ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL Opens Shakespeare Theatre Co's 2012-2013 Season Tonight, 8/23

Currently midway through the Shakespeare Theatre Company's celebratory 25th Anniversary Season, Artistic Director Michael Kahn announced the Company's 2012-2013 Season. 

The new season features the return of repertory productions, as STC will mount two productions as part of the new Clarice Smith Repertory Series; the Hero/Traitor Repertory will be comprised of Shakespeare's Coriolanus and Friedrich Schiller's Wallenstein, adapted by Robert Pinsky who served as Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress. Also included in the lineup are a beloved Shakespeare comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream; one of Shakespeare's late romances, The Winter's Tale; George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman and Nikolai Gogol's comedy The Government Inspector adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher.

"This exciting season is a lot of firsts for me," says Artistic Director Michael Kahn. "We have a world premiere adaptation of Schiller's Wallenstein by Robert Pinsky, the first Russian play to grace our stages and the STC directorial debut of Aaron Posner who is directing a terrific play, Shaw's Man and Superman. I'm also thrilled to welcome the return of repertory productions through the generous sponsorship of Clarice Smith. It will be quite the exhilarating season."

These six productions represent the full Shakespeare Theatre Company subscription series. Patrons will have the chance to also see STC's annual Free For All production, a remounting of All's Well That Ends Well, originally directed by Michael Kahn in 2010.

Shakespeare Theatre Company'S 2012-2013 SEASON

Free For All – William Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well
original direction by Michael Kahn
directed by Jenny Lord
August 23 – September 9, 2012
Sidney Harman Hall

Helena, the daughter of a doctor, cures the ailing King of France, who promises her the husband of her choice. But the King doesn't know that non-committal Count Bertram is the object of her affection. Confronted with the word of a King, Bertram attempts to escape through harsh words, disdainful actions and a romance with another woman. With resourceful deception and ample persistence, our heroine Helena overcomes one obstacle after another in this romantic season opener.

Nikolai Gogol's
The Government Inspector
adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from the original by Nikolai Gogol
directed by Michael Kahn
September 13 – October 28, 2012
Lansburgh Theatre

In Gogol's witty and hilarious satire of provincial Russian bureaucracy, Khlestakov, a civil servant who is running out of money, travels from Saint Petersburg to a small town where his imagination runs rampant. When bumbling town officials mistake him for an incognito inspector investigating them for corruption, a comedy of errors begins and chaos ensues. Directed by Artistic Director Michael Kahn, The Government Inspector portrays self deception, mockery and pandemonium in this ironic comedy.

William Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night's Dream
directed by Ethan McSweeny
November 15 – December 30, 2012
Sidney Harman Hall

Mismatched lovers Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena flee to the forest outside Athens, but they run into a supernatural squabble that will alter their destinies forever. Will mischievous Puck create harmony or cacophony within the forest? Will Bottom and his Mechanicals put on a successful show for the Duke? Love, magic and wonder fill the air as dreams blend with reality in this must-see Shakespeare classic.