Every month, we share a snapshot of Shakespeare in performance around America. What plays are onstage this month? We check in with our theater partners Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Folger Theatre, Nebraska Shakespeare, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Utah Shakespeare Festival.
Et tu, Brute? Chesapeake Shakespeare Company opens its 15th season with a modern-dress production of Julius Caesar (Sep 29–Oct 29). A few roles have flipped gender; perhaps most notably, Mark Antony becomes Mar Antonia. Earlier this month, at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, curators offered a special tour of the museum’s Roman collection, while actors performed short scenes from the play.
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- Brutus and Cassius quarrel as civil war breaks out. Ron Heneghan as Brutus, Vince Eisenson as Cassius, with soldiers onlooking (Molly Moores, Seamus Miller, Lesley Malin). Photo by Robert Neal Marshall.
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- Brutus can’t sleep as he frets in his war tent. He asks Lucius, his servant, to play a song. Ron Heneghan as Brutus, Imani Turner as Lucius, in Brutus’s war tent. Photo by Robert Neal Marshall.
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- Briana Manente as Mar Antonia convinces the conspirators that she is on their side after the slaying of Julius Caesar. Michael P. Sullivan as Julius Caesar. Photo by Robert Neal Marshall.
Fast forward several years later from the time of Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony is now an older man, carrying on a passionate affair with the Egyptian queen. Folger Theatre opens its season with Antony and Cleopatra (Oct 10–Nov 19), transforming the historic theater for an arena-style production for only the second time in its history.
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- Cody Nickell and Shirine Babb in Antony and Cleopatra, Folger Theatre, 2017. Photo by Teresa Wood.
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- Anthony Michael Martinez and Shirine Babb in Antony and Cleopatra, Folger Theatre, 2017. Photo by Teresa Wood.
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- The cast of Antony and Cleopatra, directed by Robert Richmond, Folger Theatre, 2017. Photo by Teresa Wood.
Nebraska Shakespeare is on the road this month, bringing Shakespeare’s work into classrooms and communities as part of its Shakespeare On Tour program. This fall’s production is Romeo and Juliet. Check Nebraska Shakespeare’s website for a list of public performances.
Romeo and Juliet is a bit of a play-within-a-play in Shakespeare in Love, which began previews Oct 11 at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and continues onstage through Nov 12. The play, adapted by Lee Hall from the Oscar-winning movie, imagines William Shakespeare struggling with writer’s block and a forbidden romance.
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- Whitney Maris Brown as Viola de Lesseps and Jon Barker as Will Shakespeare. Photo credit: Tyler Barrett.
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- Jon Barker as Will Shakespeare. Photo credit: Samantha Gordon.
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- Dublin Delancy McFinnigan as Spot and Seamus Mulcahy as John Webster. Photo credit: Samantha Gordon.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater continues its all-female production of The Taming of the Shrew, with a suffragette twist, through Nov 12.
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- Artistic Director Barbara Gaines stages Shakespeare’s raucous comedy THE TAMING OF THE SHREW set in 1919 with a powerhouse, all-woman cast–setting up a witty and thought-provoking debate on politics, power, and love, in CST’s Courtyard Theater, now through November 12, 2017. Mrs. Victoria Van Dyne (Crystal Lucas-Perry) strides into the Columbia Women’s Club from a Suffrage march, welcomed by her fellow club members. Photo by Liz Lauren.
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- Disguised as a scholar, Lucentio (Kate Marie Smith) woos Bianca (Olivia Washington) with his wit and poetry. Photo by Liz Lauren.
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- The members of Columbia Women’s Club shed their women’s garments to get into character for their roles as men. Photo by Liz Lauren.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival nears the season’s end: Henry IV, Part One, closes Oct 28, and Julius Caesar, Henry IV, Part Two, and Shakespeare in Love close Oct 29.
Utah Shakespeare Festival also winds down its season this month: William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (Abridged) and the art deco A Midsummer Night’s Dream close Oct 21.
Learn more about the Folger Shakespeare Library’s theater partnership program.
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