Shakespeare Theatre Company has announced the lineup of its upcoming 2024/25 season. Two-time Tony Award-winner Matthew Broderick makes his STC debut in Babbitt, a new adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s classic satirical novel.
“We are thrilled to reveal the first play in Harman Hall this fall will be Babbitt, starring Matthew Broderick,” says STC Artistic Director Simon Godwin. “This new adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’ beloved novel, crafted by Joe DiPietro and led by Matthew’s incredible charisma and talent, is something I can’t wait for our audiences to experience.”
Babbitt, which completed a highly praised world-premiere run at La Jolla Playhouse in December, is a satirical comedy that captures the plight of the modern middle-class American man. Based on Lewis’ 1922 novel, Babbitt follows George F. Babbitt (Broderick), a successful real estate agent, who plunges recklessly into extraordinary rebellion against the conformity of everyday life. Broderick delivers a performance that The San Diego Union-Tribune acclaims as “vulnerable, delicately played, and disarmingly funny.” Also coming to STC with this production are Ann Harada (Avenue Q), Matt McGrath (The Legend of Georgia McBride), Chris Myers (STC’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and director Christopher Ashley.
The season begins in the Klein Theatre with Comedy of Errors, directed by Simon Godwin and featuring Alex Brightman and David Fynn. Brightman and Fynn, known for playing Dewey in School of Rock in the Broadway and West End productions, respectively, will play the wayward twins, each named Dromio, servants to the similarly twinned Antipholus(es). Cases of mistaken identity abound in one of Shakespeare’s most off-kilter comedies.
The holiday season will see the arrival of Tom Stoppard’s recent Tony and Oliver Award-winning Leopoldstadt about a Jewish family in Vienna over the course of 60 turbulent years. This new co-production with The Huntington will be directed by Stoppard’s frequent collaborator Carey Perloff.
“My mother is a Viennese refugee who fled the Nazis in March 1938, so Stoppard’s gorgeous and heartbreaking play has enormous resonance for me personally. I’m so honored that STC is giving me the chance to stage the first American production, in the city where I grew up,” says Perloff. “Leopoldstadt is a family play, a rich story about how we are shaped by politics and history, and as such, it feels like a perfect fit for DC audiences. It is also Stoppard’s most deeply personal play, in which he reckons with the impact of his own Jewish heritage on his life and work, and he will be a crucial part of our collaboration. I have loved working in DC in recent years and am greatly looking forward to collaborating with Simon and the whole STC team!”
The new year will see the arrival of Kunene and the King, written by and starring Tony Award-winning South African actor, activist, and playwright John Kani (Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island), and directed by Tony Award-winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson (The Piano Lesson, Skeleton Crew). The play follows the unexpected bond between a terminally ill Shakespearean actor and his caregiver Lunga Kunene (Kani), set 25 years after the first post-apartheid democratic elections in South Africa.
“Kunene and the King has been a special gift to me as a writer,” says Kani. “I wrote the play to deal with some questions that I had within myself. Kunene and the King asks, ‘We fought for liberation. We fought for freedom. We ended up with democracy. What the hell is democracy?’”
Next, Godwin will direct Anton Chekhov’s complex comedy Uncle Vanya, starring Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey). “In addition to his extensive classical work, Hugh is a gifted comedic actor,” says Godwin. “I look forward to embracing this skill in the role of Vanya.” The show will be a co-production with Berkeley Repertory, based on the recent adaptation of the script by Conor McPherson (Girl from the North Country).
“I’m delighted to be returning to the stage in Uncle Vanya and am particularly excited to be performing in not one but two prestigious American theaters,” says Bonneville. “With Simon Godwin directing, and with the team we are assembling, I know we’ll give audiences a wonderful theatrical experience of wit, warmth, and human frailty, so brilliantly evoked in Chekhov’s timeless tale of flawed characters muddling through life.”
The season concludes with the world premiere adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, commissioned by STC from National Theatre Associate Director Emily Burns. Burns (Jack Absolute Flies Again) most recently worked with STC on its productions of Much Ado About Nothing and this season’s highly anticipated production of Macbeth.
“For two centuries, Frankenstein’s creature has proved a rich parable—of ambition, of responsibility, and of abandonment,” says Burns. “I’m excited to revisit this story for the STC audience, reveling in the terror and largesse of the original, while mining the rich seam of this fable for its most contemporary resonance.”
In addition to the six-play mainstage subscription series, STC will see the return of Patrick Page in his hit Off-Broadway show All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain, directed by Godwin, as a limited engagement run in December. The “thrillingly theatrical” (The New York Sun) production was originally produced as a film during STC’s lockdown season. This newly revised version of the show will return Page to the Klein Theatre, where Godwin last directed him in the box office smash production of King Lear.
“STC has been a partner on this piece since its premiere as a filmed production during Covid,” says Page. “What a joy to bring it back to DC, fully realized, as part of the next evolution of this show. I’m especially pleased to have Simon Godwin at the helm, following our partnership on King Lear last season. STC has continued to be an artistic home for me, and I look forward to sharing such a personal piece with its audiences in person.”
The season will also include a special add-on reading of a new piece commissioned by Shakespeare Theatre Company, based on Ann Petry’s 1953 novel, The Narrows. The novel, which explores intersecting themes of race, class, and gender through a tragic love story, is being adapted by actor and playwright Regina Taylor (Crowns, Drowning Crow). This reading will be an invitation-only event for subscribers and donors.
Full casting and artistic team details will be announced for each show at a future date.
SHOW DESCRIPTIONS
Comedy of Errors
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Simon Godwin
SEP 10 – OCT 6, 2024
Two sets of twins. Two rival cities. Infinite hilarity.
Confusions collide in this hilariously illogical comedy. Lookalikes Alex Brightman (School of Rock on Broadway) and David Fynn (School of Rock on the West End) come together as Dromio and Dromio (respectively) to add a splash of rock ‘n’ roll to Shakespeare’s most deliriously funny play. Artistic Director Simon Godwin (Much Ado about Nothing, Macbeth) directs this raucous reflection of families lost and found, topsy-turvy love, and the utterly human desire to belong.
Matthew Broderick in
Babbitt
By Joe DiPietro
Adapted from the Novel by Sinclair Lewis
Directed by Christopher Ashley
Produced in association with La Jolla Playhouse
OCT 1 – 27, 2024
Two-time Tony-winner Matthew Broderick (The Producers, Plaza Suite) makes his STC debut in this breathtaking political satire.
Meet George F. Babbitt: real estate broker, father of two, a fine, upstanding, middle-class American everyman. Seeking meaning to his humdrum existence, Babbitt plunges headlong into the most spectacular rebellion of his life (using the guest towel) and unwittingly turns the world around him upside down. Prepare to be amazed by this exhilarating adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’ satirical masterpiece.
Leopoldstadt
by Tom Stoppard
Directed by Carey Perloff
Produced in association with The Huntington
NOV 30 – DEC 29, 2024
Five-time Tony winner Tom Stoppard (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead) offers his most personal story in Leopoldstadt.
A Jewish family grows and struggles over the course of nearly 60 years, beginning with their initial assimilation into Viennese culture, negotiating the outbreak of two World Wars through to the aftermath of the Holocaust. Traversing decades of joy and strife, the family strives to maintain their delicate bonds of shared history. Directed by celebrated playwright/director Carey Perloff, in a new arrangement she crafted with Stoppard, the Tony and Olivier Award-winning play Leopoldstadt offers “an intensely personal family drama” (Variety) for the holiday season.
Kunene and the King
By John Kani
Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Produced in association with Octopus Theatricals
FEB 16 – MAR 16, 2025
South African actor, activist, and playwright John Kani (Black Panther, Sizwe Banzi Is Dead/The Island) stars in his story of Shakespeare’s unifying force.
It’s a quarter century since the first post-apartheid democratic elections, and Jack Morris has just been given a career-defining role as King Lear—and a life-changing diagnosis. As the celebrated classical actor faces his own mortality, he clashes and connects with his at-home caregiver, Lunga Kunene (Kani), in this “poignant two-hander” (The Guardian).
Uncle Vanya
by Anton Chekhov
Adapted by Conor McPherson
Directed by Simon Godwin
Produced in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre
MAR 30 – APR 20, 2025
One of the UK’s most beloved actors makes his DC debut in STC’s first-ever production by Anton Chekhov.
When the distinguished elderly owner of a rural estate returns with a new, young wife, Yelena, chaos erupts. Tensions run high, marriages reach their limits, confessions—and vodka—flow freely, and weapons are drawn. Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey, Paddington) plays Uncle Vanya, in this heartbreaking comedy about the eternal battle between futility and change.
Frankenstein
By Mary Shelley
Adapted and Directed by Emily Burns
JUN 3 – 29, 2025
Buckle in for an electrifying take on a classic tale.
Emily Burns (adaptor of STC’s Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing), reimagines Mary Shelley’s romantic gothic science fiction masterpiece as a chilling exploration of what it means to create a new life. Visceral and provocative, this world-premiere production reveals the inner lives of Elizabeth and Victor Frankenstein in bold new ways. Riding the edge of cinematic thriller and intense drama, Frankenstein redefines the legend we know, the name we fear, and the monstrous act at the heart of the story.
LIMITED ENGAGEMENT:
An Octopus Theatricals Production
All the Devils Are Here
How Shakespeare Invented the Villain
Created and Performed by Patrick Page
Directed by Simon Godwin
DEC 6 – 29, 2024
A beguiling bonanza of Shakespearean devilry.
Dubbed “The villain of Broadway” by Playbill, Tony Award-nominee and Grammy Award-winner Patrick Page (King Lear, Hadestown) has never shied away from exploring his dark side. Now, with this tour de force show, “one of America’s greatest classical actors” (The Wall Street Journal) turns to the twisted motivations and hidden humanity at the heart of Shakespeare’s greatest villains. Moving swiftly through the canon, Page illuminates Shakespeare’s evolving conception of evil by delving into more than a dozen of his most wicked creations, offering a thrilling masterclass on the most terrifying subject of them all: human nature. Previously seen onscreen, now is the chance for audiences in DC to experience an enhanced version live on stage.
All titles, dates, and artists are subject to change. For season ticket information, call the box office at 202.547.1122 or go online.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
CHRISTOPHER ASHLEY
Director, Babbitt
Christopher Ashley has served as La Jolla Playhouse’s Artistic Director since 2007. During his tenure, he directed the world premieres of Come From Away, The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical, Diana: The Musical, Memphis, Escape to Margaritaville, The Squirrels, A Dram of Drummhicit, Restoration, and Chasing the Song, as well as As You Like It, His Girl Friday, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Freaky Friday, and Xanadu. He also spearheaded the Playhouse’s Without Walls (WOW) initiative, the DNA New Work Series, and the Resident Theatre program. Mr. Ashley recently directed Come From Away for AppleTV+ and Diana: The Musical for Netflix. Other screen credits include the feature films Jeffrey and Lucky Stiff, and the American Playhouse production of Blown Sideways Through Life for PBS. Mr. Ashley’s Broadway credits include Come From Away (Tony and Outer Critics Circle Awards), Diana: The Musical, Escape to Margaritaville, Memphis (Tony Award nomination), Xanadu, Leap of Faith (Drama Desk Award nomination), All Shook Up, and The Rocky Horror Show (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations). He also helmed productions of Come From Away in London (Olivier Award nomination), Toronto, Australia, and on national tour. Other national tours include Escape to Margaritaville, Memphis, Xanadu, All Shook Up, and Seussical: The Musical. Additional New York stage credits include Blown Sideways Through Life, Jeffrey (Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards), The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla (Lucille Lortel Award nomination), Regrets Only, Wonder of the World, Communicating Doors, Bunny Bunny, The Night Hank Williams Died, and Fires in the Mirror (Lucille Lortel Award), among others. Mr. Ashley is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award, the Drama League Director Fellowship, and an NEA/TCG Director Fellowship.
HUGH BONNEVILLE
Actor, Uncle Vanya
Hugh Bonneville’s film credits include Notting Hill, Iris, The Monuments Men, I Came By, and the three Paddington movies. Paddington in Peru opens in UK cinemas in November 2024. His television roles include Ian Fletcher in the BAFTA-winning Twenty Twelve and W1A (BBC) and Robert Crawley in ITV’s global hit, Downton Abbey, for which he received nominations for a Golden Globe and two Emmys, and along with his fellow cast members won three SAG Awards for Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series. He recently completed a four-part comedy drama, Douglas Is Cancelled, for ITV and is currently filming the second series of The Gold, a six-part drama about the 1983 Brink’s-Mat bullion. The first series is available on BBC iPlayer and Paramount+. He plays Jonathan Wilde in Apple TV’s The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin. Hugh’s stage career spans more than three decades and includes seasons with the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. His most recent appearances were in Enemy of the People and Shadowlands, both at Chichester Festival Theatre. His memoir, Playing Under the Piano, was published by Abacus in 2023 and is available in paperback. Hugh is a patron of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, The National Youth Arts Trust, Scene & Heard, The Primary Shakespeare Company, and the South Downs National Park Trust.
ALEX BRIGHTMAN
Actor, Comedy of Errors
Alex Brightman is a writer and two-time Tony-nominated actor who has been seen on Broadway in Spamalot, The Shark is Broken, Beetlejuice, School of Rock, Matilda, Big Fish, Wicked, and Glory Days. Brightman is currently developing an animated series, Cleaners, with Warner Brothers and co-creator Nik Walker as well as a single-cam rom-com, Singular, with 20th Century. His newest play, Everything is Fine, was developed by Manhattan Theatre Club, and will receive an industry reading in 2024 with director Cynthia Nixon. He is also writing the book for the musical adaptation of the Universal film It’s Kind of a Funny Story (with composer/lyricist Drew Gasparini). Film/TV acting credits include The Blacklist, Here Today, Law & Order: SVU, Documentary Now!, The Good Fight, Impractical Jokers, Blue Bloods, SMILF, and Important Things w/ Demetri Martin. You can hear Alex on the acclaimed animated series Helluva Boss, as well as the Netflix series Dead End: Paranormal Park, and the Prime Video series Hazbin Hotel.
MATTHEW BRODERICK
Actor, Babbitt
Two-time Tony Award-winning actor Matthew Broderick was most recently seen starring in Netflix’s Opioid Drama Painkiller, opposite Uzo Aduba, and Sony’s coming-of-age comedy No Hard Feelings opposite Jennifer Lawrence and Laura Benanti. Additionally, he starred in the hit World Premiere of Joe DiPietro’s new play, Babbitt at La Jolla Playhouse, as well as the Broadway revival of Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite alongside his wife, Sarah Jessica Parker, which they are currently performing in the West End. Additional credits include Manchester By The Sea, directed by Kenneth Lonergan; Margaret; Election; The Producers; and fan favorite Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, among many others.
EMILY BURNS
Adaptor/Director, Frankenstein
STC: Timon of Athens, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth (adapter). INTERNATIONAL: National Theatre (London): Dear Octopus (director), Jack Absolute Flies Again (director), Romeo and Juliet (adapter), The Comeback (director), Hansard (associate director), Antony & Cleopatra (associate director), Hex (associate director) | RSC: Love’s Labour’s Lost (director) | Noël Coward Theatre (London): The Comeback (director) | Bridge Theatre (London): The Book of Dust – La Belle Savage (co-director), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (associate director), Julius Caesar (associate director). PERSONAL: she/her | Emily is an Associate of the National Theatre and the Bridge Theatre. In 2022 she was named as one of The Stage 25. She also works with comedy duo The Pin, soprano Héloïse Werner, and the James Cousins Company.
JOE DiPIETRO
Writer, Babbitt
Joe DiPietro has won two Tony Awards, a Drama Desk Award, and three Outer Critics Circle Awards. His newest musical, Sinatra, recently premiered at Birmingham Rep to critical acclaim. Upcoming premieres include An Old-Fashioned Family Murder, at KC’s New Theatre, and the musical 3 Summers of Lincoln, which will premiere next season at La Jolla Playhouse. Other shows include Memphis (2010 Tony Award for Best Musical); Nice Work If You Can Get It (which starred Matthew Broderick and Kelli O’Hara and received 10 Tony nominations); Diana (Netflix); The Toxic Avenger (OCC Award – Best off-Broadway Musical); Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (Off-Broadway Alliance Award – Best Musical); I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (the longest-running musical revue in off-Broadway history); as well as the much-produced comedies Clever Little Lies and Over the River and Through the Woods, among others. His La Ronde riff, F**king Men, is the longest-running fringe show in London and is currently being revived there.
DAVID FYNN
Actor, Comedy of Errors
STC: American Stage Debut. INTERNATIONAL: Much Ado About Nothing, She Stoops to Conquer, Romeo and Juliet (National Theatre London). School of Rock, After The Party (West End). FILM: Here, Near Miss, The Mauritanian, The Look of Love, Leap Year. TV: Lazarus, Daddy Issues, Am I Being Unreasonable, Belgravia, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, Dr Who, The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe, Avenue 5, Trolls, The Pembrokeshire Murders, Whiskey Cavalier, Vanity Fair, Undateable, Black Mirror, Life’s Too Short, Peep Show, The Inbetweeners. AWARDS: Olivier Nomination (Best Actor in a Musical – School Of Rock), Evening Standard Nomination (Best Newcomer – She Stoops to Conquer).
SIMON GODWIN
Director, Comedy of Errors, Uncle Vanya,
All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain
Artistic Director, Shakespeare Theatre Company
STC: Macbeth, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Timon of Athens; Simon Godwin joined Shakespeare Theatre Company as Artistic Director in September 2019. He has served as Associate Director of the National Theatre of London, Royal Court Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, and Royal & Derngate Theatre. INTERNATIONAL: UK: Royal Court Theatre: Routes, If You Don’t Let Us Dream, We Won’t Let You Sleep, NSFW, The Witness, Goodbye to All That, The Acid Test, Wanderlust | National Theatre: Strange Interlude, Man and Superman, The Beaux’ Stratagem, Twelfth Night, Antony and Cleopatra (ft. Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo), Simon Wood’s Hansard, Romeo & Juliet (ft. Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley and filmed for Sky Arts/PBS), Much Ado About Nothing | Royal Shakespeare Company: Hamlet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Timon of Athens (ft. Kathryn Hunter and reimagined in 2020 for Theatre for a New Audience and STC). JAPAN: Theatre Cocoon: Hamlet. Other productions include The Little Mermaid, Krapp’s Last Tape/A Kind of Alaska, Faith Healer, Far Away, Everyman, Habeas Corpus, and Relatively Speaking. AWARDS: Evening Standard/Burberry Award for an Emerging Director (2012).
ANN HARADA
Actor, Babbitt
STC debut. Broadway: Avenue Q, Into the Woods, Cinderella, 9 to 5, Les Misérables, Seussical, M. Butterfly. Off-Broadway: The Welkin, Fairycakes, Dear World, Pacific Overtures, Emojiland, Love, Loss, and What I Wore, Brooklynite, Falsettoland. Regional: La Jolla Playhouse: Babbitt. St. Louis MUNY: Beauty and the Beast, Mamma Mia, 42nd Street, Matilda, Gypsy, Anything Goes. Papermill Playhouse: Holiday Inn. Williamstown Theatre Festival: The Closet (with Matthew Broderick). International: Noël Coward Theatre (London): Avenue Q. Film: Jerry and Marge Go Large, Disenchanted, Sisters, Hope Springs, Admission. TV: Schmigadoon, Blue Eye Samurai, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Alma’s Way, Smash, Blue Bloods, 30 Rock, Jim Gaffigan Show, House of Cards, The Good Wife. Other: Indoor Boys, Submissions Only, It Could Be Worse (web series), Lincoln Center American Songbook. Personal: she/her/hers. Training: Brown University. BA in Theatre Arts/English and American Literature.
JOHN KANI
Writer/Actor, Kunene and the King
John Kani is a South African actor, activist actor, director, and award-winning playwright internationally recognized for his work in theater and films. He is best known to American audiences for his 1975 Tony Award–winning performances in The Island and Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, which he co-wrote with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona, for which he received a special Obie Award for extraordinary contribution to theater. A member of the Market Theatre, his credits include Driving Miss Daisy, Othello, Blood Knot, Waiting for Godot, Playland, Duet for One, and My Children! My Africa! (Vita Award). Film credits include The Wild Geese, The Grass Is Singing, Marigolds in August, Victims of Apartheid, An African Dream, A Dry White Season, Sarafina!, Saturday Night at the Palace (Taormina Golden Award at Milan International Festival), Kini and Adams, The Ghost and the Darkness, The Final Solution, The Lion King (2019), and T’Chaka in Captain America: Civil War and Black Panther. Directing credits include Goree and Blues Africa Café by Matsamela Manaka, Kagoos by Kessie Govender, and The Meeting by Jeff Stetson for the Market Theatre. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his contribution to South African art and culture, as well as several honorary doctorates. Nothing But the Truth won a Fleur De Cap Award for Best Actor and Best New South African Play in 2002. Kani received the Pragnell Shakespeare Award from the Royal Shakespeare Company for Kunene and the King, and the Pragnell Shakespeare Birthday Award for making Shakespeare accessible to all. He was recognized with the Van Toeka Af Legends Award for his lifelong dedication to the service to the Creative Industry in South Africa, and the Officer of the Most Excellent Order Of The Order of the British Empire, OBE, for his service to the arts and culture globally.
MATT McGRATH
Actor, Babbitt
BROADWAY: Girl From The North Country, Boys In The Band, Cabaret, A Streetcar Named Desire. OFF-BROADWAY: The Legend of Georgia McBride/MCC, Geffen & Denver Center (Drama Desk Nomination, Outer Critics Circle Nomination, Lucille Lortel Award Winner, LA Drama Critics Circle Award Winner) Jerry Springer Opera, Steve/New Group., Lonely Planet/Keen Co., Verite/LCT3 Lincoln Center, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, A Fair Country/Lincoln Center, Collection/A Kind of Alaska, Minutes from the Blue Route, and The Dadshuttle/Atlantic, Fat Men in Skirts, The Old Boy, Life During Wartime, Amulets Against the Dragon Forces and Dalton’s Back (Drama Desk nomination). REGIONAL: Babbitt, Merry Wives of Windsor (Sir Hugh Evans), Peter and the Starcatcher, Putting it Together, Ridiculous Fraud, and Raised in Captivity/SCR, His Girl Friday/La Jolla Playhouse and The Rocky Horror Show/The Old Globe, Romance, Japes, and Bell, Book and Candle/Bay Street Theatre, Caroline in Jersey and Loot/Williamstown Theatre Festival, Snakebite (NYS&F), Distant Fires (LA Weekly Award), Robert Wilson’s The Black Rider (Ahmanson Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, and Sydney; Hellman Award Nomination). FILMS: The Chaperone, Full Grown Men, Boys Don’t Cry, The Notorious Bettie Page, The Anniversary Party, The Broken Hearts Club, The Impostors. TV: Pose, Modern Family, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Little Britain U.S.A., Cruel Doubt.
CONOR McPHERSON
Adapter, Uncle Vanya
Conor McPherson attended University College Dublin where he began to write and direct. Plays include Girl from the North Country with Bob Dylan, (Old Vic, West End & Broadway), The Weir (Royal Court, West End & Broadway), The Seafarer (National Theatre & Broadway), Shining City (Royal Court & Broadway), The Night Alive (Donmar & Off-Broadway), Port Authority (West End & Off-Broadway), St Nicholas (Bush theatre & Off-Broadway), and This Lime Tree Bower (Bush Theatre & Off-Broadway). His West End adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya for Sonia Friedman Productions was filmed for the BBC and broadcast by PBS in the United States. Awards for Conor’s work include the Laurence Olivier Award, Evening Standard Award, London Critics’ Circle Award, New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, New York Outer Critics Circle Award, George Devine Award, five Tony Award nominations, four Irish Film and Television Academy Best Screenplay Awards and the South Bank Show Sky Arts Theatre Award.
CHRIS MYERS
Actor, Babbitt
STC: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. BROADWAY: How I Learned to Drive (MTC). SELECTED NY: Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (MTC), BLKS (MCC); An Octoroon (Soho Rep; Obie Award); Whorl Inside A Loop (Second Stage); The Winter’s Tale, On the Grounds of Belonging (The Public); Little Children Dream of God (Roundabout); Julius Caesar (Shakespeare in the Park); War, Brownsville Song (LCT3). SELECTED REGIONAL: Babbitt (La Jolla Playhouse), Henry IV (Shakespeare Center LA with Tom Hanks), Fences (McCarter/Long Wharf; dir. Phylicia Rashad). TV: Merry Happy Whatever (Netflix), The Resident (FOX), Sneaky Pete (Amazon), The Good Fight (CBS), She’s Gotta Have It (Netflix; dir. Spike Lee), The Breaks (VH1). TRAINING: Juilliard.
PATRICK PAGE
Writer/Actor, All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain
STC: King Lear, All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain, The Tempest, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth. NEW YORK: Broadway: Hadestown, Saint Joan, Casa Valentina, Time to Kill, Spring Awakening, Cyrano de Bergerac, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, A Man for All Seasons, Julius Caesar, The Lion King, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical, Beauty and the Beast, The Kentucky Cycle. Off-Broadway: All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain | New York Shakespeare Festival: Richard II, Cymbeline | Carnegie Hall: The Sound of Music. REGIONAL (selected): The Old Globe (Assoc. Artist), La Jolla Playhouse, Papermill Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum. FILM: Spirited, In the Heights, Estella Scrooge, The Sixth Reel. TV (selected): The Gilded Age, Schmigadoon, Big Mouth, Evil, Elementary, Madam Secretary, Flesh and Bone, NCIS: New Orleans, The Good Wife, The Blacklist, Chicago P.D., Law & Order: SVU. AWARDS: Tony Award nomination (Hadestown), Grammy Award (Hadestown), Helen Hayes Award (Othello), Helen Hayes Award nomination (Coriolanus), Emery Battis Award (Coriolanus).
CAREY PERLOFF
Director, Leopoldstadt
The Huntington: The Lehman Trilogy, Mary Stuart, Rock ‘n’ Roll. Off-Broadway: Indian Ink (Roundabout). Regional: The Lehman Trilogy (Repertory Theater of St. Louis), As You Like It (Santa Cruz Shakespeare), Home? (Voices Festival, DC), Ibsen’s Ghosts (Seattle Rep and Williamstown), Pale Sister (Gate Theater, Dublin), Queens (LJP), Private Lives (Stratford Festival), A Thousand Splendid Suns (Arena, Old Globe, SRT, ACT), Merchant of Venice (Calgary). Director commission: The Oedipus Cycle with John Douglas Thompson (SRT and Red Bull Theater). Former Artistic Director of American Conservatory Theater (1992-2018) and Classic Stage Company, NYC (1988-1992). Obie and Jujamcyn Awards. Creator of Tiny Theatricals, an online digital rehearsal project. Author of Pinter and Stoppard: A Director’s View (Bloomsbury Methuen 2022) and Beautiful Chaos: A Life in the Theater (City Lights Press 2016). As a playwright: Vienna, Vienna, Vienna; Edgardo or White Fire; If God Were Blue; Kinship; Higher; The Fit.
ANN PETRY
Writer, The Narrows
Ann Petry (1908-1997) was the first-ever black woman to sell over a million copies of a novel, a distinction she was awarded for The Street, first published in 1947. Petry was a novelist, short story writer, and writer of books for young people, and one of America’s most distinguished authors. Her first published story appeared in 1943 in The Crisis, a magazine published monthly by the NAACP. Subsequent to that, she began work on her first novel, The Street, which was published in 1946 and for which she received the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship. Petry wrote two more novels, Country Place and The Narrows, and numerous short stories, articles, and children’s books. Petry’s first two novels, though set in Harlem, are often considered part of the Chicago Black Renaissance (1935-1953) in literature.
RUBEN SANTIAGO-HUDSON
Director, Kunene and the King
Ruben’s expansive directing credits include The Manhattan Theater Club’s Tony Award-winning production of JITNEY! Other Broadway productions are Skeleton Crew (OBIE Award, 6 Tony nominations) and Lackawanna Blues (Outer Critics, Drama Desk, NY Drama Critics, Helen Hayes), which marked the first time in Broadway history that an individual wrote, directed, and starred in a play. Some of Ruben’s select directing credits are: The Piano Lesson, Paradise Blue, Two Trains Running, The Happiest Song Plays Last, Destiny Of Desire, Your Blues Ain’t Sweet Like Mine, Gem Of The Ocean, The First Breeze Of Summer, My Children! My Africa!, Seven Guitars, and Othello. He made his Broadway acting debut in Jelly’s Last Jam opposite Gregory Hines. His portrayal of Canewell in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars garnered Ruben a Tony Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in A Play. Some of his other most cherished stage acting credits include BROADWAY- Lackawanna Blues, Stick Fly, Gem Of The Ocean, Jelly’s Last Jam. OFF-BROADWAY- August Wilson’s autobiographical play How I Learned What I Learned, The Winter’s Tale, Henry VIII, and Measure For Measure (The NY Shakespeare Festival), East Texas Hot Links (Public Theater) and Ceremonies In Dark Old Men (The Negro Ensemble Company).
TOM STOPPARD
Writer, Leopoldstadt
Internationally award-winning writer Tom Stoppard’s plays include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, The Real Inspector Hound, After Magritte, Jumpers, New Found Land, Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth, Travesties, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (a play for actors and orchestra written with André Previn), Night and Day, The Real Thing, Hapgood, Arcadia, Indian Ink, The Invention of Love, The Coast of Utopia, Rock ‘n’ Roll, and The Hard Problem. His radio plays include Albert’s Bridge, Artist Descending a Staircase, The Dog It Was That Died, If You’re Glad I’ll Be Frank, and most recently, his dramatic imagining of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, Darkside. Stoppard is also a writer for film and television and received the Academy Award for the screenplay of Shakespeare in Love.
REGINA TAYLOR
Adapter, The Narrows
Actress/director/playwright/educator/activist. Playwright credits include Crowns (Helen Hayes Award Best Director), Oo-Bla-Dee (Jeff Award, Steinberg-ATCA award) and Drowning Crow (Broadway, MTC), The Trinity River Plays (Edgerton Award), stop.reset (Signature Theater Residency Five), and Bread (Edgerton Award). TV credits include: Lily Harper in I’ll Fly Away, received a Golden Globe Award for Best Lead Actress, three NAACP Image Awards, and two Emmy Award nominations. Taylor was the first African American lead in Masterpiece Theatre’s Cora Unashamed, starred as Anita Hill in HBO’s Strange Justice (Gracie Award), A Good Day to Die (Sidney Poitier), The Unit, Justified, First Lady, Love Craft Country, The Wonder Years, CSI Vegas (HCA Best Female Guest Artist Award). Film credits include The Negotiator (Samuel L. Jackson), Courage Under Fire (Denzel Washington), Clockers (Spike Lee), Losing Isaiah (Halle Berry), Lean on Me (Morgan Freeman), and Saturday Church. Taylor was the first Black woman to play Juliet in Romeo and Juliet on Broadway.
BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE
Berkeley Repertory Theatre has grown from a storefront stage to an international leader in innovative theatre. Known for its ambition, relevance, and excellence, as well as its adventurous audience, the nonprofit has provided a welcoming home for emerging and established artists since 1968. Over 6 million people have enjoyed more than 500 shows at Berkeley Rep, including 85 world premieres. Berkeley Rep shows have gone on to win 8 Tony Awards, 9 Obie Awards, 11 Drama Desk Awards, 1 Grammy Award, 1 Pulitzer Prize, and many other honors. In recognition of its place on the national stage, Berkeley Received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1997. Through its annual seven-play season, together with up to four special event presentations, Berkeley Repinvites audiences to enjoy an eclectic range of theatrical experiences featuring diverse artistic voices, themes, and perspectives. To formalize, enhance, and expand the processes by which Berkeley Rep makes theatre, The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work was launched in 2012. Serving some 20,000 people a year, Berkeley Rep’s School of Theatre ensures broad access to dynamic arts educational activities, especially for Bay Area youth, and provides immersive training for current and future theatre makers. In 2021, Berkeley Rep launched In Dialogue, a program that places its theatre-making skills and resources in service of the community. Using storytelling as an anchor, In Dialogue is developing long-term collaborations with local, socially centered organizations, as well as educating and activating our audiences around organizations whose work aligns with the themes of our productions. Berkeley Rep’s bustling facilities—which include the 600-seat Roda Theatre, 400-seat Peet’s Theatre, Medak Center, and a spacious campus in West Berkeley—are helping revitalize a renowned city.
SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY
For over 35 years, the Tony Award-winning Shakespeare Theatre Company has been recognized as the nation’s premier classical theatre. STC tells vital stories in audacious forms, stories that are Shakespearean in the deepest sense, even if they are not written by Shakespeare. STC stages epic stories in exhilarating style.
THE HUNTINGTON
Celebrating over 40 years of outstanding theatre, The Huntington is Boston’s theatrical commons and leading professional theatre company. On our stages and throughout our city, we share enduring and untold stories that spark the imagination of audiences and artists and amplify the wide range of voices in our community. Under the leadership of Norma Jean Calderwood Artistic Director Loretta Greco, and Executive Director Christopher Mannelli, The Huntington is committed to welcoming broad and diverse audiences, provides life- changing opportunities for students through its robust education and community programs, is a national leader in the development of playwrights and new plays, acts as the host organization for a multi-year residency of The Front Porch Arts Collective, a Black theatre company based in Boston, and serves the local arts community through our operation of The Huntington Calderwood/BCA. The Huntington reopened the historic Huntington Theatre in fall of 2022 after its transformational renovation, and is currently in phase two of the project; the renovation and building project of this storied venue with a bold vision for the future will allow us to innovatively expand our services to audiences, artists, and the community for generations to come. For more information, visit huntingtontheatre.org.
