American Shakespeare Center
Now Until April 4, 2014
[button url=”http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=3″ target=”blank”]Buy Tickets[/button]After wealthy Athenian Timon spends all his money entertaining, supporting, and bailing out his friends, he anticipates their help in his time of need. When his “friends” turn him down one-by-one, Timon transforms from Shakespeare’s most liberal spendthrift into his most tight-fisted misanthrope. A perfect play for our turbulent financial times, Timon of Athens makes us question the meaning of friendship, generosity, and gratitude.
Chicago Shakespeare Festival
March 13 – May 4, 2014
Directed by Gary Griffin
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Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin brings you not one, but two musicals, Gypsy and Road Show, that feature the extraordinary talents of Stephen Sondheim—both inspired by real stories of ambitious Americans in pursuit of their dreams. Based on the lives of the boldly enterprising brothers Addison and Wilson Mizner, the musical journey of Road Show spans forty years—from the Alaskan Gold Rush to the Florida real estate boom in the 1930s. Traversing the continent in a variety of get-rich-quick schemes, the brothers stick together through experiences that change their lives in unexpected ways.
KING LEAR – Theater For A New Audience, Brooklyn, NY
By William Shakespeare
Direction: Arin Arbus
Featuring: Michael Pennington
Scenic Designer: Riccardo Hernandez
Costume Designer: Susan Hilferty
Lighting Designer: Marcus Doshi
Composer: Michael Attias
March 14 – May 4, 2014
[button url=”http://www.tfana.org/tickets” target=”blank”]Buy Tickets[/button]Considered to be one of the greatest plays in the English language, King Lear tells the story of a savage familial power struggle that follows Lear’s misguided decision to apportion his kingdom before his death.
For Arin Arbus, the play’s taut intertwining of the political and the personal and its breathtaking power to distill an entire complex world into a story of two families is riveting. Moreover, she finds “its radical political assertions remarkable. Shakespeare challenges the very foundations of Western civilization, pointing out the absurdity of privilege, entitlement, social and economic hierarchies, and man’s assertion of his power over nature.”
This production is sponsored by Deloitte.
Royal Shakespeare Company
18 March – 6 September 2014
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With his crown under threat from enemies both foreign and domestic, Henry IV prepares for war.
Having deposed the previous king, he is only too aware how tenuous his position is, and the price to be paid if he falters.
As his father prepares to defend his crown, Prince Hal is languishing in the taverns and brothels of London, revelling in the company of his friend, the notorious Sir John Falstaff.
With the onset of the war, Hal and Falstaff are thrust into the brutal reality of the battlefield, where Hal must confront his responsibilities to family and throne.
RSC Associate Artist Antony Sher returns to the Company to play the infamous comic knight Falstaff. He is joined by Jasper Britton as Henry IV and Alex Hassell as Prince Hal. Jasper returns following his performances in The Taming of the Shrew/The Tamer Tamed (2003). Alex returns to the RSC following his recent credits in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cardenio and The City Madam(2011).
Royal Shakespeare Company
28 March – 6 September 2014
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King Henry’s health is failing as a second rebellion threatens to surface.
Intent on securing his legacy, he is uncertain that Hal is a worthy heir, believing him more concerned with earthly pleasures than the responsibility of rule. Meanwhile, Falstaff is sent to the countryside to recruit fresh troops.
Amongst the unwitting locals, opportunities for embezzlement and profiteering prove impossible to resist as Falstaff gleefully indulges in the business of lining his own pockets.
As the King’s health continues to worsen, Hal must choose between duty and loyalty to an old friend in Shakespeare’s heartbreaking conclusion to this pair of plays.
RSC Associate Artist Antony Sher returns to the Company to play the infamous comic knight Falstaff. He is joined by Jasper Britton as Henry IV and Alex Hassell as Prince Hal. Jasper returns following his performances in The Taming of the Shrew/The Tamer Tamed (2003). Alex returns to the RSC following his recent credits in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cardenio and The City Madam(2011).
Chicago Shakespeare Festival
March 30 – April 13, 2014
Adaptor/Director: Emma Rice
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Lauded all around the world for its trademark vitality, the artistic collective from Cornwall, England, Kneehigh makes its long-awaited Chicago debut with the iconic work that first catapulted the company to international fame. Marrying gorgeous music and ingenious staging with cheeky humor and Wagnerian intensity, Kneehigh now reimagines one of the world’s oldest love stories. Cornish King Mark is at war; he rules with his head, not his heart. But he hasn’t counted on falling head over heels for his enemy’s sister, or expected the arrival of the enigmatic Tristan.