American Shakespeare Center

A heart-stopping duel makes ‘Macbeth’ a thriller at American Shakespeare Center

Nothing warms the heart like a brilliantly executed crossing of swords.

American Shakespeare Center’s ‘Henry V’ is tremendous fun

In repertory through Thanksgiving, a funky, hilarious, and irreverent take on the Bard.

My impromptu evening when the show couldn’t go on at American Shakespeare Center

One by one, our beloved live theaters are reopening, and the level of anticipation cannot possibly be higher. This summer, Staunton, Virginia’s company at the American Shakespeare Center is starting...

A summer of live performances coming from American Shakespeare Center

American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia, will reopen in May 2021 with a repertory season of three Shakespeare classics. With programming selected, cast and directed by a cohort of actor...

On toxic artistic leadership (part three): Manifesto for theater ethics

Back in the 1980s, the Harvard University Business School dismissed offers to create a curriculum in ethics—free of charge, if I remember correctly; an alumnus even offered to pay for it. The Business...

On toxic artistic leadership (part two): Training actors to be abused

The departure of Ethan McSweeny from the American Shakespeare Center was only one among many over the past year. Taken as a whole, the protests and departures/firings raise issues that all of us must...

On toxic artistic leadership (part one): When workers unite in protest

News of Ethan McSweeny’s departure as artistic director of the American Shakespeare Center has prompted a variety of responses—and the mainstream theater critics seem divided on how to handle it. A...

A beautiful winter rose blooms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ at ASC

One of my family’s most cherished traditions this time of year has been to visit family down south (of course), but also to stop off in Staunton, Virginia, for a few days. It is a great time of year...

Red Bull Theater re-examines ‘Othello’ in the context of 2020

This month, Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theater – dedicated to bringing new life and a modern sensibility to classic plays for current audiences – will investigate Shakespeare’s Othello in a multi-part...

Jessika D. Williams as Othello at ASC is a marvel to behold

By far one of the most exciting theatrical discoveries for me has been the work of the remarkable Jessika D. Williams. Those of us lucky enough to have seen her in the the American Shakespeare...

Three ways to catch ‘Twelfth Night’ at The American Shakespeare Center

Theater is changing. It has to; and, as ever, to survive we need to respond creatively to one of the greatest threats it has faced in centuries. But hey, we’ve been here before—and if Shakespeare can...

American Shakespeare Center to livestream performances via Marquee TV

American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia, has announced that their Summer 2020 SafeStart Season will be available for online viewing in partnership with Marquee TV. Dubbed “BlkFrs LIVE,” live...

‘Henry IV, Parts I and II’ were stellar at American Shakespeare Center

The Shakespeare scene in and near Washington, DC, in the months prior to the virus’s intervention, was truly rich in character and ideas; so much so that even a certain fat braggart managed to strut...

‘A King and No King’ was a goodly one at American Shakespeare Center

Looking back on the last few months, each of us has our “Shoulda seen it/Shoulda been there” moments, events that we would have given anything to see live. So at the moment, imagine if you will that...

‘The Grapes of Wrath’ at The American Shakespeare Center strikes a haunting note

“It’s need that makes all the trouble” says (ex-) preacher Jim Casy in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. That, in a nutshell, is the ordeal of our times, as millions live without paychecks and...

The American Shakespeare Center’s streaming ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ is a much-needed romp

Yes, it’s a drag to have to stay at home instead of seeing our favorite performers live—but then again, after a little adjustment, it’s amazing to get to see our favorite performers at home. Our...

American Shakespeare Center announces principal casting for Marquee Repertory season

American Shakespeare Center launches the 2020 Marquee Repertory season this summer navigating the waters of Venice, the glittering locale of Shakespeare’s Othello and The Merchant of Venice and Ben...

American Shakespeare Center mines the humor in Shaw’s ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’

The plays of George Bernard Shaw are, to be honest, an acquired taste. Erudite in the extreme, filled with Shaw’s unique sense of his own intellectual superiority—which is expressed with paper-thin...

‘The Willard Suitcases’ unpacks the re-imagined voices of psychiatric patients at American Shakespeare Center

First, dear reader, a confession—for which I fully expect to be pilloried, drawn and quartered, then maybe burned at the stake: I’m not a huge fan of musicals these days. Yeah, I know, there was a...

Cleopatra rules the stage in American Shakespeare Center’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra’

Of all of Shakespeare’s history plays, Antony and Cleopatra is the most complicated and thankless to stage. You’ve got shifting alliances, battles won then lost, and then you’ve got the bizarre...

American Shakespeare Center delivers a fresh take on ‘Julius Caesar’

You know you’re in for a new take on Julius Caesar when the famous Soothsayer (“Beware the Ides of March!”) doesn’t enter upstage right or left, as usual, to make his warning. In Ethan McSweeny’s...

‘The Willard Suitcases’ Starring Nancy Anderson To Have World Premiere at American Shakespeare Center

The Willard Suitcases, a new musical by Julianne Wick Davis, will make its world premiere debut at the American Shakespeare Center on October 4, directed by Ethan McSweeny and featuring Nancy Anderson...

American Shakespeare Center Announces 2020 Programming

In a Sunday presentation broadcast from the stage of Staunton, Virginia’s Blackfriars Playhouse – the world’s only recreation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre – American Shakespeare Center (ASC)...

Summer Festival Season Begins at the American Shakespeare Center

The American Shakespeare Center is promising audiences a Roman adventure this summer with their Festival Season. The season opens with Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra....

Ethan McSweeny Named New Artistic Director of American Shakespeare Center

In historic, hip Staunton Virginia, just a two-hour drive from the Washington, DC area, one of America’s premiere Shakespeare companies has seen a change of leadership. The American Shakespeare Center...

Review: ‘The Comedy of Errors’ at the American Shakespeare Center (Staunton, VA)

If you’re a fan of stand-up comedy, you know the highs and lows that come with artists working the crowd with fresh material they’ve been practicing for weeks. With their eyes on you and yours on...

Review: ‘The Winter’s Tale’ at the American Shakespeare Center

For all his brilliance, Shakespeare still suffers from the occasional whining of critics about his later “problem” plays. Longer and more complex, with familiar plot lines splintered and grafted into...

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol’ at the American Shakespeare Center (Staunton, VA)

We all have our own holiday traditions – lighting candles one night after the next, caroling, choral concerts, dreidel-spinning, Christmas Revels, Christmas-day Chinese fare, etc.—and they all bring...

American Shakespeare Center’s ‘The Custom of the Country’ Strikes a Modern Chord by Mark Dewey

This morning I read an article in The Washington Post that helped me understand why the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton sometimes devotes its prodigious talents to plays that aren’t as hot as...