Black Iago in Othello In 1990 artistic director Michael Kahn and black director
Harold Scott cast black actors as
Iago and
Emilia, the trusted ensign who incites the Moor's fatal jealousy and his wife. With
Avery Brooks as
Othello,
Andre Braugher as Iago and Franchelle Stewart Dorn as Emilia, the resulting production was critically acclaimed.
Race-reversed Othello In 1997 the Shakespeare Theatre Company produced an
Othello in which Othello was white with an otherwise all-black cast. Actor
Patrick Stewart approached artistic director Michael Kahn with the concept: "I've been imagining myself playing Othello and, in a sense, preparing for it, since I was about 14. When the time came that I was old enough and experienced enough to do it, it was the same time that it no longer became acceptable for a white actor to put on blackface and pretend to be African. One of my hopes for this production is that it will continue to say what a conventional production of Othello would say about racism and prejudice... To replace the black outsider with a white man in a black society will, I hope, encourage a much broader view of the fundamentals of racism."
Ron Canada performed the part of Iago.
The Oedipus Plays at the Athens Festival After seeing The Shakespeare Theatre Company's production of
The Oedipus Plays in September 2001, officials from the Greek Embassy in Washington arranged for an invitation to the company to perform it as part of the 2003
Athens Festival. The show was a single-evening adaption by Michael Kahn of
Sophocles' three plays
Oedipus Rex,
Oedipus at Colonus and
Antigone. He changed the setting from Greece to central
Africa, and used an all-black cast headed by
Avery Brooks. The performance was on 10–11 September 2003 in the semicircular 5,000-seat
Odeon theater on the south slope of the
Acropolis. As a historical footnote, the original production had just opened the week before the
September 11 attacks. After a single performance cancellation that night, the show went on the next night (9/12) with a new meaning for cast and audience. The second Athens' performance was two years to the day after the attack.
''Love's Labor's Lost'' at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Complete Works Festival The Shakespeare Theatre Company took its production of
Love’s Labor’s Lost to England to participate in the
Royal Shakespeare Company’s Complete Works Festival. Performances were from 17 to 26 August 2006 in the
Swan Theatre in
Stratford-upon-Avon.
Shakespeare in Washington Festival From January through June 2007, The Shakespeare Theatre co-hosted the International
Shakespeare in Washington Festival. This celebration was conceived by
Michael Kaiser, President of the
Kennedy Center, and was curated by Michael Kahn. Over 60 arts organizations produced over 100 presentations.
Opening of Sidney Harman Hall On 1 October 2007,
Sidney Harman Hall opened with a gala performance emceed by
Sam Waterston and featuring ballet dancers
Nina Ananiashvili and
Julio Bocca,
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with
Wynton Marsalis, actress
Patti LuPone, violinist
Anne-Sophie Mutter,
The Washington Ballet, Washington Performing Arts Society’s (WPAS) Men and Women of the Gospel Mass Choir and actors from the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Special performances of The Great Game: Afghanistan At the request of US Department of Defense officials and with support funding from private sources, the Shakespeare Theatre Company donated Harman Hall. It provided logistical support for two all-day special performances of the full cycle of
The Great Game: Afghanistan. The 10–11 February 2011 performances were offered free to soldiers, wounded veterans and government officials in the Washington, D.C., area. ==Awards==