Artistic Director Michael Kahn, whose Shakespeare Theatre Company won the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, has put together an upcoming season that he calls, modestly, “ambitious.” It is far more than that.
It opens on Thursday with STC’s Free for All — “All’s Well That Ends Well.” Then on Sept. 13 in the Lansburgh Theatre, Kahn will open a play he has always wanted to direct, Nikolai Gogol’s “The Government Inspector.”
“I read this version by Jeffrey Hatcher while I was sitting in the Metro,” said Kahn. “I just laughed out loud. Surely people thought I was crazy. It’s a wonderful satire on small-town corruption, but it also provides amazing roles for a host of wonderful actors.”
On Sept. 19, “Black Watch” from the National Theatre of Scotland will return to Sidney Harman Hall. “Black Watch” considers the lives of Scottish soldiers stationed in Iraq. “We’re glad we can offer it again because it’s such an important play,” Kahn said. “It’s one of the most thrilling theatrical pieces I’ve seen in years.”
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“The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart,” opening Nov. 14, is also a National Theatre of Scotland production, but with a different slant. “It’s our first site-specific show,” said Kahn. “It’s a ghost tale that takes place in a bar in Dupont Circle. There will be many surprises as you have drinks, immersed in this ghost story.”
When it opens Nov. 15 in Sidney Harman Hall, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Ethan McSweeny, will literally defy gravity. “It takes place in an old abandoned theater where pianos go up in the air and chandeliers go up and down,” said Kahn. “It will be an unusual production.”
On Dec. 6, John Malkovich’s “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” will open in the Lansburgh Theatre, straight from Paris. “I knew the play well, but John has modernized it,” said Kahn.
On Jan. 31, Eugene O’Neill’s “Hughie” will open at the Lansburgh Theatre, starring Richard Schiff (“The West Wing”). “Hughie” is about a small-time hustler in New York in 1928. “It’s almost a monologue,” said Kahn. “It’s been done by some of America’s greatest actors, and I’m really excited that Richard wants to do it.”
The next two plays will be performed in repertory. “We’ve received a wonderful gift from Clarice Smith to do repertory for the next three years, for which we’re very grateful,” Kahn said.
“These plays — Shakespeare’s ‘Coriolanus’ and Schiller’s ‘Wallenstein’ — are thematically linked. They’re both about great military leaders who run afoul of the political systems of their time. For one reason or another, the men change sides. We’re calling it the Hero/Traitor Rep.”
The final production of the season will be Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale,” which starts May 9. “Director Rebecca Bayla Taichman is doubling many characters,” said Kahn, “almost as though she’s showing two sides of a personality. I think it’s a wonderful idea and it will be an extraordinary production.”
