THE ALCHEMIST Opens the 2009-2010 Shakespeare Theatre Company Season, 10/6

The Shakespeare Theatre Company will stage its 150th production of Ben Jonson's The Alchemist to open its 2009-2010 on October 6.  The production will run through November 22. Michael Kahn will direct.

The 17th century comedy tells the story of three con artists who scam an innocent man who has ventured to England to avoid the plague. The company features David Manis (Subtle), Michael Milligan (Face), Kate Skinner (Dol Common), Jeff Biehl (Drugger), Nick Cordileone (Dapper), Robert Creighton (Ananias), Kyle Fabel (Surly), Nicole Halmos (Neighbor), Wynn Harmon (Lovewit), Cameron McNary (Neighbor), Alex Morf (Kastril), David Sabin (Sir Epicure Mammon) and Timothy Thomas (Tribulation) along with Felipe Cabezas, Chris Dinolfo, Brit Herring, Rachel Holt and BrIan MacDonald.

The production features scenic design by James Noone, costume design by Murell Horton, lighting design by Peter West and sound design by Martin Desjardins. Composer Adam Wernick will provide original music.

Michael Kahn is currently the Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. Prior to this, he held the position of Richard Rodgers Director of the Drama Division of the Juilliard School from 1992 to 2006. Kahn's career began off-off-Broadway with Jean-Claude van Itallie's War Sex and Dreams and America Hurrah. After he directed several successful productions, including an award-winning Measure for Measure and The Rimers of Eldritch, he turned to Broadway, where his first project, The Freaking Out of Stephanie Blake, never opened and his second, Here's Where I Belong, closed after one performance. Additional Broadway credits include revivals of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Royal Family, and Show Boat. 

Since its founding in 1985, the Shakespeare Theatre Company has endeavored to be the nation's leading force in the presentation and preservation of classic theatre. With the formation of the Harman Center for the Arts-which includes the new Sidney Harman Hall and the existing Lansburgh Theatre-the Shakespeare Theatre Company is a national destination theatre offering a broad range of works to audiences in the greater-Washington area and across the nation. The Harman Center for the Arts provides state-of-the-art, affordable, midsized venues to outstanding local, national and international performing arts companies. The Harman Center for the Arts encourages synergy among sister arts organizations and stimulates an ongoing artistic dialogue that embraces all of the performing arts, while affording the Shakespeare Theatre Company the opportunity to expand its education and accessibility programs and engage diverse audiences in the arts.

 

For further information, visit: www.shakespearetheatre.org.