Theresa Rebeck-Helmed THE WAY OF THE WORLD, All-Star THE WINTER'S TALE and More Set for Folger Theatre's 2017-18 Season

After closing its widely successful 25th anniversary season, and recently garnering six Helen Hayes Awards (including "Outstanding Production, Play"), Folger Theatre announces the upcoming 2017/18 season. Cited as "the go-to local troupe for classical innovation" (The Washington Post), Folger Theatre will present a season of epic tales of power, passion, and politics to spark the imagination.

The season begins in October with Shakespeare's historic tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, starring Shirine Babb (Julius Caesar) as the captivating Queen of Egypt and Cody Nickell as the noble Mark Antony. Director Robert Richmond (Henry V, Richard III, Timon of Athens) will partner again with scenic designer Tony Cisek to create the Elizabethan theater anew with a production of the tempestuous love story presented in-the-round.

For the second installment of Washington, D.C.'s Women's Voices Theater Festival, dedicated to featuring new works by female playwrights, Folger Theatre will present the Washington premiere of Theresa Rebeck's (Broadway's Dead Accounts, Seminar, and Mauritius) The Way of the World, a modern adaptation of William Congreve's Restoration comedy. In Rebeck's latest play, set in the very posh exclusivity of the Hamptons, early 18th-century aristocrats are replaced with today's one-percenters and marriage arrangements become careless hookups.

In March 2018, six-time Helen Hayes Award-winner Aaron Posner returns to the Folger to direct Shakespeare's magical tale of loss and redemption, The Winter's Tale. A moving tribute to the magic of story-telling, this staging will feature a variety of inspired theatrical techniques used to bring us to Sicilia and Bohemia and return us safely home once more.

The season concludes with a special engagement of George Bernard Shaw's masterpiece Saint Joan by New York-based Bedlam. Hailed as "irresistible...ferocious" (The New York Times) and "completely riveting" (Stage Magazine), the stripped-down production is directed by recent Helen Hayes Award-winner Eric Tucker (Outstanding Direction, Folger's Sense and Sensibility).

"Our 2017/18 season brings sweeping stories to our intimate Folger stage," Artistic Producer Janet Alexander Griffin said. "Between our iconic columns, worlds from far away are conjured and tales are spun. We inhabit others' lives and experience the downfall of fortune, the tyranny of jealousy, and the joy of redemption. I'm pleased to have the work of directors and Folger Artistic Associates in the season ahead-Robert Richmond brings history to vivid life in Antony and Cleopatra, and Aaron Posner leads an extraordinary ensemble cast in The Winter's Tale, sure to touch our hearts. After the enormous success of Sense and Sensibility this past season, we are delighted to have Eric Tucker return to the Folger to direct Shaw's powerful and moving Saint Joan in a limited engagement. Folger Theatre is proud to once again participate in the Women's Voices Theater Festival and is thrilled to welcome Theresa Rebeck to direct her insightfully sharp comedy adapted from Congreve's classic Restoration comedy."

Subscriptions are currently on sale. Single tickets will go on sale in August. Visit www.folger.edu/theatre for more information, or call the Folger Box Office at (202) 544-7077. Single tickets for Bedlam's Saint Joan will go on sale December 1, 2017.

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Folger Theatre'S 2017/18 SEASON:

Antony and Cleopatra

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Robert Richmond

October 10 - November 19, 2017

History's Greatest Love Story

Julius Caesar is no more and Mark Antony, at the peak of his political power, is lustily ensconced in Egypt at the side of the irresistible Cleopatra. Torn between his military duties to the Rome and his passionate love affair with Cleopatra, Antony finds himself between two countries waging war and a war of romance in Egypt when he is summoned home to Rome. Shakespeare's epic saga of politics and passion, love and jealousy, alliance and war features Shirine Babb (Julius Caesar, Measure + Dido) and Cody Nickell (The Taming of the Shrew, Arcadia). Richmond will reunite with his creative design team from the recently acclaimed Timon of Athens and Richard III to bring this epic tale to life and transform the Elizabethan theatre to present Antony and Cleopatra in-the-round.

Part of the Women's Voices Theater Festival

The Way of the World

Written and Directed by Theresa Rebeck

A new comedy adapted from the William Congreve play

January 9 - February 11, 2018

A Comedy of Manners...With No Manners at All

Mae is a selfless, sweet-natured woman with just a little baggage-a $600 million inheritance. When her womanizing boyfriend Henry has an affair with her protective aunt, it all hits a little too close to home. Both women become the object of ridicule and scandal-but Henry has a plan to win the heiress back. In the lush and opulent land of the Hamptons' one-percenters, where money and status determine everything, can love conquer all? Freely adapted from William Congreve's classic play, The Way of the World is a hilarious and modern look at the absurdity and foibles of the upper-class. The D.C. premiere will feature Luigi Sottile and Elan Zafir.

THE WINTER'S TALE

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Aaron Posner

March 13 - April 22, 2018

"Awake your faith..."

A tribute to the magic of story-telling, Shakespeare's late, great romance is an exhilarating journey that brings us to Sicilia and Bohemia and returns us safely home once more. Convinced of his queen's unfaithfulness, King Leontes of Sicilia imprisons her, exiles his newborn daughter, and schemes to have his closest friend, King Polixenes murdered. With the passage of time comes realization, revelation, and redemption-as well as the growing romance between the children of both kings. Incorporating a variety of inspired theatrical techniques, this production of The Winter's Tale presents a rich and emotional story of human folly, hope, and resurrection filled with unexpected surprises. The cast features Michael Tisdale as Leontes, Katie DeBuys as Hermione, Kimberly Gilbert as Autolycus, and Eric Hissom as the Storyteller.

Bedlam's

SAINT JOAN

By George Bernard Shaw

Directed by Eric Tucker

May 12 - June 3, 2018
Special Engagement: 28 Performances

The martyred heroine of France fought and defeated the besieging English at Orleans, was captured and taken prisoner in Burgundy, put on trial, and burned at the stake-all by the age of nineteen. Depicted as neither witch, nor saint, nor madwoman in Shaw's compelling story, Joan of Arc is but an illiterate farm girl whose focus on the individual rocks the church and state. Led by director Eric Tucker, four actors perform over twenty-five roles in Bedlam's riveting, stripped-down production, declared "Irresistible!" and "a force of nature" by The New York Times (Best of Theater, 2014) and a Top Ten Play by Time magazine.

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For tickets and more information, visit www.folger.edu/theatre or call 202.544.7077. Subscriptions begin at $110. Individual tickets are $30 - $79, with discounts offered to students, seniors, military, educators, and groups of ten or more. Single tickets will go on sale August 1, 2017.

Performances are held at the historic Folger Theatre, located at 201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. The nearest metro stations are Capitol South (blue/orange/silver lines, 4 blocks) and Union Station (red line, 7 blocks). Street parking is available in the surrounding Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Folger Theatre is the centerpiece of Folger Shakespeare Library's programs for the public and is recognized for dynamic performances in its 250-seat Elizabethan-styled theatre. It specializes in innovative stagings of works by Shakespeare, other classical works, and new plays inspired by these traditions. Since 1991, Folger Theatre has been honored by the Helen Hayes Awards with 30 awards and 154 nominations for excellence in acting, direction, design, and production-including the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Resident Play in 2007 for Measure for Measure, 2011 for Hamlet (a year in which all three of Folger's theatrical productions were nominated in that category), 2013 for The Taming of the Shrew, and 2016 for a staging of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility (which garnered four Helen Hayes Awards in total). Folger Theatre brought Shakespeare's Globe's Hamlet from London for the company's first Washington appearance in 2012 and continued that collaboration in 2014 with the touring production of King Lear (featuring Joseph Marcell). Folger Theatre produced The Two Gentlemen of Verona with the highly celebrated Fiasco Theater Company, a production that went on to win two Helen Hayes Awards, including "Outstanding Ensemble in a Play," and was restaged at the Theatre for A New Audience in New York City. In 2015, Folger Theatre collaborated with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for the first time to stage Shakespeare's adventure tale Pericles, and, in that same season, commissioned Aaron Posner's District Merchants, which had its world premiere at Folger Theatre and was later produced at South Coast Repertory in California. Janet Alexander Griffin is the Artistic Producer of Folger Theatre and Director of Public Programs which includes the Folger's music and literary series.

Folger Shakespeare Library is a renowned center for scholarship, learning, culture, and the arts. Home to the world's largest Shakespeare collection and a primary repository for research material from the early modern period (1500-1750), Folger Shakespeare Library is an internationally recognized research library offering advanced scholarly programs in the humanities; a national leader in how Shakespeare is taught in grades K-12; and an award-winning producer of cultural and arts programs -theatre, music, poetry, exhibits, lectures, and family programs. A gift to the American people from industrialist Henry Clay Folger, Folger Shakespeare Library-located one block east of the U.S. Capitol-opened in 1932 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Learn more at www.folger.edu.

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