My Shows
News on your favorite shows, specials & more!

ANTONY & CLEOPATRA to Close Shakespeare Project of Chicago's Season With Free Shows

Nick Sandys and Rebecca Swislow lead the cast, directed by J.R. Sullivan at Chicago-area venues.

By:
ANTONY & CLEOPATRA to Close Shakespeare Project of Chicago's Season With Free Shows

The Shakespeare Project of Chicago will wrap up its 2025-26 Theatrical Reading Season with free performances of William Shakespeare's tragedy ANTONY & CLEOPATRA, running June 13, 14, 19, 20 and 22 at various Chicago-area venues.

Shakespeare's ANTONY & CLEOPATRA moves across continents and crashes through borders - Egyptian palaces, Roman battlefields, warships at sea. It's a play that refuses to stay small. At its center: two figures too large for any single world, speaking some of the most extravagant and heartbreaking verse Shakespeare ever wrote. Power shifts. Alliances crack. And the language keeps rising - sensuous, brutal, lyrical, and desperate, often in the same speech. This isn't a quiet tragedy. It's an epic that earns the word.

Directed by J.R. Sullivan, the cast includes Zach Bloomfield as Thidias, Proculeius and Guard; Ryan Wright Cassidy as Octavius Caesar; Jonathan Gillard Daly as Enobarbus; Nic Eastlund as Lepidus, Soldier and Watch; Shelby Marie Edwards as Charmian; Olivia Fergus-Brummer as Octavia and Dolabella; Joe Fernandez as Scaros and Demetrius; Peter Garino as Agrippa; Benjamin Jouras as Soothsayer, Menas and Soldier; Philip J. Macaluso as Messenger and Soldier; Eamon McInerney as Philo, Messenger, Countryman, Soldier and Sentry; Tom Morin as Euphronius, Alexas and Diomedes; Abigail Rose Nakken as Iras; Nick Sandys as Antony; Rebecca Swislow as Cleopatra; Dylan C. Wack as Maecenas and Guard; and Jake Weinheimer as Pompey and Dercetus. Isa Guitian and William Ryder are the understudies.

The production features music and sound design by George Zahora. Christopher Prentice is the stage manager and Kyle A. Thomas is the dramaturg.

The Shakespeare Project of Chicago's theatrical readings are fully staged book-in-hand performances. Admission is free and seating is limited.

For more information, visit shakespeareprojectchicago.org.






Need more Chicago Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Spring season, discounts & more...


Videos


South Pacific in Chicago South Pacific
Paramount Arts Centre (4/29-6/14)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch in Chicago Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Catalyst Ranch (7/09-7/26)
Pete the Cat in Chicago Pete the Cat
North Shore Center for the Performing Arts - North Theatre (11/12-12/11) PHOTOS
SUFFS in Chicago SUFFS
CIBC Theatre (7/07-7/19)
The Dave Matthews Tribute Band in Chicago The Dave Matthews Tribute Band
Raue Center For The Arts (9/25-9/25)
Rock Of Ages in Chicago Rock Of Ages
CIRCA 21 Dinner Playhouse (9/16-11/07)
A Taste of Ireland - The Irish Music and Dance Sensation in Chicago A Taste of Ireland - The Irish Music and Dance Sensation
Peoria Civic Center (6/18-6/18)
No Chips' Cruisin' the Century: Route 66 100th Anniversary Car Show in Chicago No Chips' Cruisin' the Century: Route 66 100th Anniversary Car Show
Litchfield Pickers Market (6/13-6/13)
For Fathers Comedy in Chicago For Fathers Comedy
Raue Center For The Arts (6/19-6/19)
Lee Brice in Chicago Lee Brice
Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater (7/30-7/30)