puck create harmony or cacophony within the forest? Will Bottom and his Mechanicals put on a successful show for the Duke? Love, magic and wonder fill the air as dreams blend with reality in this must-see Shakespeare classic.

George Bernard Shaw's
Man and Superman
directed by Aaron Posner
January 24 – March 10, 2013
Lansburgh Theatre

STC welcomes to its stage for the first time the philosophical comedy, Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw. This play explores the question of whether or not man can live without the love of a woman. Once John Tanner, a wealthy intellectual who values his freedom, finds out that Ann Whitefield is seeking him as a husband, he attempts to escape but is overcome by his attraction towards her. Aaron Posner directs this ambitious comedy of big ideas and witty emotions.

The Hero/Traitor Repertory

The first in the Clarice Smith Repertory Series

The Shakespeare Theatre Company is pleased to have the Robert H. Smith Family Foundation sponsor the newly established Clarice Smith Repertory Series, featuring plays in repertory each season for the next three years. "This sponsorship will help the Shakespeare Theatre Company fulfill one of my most vital artistic objectives, to regularly incorporate repertory into our annual mainstage programming as well as educate and engage our audience in this important work," said Artistic Director Michael Kahn. Clarice Smith stated she is happy to be able to assist Michael Kahn in achieving his goals for the company. "Michael's work has always been an inspiration and of the highest caliber. I am pleased to honor him in this way," Smith said. In the series' first presentation, Shakespeare's Coriolanus will play in repertory with Schiller's Wallenstein, both featuring themes of war, leadership, responsibility and loss.

William Shakespeare's
Coriolanus
directed by David Muse
March 28 – June 2, 2013
Sidney Harman Hall

A mighty hero, Caius Martius, earns the new name of "Coriolanus" for his triumphs. However his inflexible self-belief and contempt for popular rule cause him to be condemned as a traitor and sent into exile. Desiring revenge against the Romans who banished him, he befriends his blood enemy, Aufidius, to launch an assault on his beloved city. Rome, in its terror, pleads with Coriolanus to end his crusade for vengeance. Directed by David Muse, former STC Associate Artistic Director, Coriolanus blurs the lines between hero and traitor in this politically driven tragedy.

Friedrich Schiller's
Wallenstein
translated and freely adapted by Robert Pinsky
directed by Michael Kahn
March 29 – May 31, 2013
Sidney Harman Hall

STC is proud to announce a newly commissioned adaptation and translation of Friedrich Schiller's Wallenstein by former poet-laureate Robert Pinsky. Wallenstein, one of Germany's greatest dramatic works, follows the famous general Albrecht von Wallenstein at the height of his influence and power during the Thirty Years' War. Leading Europe's most powerful army, Wallenstein is caught between his ambition and the Emperor's growing distrust. He must decide either to stay loyal to his king and lose his power or to betray his country for greater gain. STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn directs his second Schiller play, following the success of Don Carlos which The Baltimore Sun called "a splendid production." Wallenstein was commissioned through the generous support of The Beech Street Foundation.

William Shakespeare's
The Winter's Tale
directed by Rebecca Bayla Taichman
co-produced with McCarter Theatre Center
May 9 – June 23, 2013
Lansburgh Theatre

A celebration in the art of storytelling, STC presents The Winter's Tale, one of Shakespeare's late romances. Traveling through time, visiting the austere court at Sicilia and the bright sea shore of Bohemia, two generations transcend torment and obsession. The Winter's Tale is a compassionate and dazzling saga that tells the tale of King Leontes, who is overcome with jealousy when he believes his pregnant wife Hermione and his good friend King Polixenes are lovers. STC revisits this classic piece with imagination and wit.

*Plays, artists and dates are subject to change.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company's innovative approach to Shakespeare and other classic playwrights throughout its 26 seasons has earned it the reputation as the nation's premier classical theatre company. By focusing on works with profound themes, complex characters and poetic language written by Shakespeare, his contemporaries and the playwrights he influenced, the Company's artistic mission is unique among theatre companies: to present theatre of scope and size in an imaginative, skillful and accessible American style that honors the playwrights' language and intentions while viewing their work through a 21st-century lens.

In its 2007-2008 Season, the company opened the Harman Center for the Arts, consisting of the new 774-seat Sidney Harman Hall and the 451-seat Lansburgh Theatre, both located in downtown Washington's Penn Quarter neighborhood. A dynamic hub of activity, the Harman Center showcases the company as well as outstanding local performing arts groups and nationally renowned organizations. STC's annual Free For All performance, a re-creation of a production from seasons past staged for free in August and September, is now held at Sidney Harman Hall. Sidney Harman Hall is located at 610 F Street NW. The Lansburgh Theatre also plays host to a number of different performing arts organizations and several of STC's mainstage productions. The Lansburgh Theatre is located at 450 7th Street NW.

Subscriptions to the Company's 2012-2013 Season are now on sale. For more information, contact the Box Office at 202.547.1122, TTY at 202.638.3863 or Toll Free at 877.487.8849. Information is also available online at ShakespeareTheatre.org.

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