Photos: RICHARD II is Now Playing at the Magic Theatre

 The Magic Theatre is now presenting Richard II by William Shakespeare, translated by Naomi Iizuka and announce the cast and creative team for this brand new production. Check out photos below!

This profound and potent new play is directed by Karina Gutiérrez. Richard II  will perform through September 15, 2024 in the Young Performers Theatre (Southside Theater) in Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (Fort Mason, 2 Marina Boulevard, Building D, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94123). 

This production is the second half of the Naomi Iizuka Repertory and it continues Magic Theatre’s Residency with Play On! Shakespeare. The acting company of Garuda’s Wing will perform in both this brand new play and the new version of Richard II, to be directed by Karina Gutiérrez, premiering at the Magic Theatre in August.  This is the first of many with this ambitious project: the first production with the Magic Theatre and Play On Shakespeare!; the first production as part of Play On Shakespeare! as a Resident Company of the Magic Theatre; the first Repertory Project in years for the Magic Theatre; the first time Naomi Iizuka has returned to the Magic Theatre and to work with long time collaborators Campo Santo in years; and the first time this new version of Richard II will be premiered.  Iizuka wrote her original translation as part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival initiative Play On- to create new versions of all the Shakespeare plays, NOT changing anything or editing, but rather updating and translating language for the modern ear to hear.  Play On Shakespeare has not only had all the Shakespeare plays translated by an amazing array of contemporary writers, but now have productions across the globe, being taught in universities and many are published.  Iizuka’s Richard II was one of the first published of these plays, and had an earlier production premiere locally with African American Shakespeare.  This version is a more updated version, with a further condensed script, and featuring a largely cast of women and non-binary actors, along with two male actors.  The Magic Theatre and Play On ethos is to “translate” in the sense, that it is still the Shakespeare story and words, but embodied with the people seldom featured in the Shakespeare plays- which is to say Women, Queer folx, People of Color, immigrants– the people who are at the center of our community.  A model of this ethos is in production with the Magic Theatre’s Lead Director Sean San José’s version of Coriolanus produced by and at Portland Center Stage and currently at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.