OTHELLO, WAITING FOR GODOT and More Highlight Shakespeare Theatre Company's 2017-18 Season
By: BWW News Desk Feb. 08, 2017
Artistic Director Michael Kahn announced today the Company's 2017-2018 Season. Continuing his commitment to explore the classics from a variety of perspectives, Kahn, now in his 31st year with the Company, has put together a diverse season of renowned plays, including celebrated 20th-century playwrights, a classic musical, a world premiere and, of course, Shakespeare.
STC begins the 2017-2018 Season with a double bill of one-act plays from Harold Pinter: The Collection and The Lover. Following the success of his 2011 production of Old Times, Michael Kahn returns to Pinter's gripping realm of doubt and disquiet, considering how we construct our own realities, which truths we tell and which lies we choose to believe. "In a time when the definitions of truth and fact have become controversial, Pinter feels like a powerful reflection of our current anxieties," said Kahn. "I have always been fascinated by the way these two early works pair with each other and with what they say about the mysterious nature of desire and identity. Pinter is quite simply a master and I look forward to being in his world again."
Shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria, the quick-witted Viola assumes the disguise of a page boy in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and finds herself at the center of an explosive love triangle in which identity, passion and gender all threaten to come undone. "I'm delighted to welcome our friend Ethan McSweeny back to STC. After his great successes with A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest, I'm eager to see how he will bring the melodic and joyous world of Twelfth Night to life," said Kahn.
Kahn will also direct a second production in the 2017-2018 Season: Hamlet. "I am always finding new things to discover in this endlessly compelling play, which has a surprising amount to say about our contemporary politics. Very exciting plans are already in the works for casting." Arguably Shakespeare's greatest masterpiece, in Hamlet the greatest character of Western literature confronts the meaning of life, the bonds and limits of flesh and blood, and the line between madness and inspiration.
Continuing the tradition of National Theatre of Scotland's Dunsinane, Headlong's 1984 and Elevator Repair Service's The Select (The Sun Also Rises), STC will welcome Druid, a prominent Irish theatre company, with an exciting production of a classic.
"It is always a joy to share new artists with the D.C. community, especially those who are continuously reinventing the classics and creating important work both here and abroad," Kahn said. "This year, we are pleased to host Druid, Ireland's most celebrated theatre ensemble, and Tony Award-winning director Garry Hynes." Druid will present the American premiere of their critically acclaimed production of Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett's absurd, anarchic masterpiece.
To close the season, STC's own Associate Artistic Director Alan Paul (Man of La Mancha, Kiss Me, Kate) will once again helm a classic musical: Lerner and Loewe's Camelot. "This musical is a celebration of enlightened government and the dangers we all feel when it is taken away. I believe it will feel very current under Alan's talented direction and that audiences will experience it in a fresh and immediate way."
The final slot in our upcoming season will be a D.C. premiere production to be performed in early 2018. More details about this exciting show will be available in the coming weeks.
Free For All will begin the 2017-2018 season with Ron Daniels' powerful production of Shakespeare's Othello. Among the exotic airs and mysterious shadows of Cyprus, newly married and promoted Moorish general Othello finds himself the pawn in the manipulative games of his right-hand man, Iago.
To find out about special offers and group bookings or to become a season subscriber please call the box office on 202.547.1122 or visit www.shakespearetheatre.org
Shakespeare Theatre Company'S 2017-2018 SEASON:
FREE FOR ALL: Othello: by William Shakespeare: Directed by Ron Daniels
The Collection and The Lover: By Harold Pinter: Directed by Michael Kahn
Twelfth Night: By William Shakespeare: Directed by Ethan McSweeny
Hamlet: By William Shakespeare: Directed by Michael Kahn
Waiting for Godot: By Samuel Beckett: Created by Druid: Directed by Garry Hynes
Camelot: Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner: Music by Frederick Loewe: Directed by Alan Paul
Premiere play to be announced: Stay tuned for our exciting announcement of a premiere play to be produced in early 2018.
* All titles, artists and dates subject to change.
Recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) is the nation's leading premier classical theatre company. Today, STC is synonymous with artistic excellence and making classical theatre more accessible to audiences in and around the nation's capital.
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Michael Kahn and Executive Director Chris Jennings, STC's innovative productions inspire dialogue that connects classic works to the modern human experience. The Company focuses on works with profound themes, complex characters and poetic language written by Shakespeare, his contemporaries and the playwrights he influenced in order to preserve and promote classic theatre-ambitious, enduring plays with universal themes for all audiences.
A leader in arts education, STC has a stable of initiatives that teach and excite learners of all ages, from school programs and adult acting classes to accessible community programming like play-relevant discussion series and the Free for All. For the past 25 years the Free For All program has offered an annual remount of a popular production completely free of charge to all audience members.
Located in downtown Washington, D.C., STC performs in two theatres, the 451-seat Lansburgh Theatre and the 774-seat Sidney Harman Hall. In addition to STC productions appearing year-round, these spaces also accommodate presentations from outstanding local performing arts groups and nationally renowned organizations. The Company has been a fixture in the vibrant Penn Quarter neighborhood since 1992.
Comments
Videos