VIDEO: Get A First Look at STC's RICHARD III

After his hit production of King Charles III, David Muse returns to Shakespeare Theatre Company to direct Shakespeare's Richard the Third, a mesmerizing chronicle of the megalomaniac's rampage to the throne. The production will play at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) from February 5-March 10, 2019.

Returning to STC in the titular role is Matthew Rauch, best known for his role on Cinemax's Banshee. Other familiar faces in the 28-person cast will include David Bishins (Twelfth Night) as King Edward IV/Ratcliffe, Cody Nickell (The School For Lies) as Duke of Clarence/Tyrrel, Todd Scofield (The Comedy of Errors) as Rivers and Harry A. Winter (Kiss Me, Kate) as the Bishop of Ely, Robynn Rodriguez (Richard II) as Queen Elizabeth and award-winning Indian Ink actor Christopher Michael McFarland (Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill) as Buckingham. Actors making their STC debut include Broadway, film and television veteran Lizan Mitchell (Electra, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) as Margaret, Broadway actress Sandra Shipley (Present Laughter ) as the Duchess of York and Broadway's Cara Ricketts (Time and the Conways) as Lady Anne.

Richard the Third is the ultimate story of villainy, charting the rise of a tyrant who will stop at nothing to gain power. As he climbs ever higher, Richard bends the world to his will until even his mother can't bear to own him. A study of both character and society, Richard the Third comments sharply on how a nation allows itself to fall into line.

"It's a great play for now," says Muse, currently Artistic Director of Studio Theatre. "It's about a heartless man, a con artist, a man obsessed with winning and power, a misogynist, a spinner of news and misinformation, a man who thrives by beating others, a man who uses and discards people. It's about how a country responds to a leader like this. We watch people negotiate with their own mortality, align themselves with power and resist secretly if at all."

Support for Richard the Third is provided by KPMG LLP and the National Endowment for the Arts.