The Arts Club of Washington
Drama and Literary Committees
present
Shakespeare in the Theatre: The Shakespeare Theatre Company
by Drew Lichtenberg and Deborah C. Payne
Friday, April 18, 2025
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Arts Club Members $25 Non-Members $30
Special Offer:
A limited number of complimentary tickets are available to members of the Arts Club (use ACW Special Offer "Tickets" tab)
Please join us as the historic Monroe House as the Arts Club of Washington proudly hosts authors Drew Lichtenberg, resident dramaturg at Shakespeare Theatre Company and Deborah C. Payne, a long-time scholarly consultant, as they discuss their latest book.
The book chronicles how a small repertory troupe at the Folger Theatre on Capitol Hill became an internationally renowned company performing in a lavish, multi-venue performing arts centre in downtown Washington, D.C.
The artistic vision and business acumen of Michael Kahn, the founding Artistic Director, largely catalyzed this transformation, but so too did the forces of neoliberalism and, more recently, globalization and new media. Accordingly, Shakespeare in the Theatre: Shakespeare Theatre Company not only examines directorial decision-making but also 3 decades of social and economic change in the nation's capital, from the complexities of gentrification to the arts policies of successive administrations.
In addition to discussions of directorial practice, this book examines the ambivalence of American theatre artists toward their British cultural inheritance. Analyses of representative productions and interviews with Kahn and his British successor, Simon Godwin, illuminate this complex relationship: one that aspires to a cosmopolitan Anglophilia while positioning classically trained American actors as worthy rivals to their counterparts at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Great Britain.
The book will be available for purchase and signing. Price includes reception with full bar and hors d’oeuvres after the program.
Tickets will be available at the door.
