Stage Two

Conventional wisdom may have it that all anyone talks about in Washington D.C. is politics (and maybe the Redskins), but rest assured this month, plenty of conversation will focus on the Shakespeare Theatre Company. The beloved theatrical institution will finally open the doors to its long-planned second theater, the 775-seat, state-of-the-art Sidney Harman Hall on Avenue F, on September 15 with a public Open House. Those who miss that event will get a second chance to see the new facility at an all-star gala on October 1, featuring such performers as Patti LuPone, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Nina Ananiashvilli and Julia Bocca, and Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

In addition to offering tours of the building and a variety of performances from local companies, the September 15 Open House will also include public rehearsals of two of the company’s upcoming productions: Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew starring Charlayne Woodard and Christopher Innvar, which begins previews on September 25 at the company’s existing Lansburgh Theater, and Christopher Marlowe’s little-seen Tamburlaine, starring Avery Brooks, which begins previews at Harman Hall on October 28 and which will play there in repertory with the playwright’s better-known Edward II.

That sort of creative programming is just one reason that having two theaters has long been a dream of the company’s longtime artistic director, Michael Kahn (who is also helming Tamburlaine). “I want to make Washington the destination for classical theater on the east coast, and to do that, we needed another space,” he says. “Theater can be a catalyst for all sorts of cultural tourism, especially in a place like Washington that isn’t restaurant-centric. I’d love to see our theaters busy every night of the year. I think people need and want an alternative to the kind of entertainment fare they now get at home. They want something with more substance.”

Kahn, who has been running the company for over 20 years, says it’s no accident that he’s opening the Harman with Tamburlaine. Marlowe’s first play, which chronicles the title character’s meteoric rise from humble beginnings to ruthless emperor, isn’t exactly an easy sell, even for the company’s devoted subscribers. “You only get one chance to open a theater, and you know your audience will want to come see the space, so they’ll have to come see Tamburlaine — even if it isn’t a play they might normally want to,” says Kahn. While the new mainstage theater — which can be reconfigured as a proscenium, thrust, or bare configuration — will allow Kahn to stage the piece with massive sets and special lighting effects, he’s opting for a very minimal approach, allowing the audience to focus both on the play and the theater itself, says Kahn.

Getting Harman Hall built has been a massive, multi-year-long project that is expected to cost the company around $90 million, of which over $70 million has been raised. Approximately $20 million has been donated by the theater’s namesake, Dr. Sidney Harman and his family, while another $20 million was given in the form of a grant by the District of Columbia. “Everyone in the theater community and the area is grateful that we were the first theater to open in this neighborhood way back when,” says Kahn. “Many businesses in the area have testified that 20 percent of their business comes from our patrons.”

Harman Hall will take up the first five floors on a new 11-story office tower, co-owned by the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers. It boasts expanded offices, dressing rooms, green room, rehearsal studios, catering kitchen, storage, and prop facilities. Indeed, the addition of something as relatively simple as a so-called “star dressing room” might attract a level of performer previously unwilling to spend three months with the company.

The theater has also been designed acoustically to host dance and music performances from other companies, including the Washington Bach Consort performing the “Brandenburg Concertos” (November 11) and pianist Gabriela Montero (December 15). Architect Jack Diamond, of Diamond & Schmitt, made sure that stage level was created so that even patrons in the first row can see the dancers’ feet, and that the side panels were easily removable in order to make excellent exits and entrances for dances.

Nevertheless, the Shakespeare Theatre’s focus will be on producing major theatrical events. In 2008, the Harman will house Ethan McSweeny’s production of George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara, followed by the company’s first-ever “Roman Repertory,” which will feature Patrick Page playing Marc Antony, young and old, in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra. “I think the fact that someone can come and see three of our plays in one weekend is really exciting,” says Kahn.

The company is also stepping up its commitment to family programming and education. Later this month, Gregory S. Smith will take over as director of education, and it has commissioned Norman Allen’s family-friendly piece On the Eve of Friday Morning, a re-telling of classic Persian folk tales, which will debut in December.
Better yet, the company is launching a $10 ticket program, which will offer 20,000 of those low-priced tickets with the aim of attracting younger audiences.

“The opening of the Harman Hall is not just a historic moment for the Shakespeare Theatre Company,” says Kahn. “It’s a historic moment for all of the performing arts in Washington, D.C.”