Austin Shakespeare Reveals 2023-24 Season

Austin Shakespeare will re-vision some delightful music, comedy and sweeping drama in its upcoming 23-24 season, including a musical revue, the classics El Cid and a staged reading of An Enemy of The People, an homage to a classic American storyteller with O. Henry Stories, and Shakespeare’s Richard III and Romeo and Juliet.  

Songs From West Side Story will shake up the swanky Parker Jazz Club on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. Songs From West Side Story will feature Austin Haller as music director/accompanist and some of the most beautiful melodies of Leonard Bernstein and the lyrics of the young Stephen Sondheim.  

Austin Shakespeare’s November show will be a new adaptation built for Austin of El Cid, with an entirely new translation from Corneille's French into English and Spanish by the award-winning Michael Meigs. It is a story of a hero who must fight for his father’s honor by dueling with the father of the woman he loves. Imaginative costumes for El Cid will blend modern and historical for a reimagining of the classic play. “I am so enthusiastic about our re-visioning of El Cid,” said Austin Shakespeare Artistic Director Ann Ciccolella. “We’ll have new music composed by Jeff Britting and a bit of exciting Spanish language.”  

December will bring a special staged reading of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People starring TV and film actor Mark Pellegrino, best known as Lucifer in Supernatural and Jacob in Lost, who is coming to Austin to perform. An Enemy of the People will be performed at KMFA’s new Draylen Mason studio Dec. 14-17.   

In late February Austin Shakespeare will return to the Long Center’s Rollins Studio Theatre with a new adaptation of three O. Henry Stories, featuring music and dance. A special event will also be held at the O. Henry Museum downtown. O. Henry, who briefly lived in Austin, romanticized the early days of the 20th Century.   

Young Shakespeare will bring the heightened drama in poetry and even dark comedy of Shakespeare’s Richard III to the Curtain Theatre.  Young actors ages 13-19 will have the privilege of performing in the fantastic setting of The Curtain Theatre, a replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.  Teens get a full rehearsal month with professional designers and directors culminating in seven performances over two weekends. 

Austin Shakespeare’s popular free Shakespeare in the Park is exploring possible new locations while the Barton Springs Pool area is under construction, but perennial favorite Romeo and Juliet will be staged under the stars.