Theater News

Shakespeare in Washington Festival Set for 2007

New York City
More than 20 Washington D.C-area institutions — including the Kennedy Center, the Shakespeare Theatre, and the Signature Theatre — will participate in Shakespeare in Washington, a six-month festival celebrating the Bard’s life and work, to run January 2007-June 2007. Conceived by Michael M. Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center, and curated by Michael Kahn, artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre, the celebration also coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Folger Shakespeare Library, another of the participants.

Among the many potential highlights of the festival are the Shakespeare Theatre’s productions of Richard III (starring 2005 Helen Hayes Award winner Geraint Wyn Davies) and Cymbeline; the Folger’s presentation of the musical Lone Star Love, based on The Merry Wives of Windsor; and a special Signature Theatre cabaret featuring songs from musicals based on Shakespearean works, including West Side Story, The Boys From Syracuse, and Two Gentleman of Verona. In addition, the Royal Shakespeare Company will present a play at the Kennedy Center, thereby concluding its five-year residency there.

Other notable events that will be part of the festival include presentations of Macbeth by the Washington National Opera and Falstaff by the Kirov Opera of the Marinsky Theater; the Kirov Ballet production of Romeo and Juliet; the Washington Ballet’s original work 7×7:Shakespeare; the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra’s performance of Duke Ellington’s Such Sweet Thunder (also known as The Shakespearean Suite); and screenings of film versions of Romeo and Juliet and King Lear.

For more information, go to www.kennedy-center.org/shakespeare/.