Abrons Arts Center
February 4, 2014 – February 23, 2014
Directed by Charles McMahon
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Hailed as a “wild rumpus of a show” by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Pig Iron Theatre Company’s raucous, spirited Twelfth Night breathes new life into the Bard’s classic.
With equal measures of absurdity and heart, the company fuses their distinctive physical performance style with Shakespeare’s text, creating an exhilarating version replete with practical jokes, gender confusion, and mistaken identity. This exuberant, unpredictable, award-winning production is definitely not your grandparent’s Shakespeare.
Lantern Theater
February 6 – March 16, 2014
Directed by Charles McMahon
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Idealism, envy, and power politics collide as the Roman Republic reaches a crisis. Caesar’s political genius, military prowess, and overwhelming popular appeal make him the most powerful leader the Republic has ever known. But his popularity breeds suspicion among his rivals and some fear Caesar’s power will corrode the freedom of the State. Shakespeare’s vision of Rome is both epic and intimate, from powerful speeches in grand public squares to whispered conspiracies in back rooms and dark hallways. There in the shadows, unlikely alliances set up a chain of events that bring down the great Caesar and thrust Rome into a disastrous civil war. Tony Award nominee Forrest McClendon leads an all-Philadelphia cast in Shakespeare’s timeless political thriller, brought to you by “the city’s top presenter of Shakespeare’s work.” (TheaterMania.com)
Chicago Shakespeare Festival
February 6 – March 23, 2014
Directed by: Gary Griffin
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Boasting one show-stopping song after another—like “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” and “Let Me Entertain You”—this classic musical is inspired by memoirs of the burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee; and it marks Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin’s continued exploration of the Sondheim canon. Tony Award® nominee Louise Pitre makes her Chicago Shakespeare debut as Rose, the most infamous of all stage mothers. Pitre’s career highlights include many critically acclaimed performances in the theater, on television and concert stages across North America and Europe. Gypsy, a jewel of the American musical theater, has been described by The New York Times critic Frank Rich as “Broadway’s own brassy, unlikely answer to King Lear.”
The Old Globe
February 8 – March 16, 2014
Directed by Barry Edelstein
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NPR calls Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein “one of the country’s leading Shakespeareans.” Now Edelstein’s work takes center stage in his Old Globe directorial debut with Shakespeare’s most enchanting masterpiece, featuring a powerful musical score written expressly for the production by acclaimed classical composer Michael Torke. The Winter’s Talesweeps breathtakingly from tragedy to comedy and along the way visits kings and queens, dancing shepherds, a most extraordinary statue, and one notoriously hungry bear, before it reaches its stunning, magical conclusion.