Full Cast, Creative Team Set for A.R.T.’s Cardenio

Full cast and creative team information has been announced for American Repertory Theatre’s world premiere of Cardenio, written by Stephen Greenblatt and Charles L. Mee. Les Waters will direct the production, which runs May 10-June 8, with an opening set for May 14.

The play is inspired by Shakespeare’s play Cardenio, which was lost soon after its first performance. Set at a wedding party on the terrace of a villa in the Umbrian hills, the work is full of familiar Shakespearean flourishes including the criss-crossing of suspicious lovers and a cunning Iago-like meddler.

The cast will include Remo Airaldi, Sarah Baskin, Thomas Derrah, Nathan Keepers, Thomas Kelley, Will LeBow, Rebecca Luttio, Karen MacDonald, Maria Elena Ramirez, Leenya Rideout, Mickey Solis, and Elizabeth Wilson.

The design team will include Annie Smart (set), Christal Weatherly (costumes), James Ingalls (lighting), and David Remedios (sound).

Greenblatt, a professor at Harvard University, is a specialist in Shakespeare and the founder of “new historicism.” He is the author and editor of numerous books, including Will in the World, Hamlet in Purgatory, and Shakespearean Negotiations. Mee is the current playwright-in-residence at New York City’s Signature Theatre, and the author of a multitude of plays including Big Love, Trojan Women: A Love Story, bobrauschenbergamerica, Wintertime, and Fire Island. Waters’ many directing credits include Media Amok, Eurydice, Fêtes de la Nuit, and Big Love.