A Political Newbie Goes Rogue in Sinclair Lewis’s Babbitt at Shakespeare Theatre Company

 A Political Newbie Goes Rogue in Sinclair Lewis’s Babbitt at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Babbitt
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Jordan Wright
October 8, 2024
Special to The Zebra

Matthew Broderick (Photo/Teresa Castracane Photography)

There’s no law that says you must read or re-read the novel the play you are about to see is based on. I offer that up to all theatregoers because you may often hear the challenge, “Did you read it?” or the boast, “I just reread it knowing I was going to see the play.” None of that matters when most plays have been totally reimagined by the director as is often the case in new productions. And that goes for Shakespeare as we shall see later this week in my next review of one of his classics.

Reimagining a well-known play is what keeps it alive proving its relevance to our modern culture. Great playwrights anchored their works on the social constructs that have been with us since the Greeks first took note of our human foibles. In other words, we’re still stumbling around in the dark ruining people’s lives, climbing the ladder to success and falling in love – sometimes easily, sometimes with grave consequences. The only constant when a play is modernized, is its relevancy to today’s culture. And that’s what Dramaturg Joe DiPietro has given us in his adaption of the classic Sinclair Lewis novel, Babbitt. Lewis was so universally respected for his social commentary novels he was the first American to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Judy Kaye, Chris Myers, Matthew Broderick, Mara Davi, and Matt McGrath (Photo/Teresa Castracane Photography)

George F. Babbitt is a familiar character as the uber-suburban, middle America, 1950’s working man with a stay-at-home wife and two kids. He’s a successful real estate broker – a salesman who probably read Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People – the bestselling guide to public speaking and closing deals. George is a brand names’ fanatic who worships his two-slice toaster. It fits in the era of TV pitchmen and catchy jingles that with the emergence of television reaches a broader audience than had ever been possible in the past.

The parallels to a certain recent president become readily noticeable when Babbitt is approached by a “concerned citizens” group to run for office on their conservative platform. It’s then his high school speaking accomplishments really shine. He becomes that brand of messianic candidate spouting incendiary tropes about immigrants, Socialists and Liberals. They dub him the “Prophet of Zenith”, the eminently insignificant midwestern town where he resides. Blindly following the group’s instructions, Babbitt loses all sense of self and empathy as well as his best friend, Paul. Eventually, he finds his muse, Tanis, a ballroom dancer, and falls in with her clique of liberal Bohemians only to become disenchanted yet again veering back to staunch Conservativism. These days we have a very familiar coinage for that whichever-way-the-wind-blows political stance. We call it a “flip-flopper”. I think Lewis would like that.

The cast of Babbitt at Shakespeare Theatre Company. (Photo/Teresa Castracane Photography)

Lewis’s well-drawn characters – Conservatives, Liberals, Feminists, Bohemians, an autocratic School Board member, Babbitt’s long-suffering wife, Myra, his dutiful daughter, Tinka, and rebellious son, Ted, his lover, Tanis, and the Good Citizen’s League – all with their own particular ideologies – steer him down widely divergent paths until George reconnects with his inner empath, then unceremoniously chucking this newly-embraced persona like yesterday’s trash.

Two-time Tony award-winning actor and legendary film star, Matthew Broderick, offers up a hilariously confounded Babbitt in a performance reminiscent of his portrayal of Leo Bloom in the film, “The Producers” which he co-starred in with Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock. Yes, there’s schtick, bumbling buckets of it, a role in which Broderick succeeds as the universal comic mensch. In Babbitt, as serious-minded and relevant as the subject matter is, it is decidedly richer with its deliciously tongue-in-cheek, often goofball, humor.

Mara Davi and Matthew Broderick (Photo/Teresa Castracane Photography)

This story of our two Americas, described by Lewis as “a unity of opposites”, defines the corrosiveness of the political spectrum on both sides. How Babbitt navigates the shifting sands of politics while futilely searching for his own identity, cements the play’s relevance to today’s confounding American political landscape.

Director Christopher Ashley stages this new play with a seasoned hand. His work on Broadway’s Tony Award-winning play Memphis as well as his august collection of a Drama Desk Award, yet another Tony and three Outer Critics Circle Awards gleaned from dozens of major Broadway shows, has earned him theatre royalty status.

Judy Kaye and Matt McGrath (Photo/Teresa Castracane Photography)

A fine ensemble, who are not listed by character but as Storyteller #1 through #7, round out this expert cast. With Ann Harda as Storyteller #1; Nehal Joshi as Storyteller #2; Matt McGrath as Storyteller #3; Ali Stroker as Storyteller #4; Mara Devi as Storyteller #5 and Dance Captain; Judy Kaye as Storyteller #6; and Chris Myers as Storyteller #7.

Scenic Design by Walt Spangler; Costume Design by Linda Cho; Lighting Design by Cha See; Sound Design by Leon Rothenberg; Original Music by Mark Bennett & Wayne Barker; Choreography by Stephen Buescher.

Through November 3rd at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Sidney Harmon Hall, 610 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 547-1122 or visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org

Warp Speed Slapstick Marks Comedy of Errors from Shakespeare Theatre Company

Warp Speed Slapstick Marks Comedy of Errors from Shakespeare Theatre Company 

Comedy of Errors
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Jordan Wright
September 19, 2024
Special to The Zebra

The cast of Comedy of Errors. Photo by Teresa Castracane Photography.

 

With the clang of a massive ship’s bell and the cry, “Stowaway!”, Director Simon Godwin’s Comedy of Errors begins. An august gentleman, Egeon (Timothy Stickney), a merchant from Syracuse, has been arrested and is being questioned by Duke Solinus (Eric Hissom), nay, threatened with beheading if he doesn’t pay a hefty fine for trespassing. He explains he nearly lost his life in a tempest at sea. But rules are rules, the Duke explains, and Egeon must find money to satisfy the law. He has his life, for now, but has lost his wife Emilia (Amanda Naughton), twin boys and their twin servants.

In the terror of the storm, they became separated. That’s the setup. Antipholus needs to find his brother, father, wife and mother and come up with the dough (ducats) to spare his father’s life. Bear in mind there are twin sons and their respective twin servants – all operating separately – and unbeknownst to one another, the bizarre fact they had all washed up on the Ephesusian shore.

Shayvawn Webster and Cloteal L. Horne in Comedy of Errors. Photo by Teresa Castracane Photography.

Sheer madness and near-terminal mistaken identity abound at supersonic speed. If you don’t know the plot going in, you’ll be spinning your wheels to keep up with these wacky doings. Other characters and side plots help ratchet up the action. At times I wondered if I was watching a mashup of Buster Keaton meets Steve Martin meets Lucy and Ethel in all their slapstick glory. Deliciously clever! Switcheroo at its highest and best use.

Hats off to Composer Michael Bruce for the interludes played by a delightful group of musicians – I noted a mandolin, guitar, piano, banjo and accordion who roamed the stage singing an amalgam of musical ditties between the rapid-fire comings and goings of the players. An intercom doorbell scene and the goofy beatings of the servant Dromio had the audience roaring, as did many of the prickly puns and nutty shenanigans.

Eric Hissom, Shayvawn Webster, Cloteal L. Horne, Kimberly Dodson, and Ralph Adriel Johnson in Comedy of Errors. Photo by Teresa Castracane Photography.

Magic, spirits and mystifying encounters factor into many of Shakespeare’s plays and this early farce of his is no exception. When crazed conjurer Pinch (Eric Hissom in this dual role) arrives all hell breaks loose in a whirlpool of Vaudevillian confusion and absurd props (forceps!!!) meant to break the spell and find love lost. He does and they do. Deep sigh…

Comic timing is everything and this cast was on fire. If your head is not spinning after this marvelously choreographed mayhem, you need to have it examined.

Highly recommended!!!

Alex Brightman and David Fynn in Comedy of Errors. Photo by Teresa Castracane Photography.

With Ralph Adriel Johnson as Antipholus of Ephesus; Christian Thompson as Aintipholus of Syracuse; David Fynn as Dromio of Ephesus; Alex Brightmanas Dromio of Syracuse; Shayvawn Webster as Adriana; Cloteal L. Horne as Luciana; Pearl Rhein as Angela; Kimberly Dodson as Thaisa; Paige Rammelkamp as Marina; Camilo Linares as Sergeant/Officer; Ro Boddie as Balthazar; and Jacob Brandt as Roderigo.

Choreography by Nancy Renee Braun; Scenic Design by Ceci Calf; Costume Design by Alejo Vietti; Lighting Design by Stacey Derosier; Sound Design by Christopher Shutt; Fight Choreography by Robb Hunter; Wig & Hair Design by Charles G. Lapointe; Dramaturg Drew Lichtenberg.

Through October 20th at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Klein Theatre, 450 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 547-1122 or visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org

Set To The Music of The Beatles A Hilarious As You Like at STC Tweaks Shakespeare with a Phenomenal Cast

Set To The Music of The Beatles A Hilarious As You Like at STC Tweaks Shakespeare with a Phenomenal Cast

As You Like It
Shakespeare Theatre Company
December 10, 2023
Jordan Wright
Special to The Zebra

The cast of As You Like It. (Teresa Castracane Photography)

Imagine if Gilbert & Sullivan huddled with Tom Wolfe (author of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test), and in popped Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, high as kites on Tim Leary’s little Harvard experiment, only then might you glean some insight into the mind of Daryl Cloran who adapted and wrote this madly innovative interpretation of the beloved comedy.

This wild and crazy production of As You Like It is a game changer for keeping Shakespeare relevant to both younger audiences and those of us who have seen it umpteen times and crave a fresh take. It’s creative, ultra-modern and so massively off the chain that even Lewis Carroll wouldn’t be able to claw his way out of this rabbit hole – and he wouldn’t want to. After the five minutes I thought I may never be able to see it presented in any other way. It’s that exciting, as is this dream cast who sing, act, fight and play all the instruments. Shakespeare would have sat right on stage, which is what many of the audience can opt to do. Select those seats if that’s your jam.

Naomi Ngebulana and Matthew MacDonald-Bain. (Teresa Castracane Photography)

Did The Beatles know that they wrote some of the finest musical theater tunes? Some say it was Paul McCartney’s show-biz father’s vaudeville influence. Others say it’s because by then they had enough performance experience that they could truly work a crowd into a frenzy. And frenzy is what this mash-up gets from their audience who are blissfully and happily gobsmacked.

Using the music of The Beatles, it pings our collective memories of the boho days of the mid-60’s through the mid-70’s when the British moptops ruled the music world and bell bottoms and peace signs evoked San Francisco’s Summer of Love. Here the Forest of Arden looks more like California’s Muir Woods and flower power meant all you needed was love.

Emotions go from laugh out loud to sweetly tearful with Rosalind singing velvet-voiced “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”, Phoebe crooning “Something”, Orlando and Rosalind dueting on “Can’t Buy Me Love”, Silvius hamming it up to “Love Me Do”, Touchstone belting “Helter Skelter”, and the entire ensemble singing “Across the Universe”. There’s so much to take in.

Jeff Irving, Naomi Ngebulana, Chelsea Rose, and Evan Rein. (Teresa Castracane Photography)

Twenty-three original Beatles’ tunes are woven into the fabric of this wildly original musical which starts off with a WWE-style wrestling match in a full-size ring, emceed by an Elton John look-alike who plays Touchstone. Standouts are everyone in this singular cast who have tons of talent using every performance trick up their “copulatives” (a made-up term from the show) sleeves. Think of a classic Shakespeare line from As You Like It and then tack on witty asides, grunts and groans, stutters, slapstick and pratfalls. It’s all here and proves that playing it to the hilt is its own reward.

With Henry Beasley as William/Jacques de Boys/Assassin/Forest Lord; Jennifer Copping as Corin/Dame Frances’ Attendant; Andrew Cownden as Jacques/Le Beau; Ben Elliott as Silvius/Forest Lord; Matthew Ip Shaw as Mustachio; Jeff Irving as Orlando de Boys; Kayvon Khoshkam as Touchstone; Alexandra Lainfiesta as Phoebe/Eleanor Rigby; Jennifer Lines as Dame Frances/Dame Senior; Matthew McDonald-Bain as Oliver de Boys; Norman Moses as Adam/Martext; Naomi Ngebulana as Celia; Evan Rein as Amiens/Hymen/Assassin; Chelsea Rose as Rosalind; Isaiah Terrell-Dobbs as Forest Lord; Marco Walker Ng as Charles the Wrester/Forest Lord; Sally Zori as Forest Lord.

Conceived by Daryl Cloran & Christopher Gaze on behalf of Bard On The Beach Shakespeare Festival; Music Director Ben Elliott; Choreographer and Fight Director Jonathan Hawley Purvis; Scenic Designer Pam Johnson; Costume Designer Carmen Alatorre; Lighting Designer Gerald King; Sound Designer Alistair Wallace; Pre-Show Content and Comedic Contributions Kayvon Khoshkam.

Highly recommended. Don’t miss one of the best productions of the year!

The cast of As You Like It. (Teresa Castracane Photography)

Through January 7, 2024 at Sidney Harmon Hall, 610 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 547-1122 or visit www.shakespearetheatre.org

In Macbeth in Stride a Fierce and Fabulous Lady Macbeth Showcases Female Empowerment in this Rock/Gospel Musical at STC

In Macbeth in Stride a Fierce and Fabulous Lady Macbeth Showcases Female Empowerment in this Rock/Gospel Musical at STC

Macbeth In Stride
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Jordan Wright
October 17, 2023
Special to The Zebra

Charlie Thurston and Whitney White in MACBETH IN STRIDE. (Teresa Wood)

On a stage built with zigzag catwalks, three black-robed Witches appear. With smoke wafting from the bowls they carry, they crisscross the metal runways, incanting the familiar “Double, double, toil and trouble” when there emerges a statuesque goddess in a skintight, black-sequined jumpsuit. Long, dark, wavy hair crowns her magnificence as she fiercely calls out, “What’s the story?” “Black, brown, femme,” reply the witches, urging her to seize power.

Creator and lead, Whitney White, inhabits the role of Lady Macbeth, except in White’s version of the play, the Lady calls the shots. With the witches as her collaborators in a soulful sisterhood, this sultry mama is all about female empowerment – flipping the script by taking Macbeth’s role and wholly owning it. Backed by an onstage band of keyboard, drums, electric guitar, electric bass + additional electronika, our Lady Macbeth can sing. And how! Rocking a three-and-a-half octave range, White wows the audience through thirteen musical numbers incorporating Gospel, Hip-Hop and Soul.

Chelsea Lee Williams, Steven Cuevas, Stacey Sargeant, Ximone Rose, and Whitney White in
MACBETH IN STRIDE. (Teresa Wood)

This seductive, sultry Lady Macbeth is as eager to find love as she is to have control and she lets us know it in the number, “Knowledge is Power”. She wants it all. And, why not? When Macbeth strolls onstage, tatted and chest-bared, slickly virile and playing a full-size accordion, she lets us know she’s found her man with the song, “Hallelujah”. Occasionally White backs herself up on piano and, in her softest and highest vocal range which could captivate and tame a charging lion, this Lady convinces us she is going to get what she wants whatever it takes.

The dialogue alternates between street slang and familiar Shakespearean lines. Referring to King Duncan, she and the Witches rap to Macbeth, “You better kill that motha.” With the notable Shakespeare line, “Screw your courage to the sticking place and we’ll not fail,” she promises him that together they will take the throne. When he refuses to commit the murder, she calls him a coward. Here the theme of female empowerment also includes the wife committing the murder to get Macbeth crowned and crowning herself in return. Quite the power play for this Lady.

Steven Cuevas, Charlie Thurston, Chelsea Lee Williams, and Ximone Rose in MACBETH IN STRIDE.
(Teresa Wood)

The production features thirteen musical numbers and plays out in rock concert form. Most impressive is the cleverness of the script, the humor, the superb vocal chops of the entire cast and their crafty performances. Highly original, White’s fresh twist on Lady Macbeth gives us pause to ponder all Shakespeare’s writings. What if a woman were in charge?

Highly recommended. Fierce and fabulous!

Chelsea Lee Williams, Stacey Sargeant, and Ximone Rose in MACBETH IN STRIDE. (Teresa Wood)

Starring Whitney White, with Charlie Thurston as Macbeth and First Witch, Stacey Sargeant; Second Witch, Ximone Rose; Third Witch, Chelsea Lee Williams.

Directed by Tyler Dobrowsky & Taibi Magar in association with Philadelphia Theatre Company & Brooklyn Academy of Music. With Choreography by Raja Feather Kelly; Orchestrations by Steven Cuevas and Whitney White; Scenic Design by Daniel Soule; Costume Design by Qween Jean; Lighting Design by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew; Sound Design by Nick Kourtides; Wig, Hair & Makeup Design by Rachel Padula-Shufelt.

Through October 29th. Shakespeare Theatre Company in the Klein Theatre located at 450 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org or call the box office at 202 547-1122. 

King Lear Smashes All STC Sales Records

King Lear Smashes All STC Sales Records

King Lear
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Jordan Wright
March 5, 2023
Special to The Zebra

Patrick Page in King Lear (Photo/DJ Corey Photography)

As a cautionary tale King Lear offers up lessons so dark, so full of evil premonition and so dangerously dire, one might be loath to examine its foreshadowing against the present day. That it reveals the fates and foibles of the human condition is what Shakespeare serves up for us to ponder. And ponder we do on the treachery, the perfidy and the murderous jealousy of this dynasty spelled out in spades.

Director Simon Godwin wrangles this beast of a play into a modern-day crime drama with all the attendant twists and turns – taking us on a grizzly journey into the inner workings of one uber-twisted royal family. I won’t bother describing the plot. Go online for that. What I want you to know and feel is the way Godwin has approached it.

Craig Wallace, Julian Elijah Martinez, and Bekah Zornosa (Photo/DJ Corey Photography)

It struck me as a cross between The Real Housewives of the British Court (the king’s two shrewish daughters Regan and Goneril) and Hitchcockian film noir. Set in an airplane hangar with his soldiers garbed in camouflage, Lear delivers his edicts describing the division of his lands to his daughters. The daughters must pledge their undying love to their father to secure the best lands. As an early Christmastime entertainment originally written for King James I, it seems it wasn’t meant to be a family-friendly amusement, but more of a warning – as in “Watch your back, your Majesty.”

Is it shocking? Yes! within a dire series of political circumstances that seem to correlate with certain dynasties current states of affairs. In real life we can’t peek behind the curtain of political deception, but here we can witness betrayal after betrayal play out amongst the characters – all of whom feel cheated of their rightful due. Fair warning. There will be blood!

Matthew J. Harris, Michael Milligan, Patrick Page, and Shirine Babb (Photo/DJ Corey Photography)

Costume Designer, Emily Rebholz, outfits Goneril and Regan in flashy kelly green or black leather and fur replete with 80’s gold chains and spike heels while true blue Cordelia is garbed in more subtle pastels. For a headpiece, The Fool wears what appears to be a gaudy hand-knitted cockscomb, while soldiers sport present-day military uniforms. Set Designer Daniel Soule conceives the wreckage of an old airplane as the scene for Lear’s shelter from the storm and a modern-day hospital for his death scene. Note the pizza boxes tossed after a wild party at Goneril’s house. Sound Designer Christopher Shutt provides the thunderous backdrops for the battle scenes with sounds of airplanes strafing the ground, radar bleeps, and bombs blasting. It’s quite effective.

You may never see a Lear as marvelously mad and subtly complex as Patrick Page’s portrayal of the mad king. How we loved his performances in Broadway’s Hadestown and STC’s Hamlet, Othello (Helen Hayes Award), Macbeth and The Tempest. Beloved local actor Craig Wallace is thrilling in the role of Gloucester. A graduate of Howard University, Wallace has played dozens of lead roles in area theaters.

Highly recommended.

Lily Santiago, Stephanie Jean Lane, and Rosa Gilmore (Photo/DJ Corey Photography)

With Rosa Gilmore as Goneril; Stephanie Jean Lane as Regan; Matthew J. Harris as Edgar; Julian Elijah Martinez as Edmund; Yao Dogbe as Cornwall; Michael Milligan as Fool; Jake Loewenthal as Albany; Ryan Neely as Roland; Lily Santiago as Cordelia; Raven Lorraine as Ursula; Shirine Babb as Kent; Terrence Fleming as Burgundy/Curran/French Soldier; Todd Scofield as Oswald; Hunter Ringsmith as France/Dennis; Bekah Zornosa as Constance/Doctor.

Assistant Director, Kate Pitt, Choreography by Jonathan Goddard; Lighting Design by Jeanette Oi-Suk-Yew; Projection Design by Aaron Rhyne; Composer, Michael Bruce.

Through April 16th at the Shakespeare Theatre Company Klein Theatre, 450 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org or call the box office at 202 547-1122.

Director Simon Godwin Delivers “Much Ado About Nothing” with a Healthy Dose of Hilarity and High Jinks

Director Simon Godwin Delivers “Much Ado About Nothing” with a Healthy Dose of Hilarity and High Jinks

Shakespeare Theatre Company
Jordan Wright
November 17, 2022

 Rick Holmes and Kate Jennings Grant (Photo/Tony Powell)

I often hear complaints from lovers of Shakespeare’s works that they only want to see what they refer to as “classic Shakespeare” productions (familiar to some for bellowing actors in pantaloons). I try my darndest to convince them that the whole point of a modern interpretation is to show how wonderfully relevant Shakespeare’s works are to contemporary life. In Director Simon Godwin’s spin on the comedy classic Much Ado About Nothing he strips it to its very bones and shows us how Shakespeare squares up to modern life.

Plopping it down onto a live news set, convincingly named SNN for the Shakespeare News Network, Godwin’s vision mirrors the contemporary newscasts from the you-know-who cable news channel. His drop-dead irreverent sendup pokes cable newscasters and their ilk with a sharp stick in the eye. It yanks them off their self-important throne with vigor. And how refreshing is that?

Ryan Neely, Sarah Corey, Dina Thomas, Nicole King, Kate Jennings Grant, and Nehassaiu deGannes (Photo/Tony Powell)

Godwin inserts snippets from other Shakespeare plays into the “broadcasts”. They come at you so fast and so often you need to pay rapt attention to catch the delicious wordplay nuggets. All through the play I knew I wanted to see it again to catch some of the references I could have missed.

From their white leather and chrome swivel chairs at a large glass console table, co-anchors Benedick (Rick Holmes) and Beatrice (Kate Jennings Grant) spar relentlessly. Backgrounded by photo-murals depicting cherry blossoms and, of course, the Washington Monument, much mutual loathing ensues between the two rivals. A spiral staircase corkscrews to a second story control booth where it appears (falsely) that Hero’s reputation has been sullied by hot sex with another man. Ten TV screens flank the sides of the stage broadcasting Benedick’s arrest by a hapless security force who fits out the misogynist cad with an ankle tracker.

The Cast of Much Ado About Nothing (Photo/Tony Powell)

Godwin adds schtick, cribs lines from other Shakespeare plays and injects the choreography with fabulosity – a disco party with a conga line led by a Lizzo lookalike in a turquoise bustier? Why, yes! Scenes are reimagined and flipped on their heads. A revolving stage allows for a quick change of scenery. Look for Puck to deliver a weather broadcast, “Now is the winter of our discontent.”, along with news reports that spoof some of The Bard’s most dramatic battles. One report features Cleopatra, others murder and mayhem from Shakespeare’s classic dramas. By now we’re rolling in the aisles.

Props range from bags of Cheetos and golf balls to a madcap scene in which Benedict gets hosed by a fire hydrant and another where Beatrice escapes notice by leaping headfirst into a janitor’s cart. It’s crazy fun, topsy-turvy and so infectious you’ll find yourself laughing like the proverbial hyena.

Comedy at its finest. For God’s sake, go!!!

Rick Holmes and Kate Jennings Grant (Photo/Tony Powell)

An extraordinary cast includes Edward Gero as Leonato; Justin Adams as Don John; Carlo Albán as Don Pedro; David Bishins as Verges; Sarah Corey as Ursula; Michael Kevin Darnall as Borachio; Nehassaiu deGannes as Sister Francis; Paul Deo, Jr. as Claudio; Nicole King as Hero; Dina Thomas as Margaret; Quinn M. Johnson as Hugh Oatcake; Terrance Fleming as Cop; Dave Quay as Dogberry; Raven Lorraine as Belle Shazar/Georgina Seacoal.

Scenic Design by Alexander Dodge; Costume Design by Evie Gurney; Lighting Design by Donald Holder; Sound Design by Fan Zhang; Composer, Michael Bruce; Dramaturg, Emily Burns; Choreographer & Intimacy Consultant, Jesse Kovarsky; Fight Consultant, Lorraine Ressegger-Slone.

Through December 11th at Harman Hall, 610 F Street, NW, Washington DC. For tickets and information visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org or call the box office at 202 547-1122.