Shakespeare Theatre Company announces 40th anniversary season

Wendell Pierce inpany has announced the lineup of its upcoming 2025/26 season, celebrating the company's 40th season exploring classic storytelling in Washington, DC. The season features two Shakespeares, including Othello, which will be directed by STC Artistic Director Simon Godwin and feature Wendell Pierce (Elsbeth, The Wire) in the title role.

"I'm delighted to be celebrating STC's 40th anniversary season," said Godwin. "It's a season focused on joy, truth, and redemption - all powerfully contemporary ideas."

The season starts in Harman Hall with Merry Wives, reimagined by Jocelyn Bioh, who transports Shakespeare's Sir John Falstaff, Mistress Quickly, and more, into a vibrant South Harlem community of West African immigrants. Visionary and award-winning director Taylor Reynolds makes her STC debut with Merry Wives, following sold-out shows in DC at Studio and Signature Theatres.

"This adaptation beautifully mixes Shakespeare's language with modern language," said Reynolds. "I look forward to finding the balance between Shakespeare and Jocelyn's worlds. Both have such a gift for humor. I always find strength and hope in laughter, and Merry Wives has both woven into every movement. I hope DC audiences are ready for joy to explode from the stage into their hearts."

Merry Wives will be followed by The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen, a playwright whose powerful words have not appeared on an STC stage in nearly a decade, adapted by David Eldridge. Directed by Simon Godwin in the Klein Theatre, Ibsen's examination of family secrets and the elusive value of truth is ripe for re-examination and is produced in association with Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA). This production marks the fifth production of Ibsen at STC, making him the most produced playwright at the theater after Shakespeare.

For the holiday season, Harman Hall will be bursting with song and dance when Washington National Opera Artistic Director Francesca Zambello makes her STC debut directing Guys and Dolls. The crowd-pleasing Tony Award-winning musical centers on lovable degenerates Nathan Detroit and Sky Masterson, whose souls may yet be saved by the likes of one Sarah Brown. Zambello will be joined by choreographer Joshua Bergasse (Smash, Broadway's Bull Durham)

"I'm thrilled to collaborate with the STC on directing Guys and Dolls," said Zambello. "It is a joy to tell a story of redemption, with one classic, memorable American song after another, plus non-stop dancing, raucous comedy - all infused with the holiday spirit."

In the new year, the writings of Samuel Beckett will be dissected and performed by the preposterously charismatic Bill Irwin in his funny and insightful one-man show On Beckett. Irwin (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Eureka Day, Sesame Street) is a Tony Award-winning actor and master clown who has spent a lifetime captivated by Beckett. His one-man-show is a nonstop display of "pure, energizing joy" (The New York Times).

Harman Hall will then have back-to-back explorations of Shakespeare. First, from the Royal Shakespeare Company, in its first time at STC, comes the U.S. premiere of Hamnet, an "elegant and beguiling" (Evening Standard) staging of the beloved best-selling novel by Maggie O'Farrell. Hamnet is adapted by award-winning playwright Lolita Chakrabarti (Life of Pi, Red Velvet) and directed by Erica Whyman. The story explores the romance and marriage of Agnes and William, their family, and the tragic loss that inspired one of the greatest plays ever written.

"Hamnet is about redemption and art. About love, children, and the complexities and joys of family life," said Chakrabarti. "It's about tragedy, grief, and loss, and how we navigate our way through unbearable circumstances. It's a personal examination of the Shakespeares, and I hope you'll come and meet them."

Closing the season, Godwin returns to the director's seat with Othello with the Olivier and Tony Award-nominee Wendell Pierce (Death of a Salesman, Elsbeth, The Wire).

"Wendell is a performer of vast talents that I have longed to work with for years," said Godwin. "It will be an exhilarating adventure to collaborate with him on this, one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies."

Pierce shared Godwin's enthusiasm. "I am so excited to join next season at STC, to portray one of the great challenges in the canon, the role of Othello," said Pierce. "I look forward to working with Simon, a wonderful director and Artistic Director, on this production."

THE 2025/26 SEASON

Merry Wives
By William Shakespeare
Adapted by Jocelyn Bioh
Directed by Taylor Reynolds
SEP 9 - OCT 5
Harman Hall

William Shakespeare's farce gets a joyful spin from Jocelyn Bioh (Jaja's African Hair Braiding), dropping the debaucherous Falstaff into the melting pot of modern Harlem. Short on cash, Falstaff pursues the purses of two sharp-witted West African wives. As their proud husbands' suspicions rise, the wives cook up a scheme to shame the would-be homewrecker and prove that "wives may be merry, and yet honest too" in this "spirited, sharp, and silly" (Variety) celebration. Taylor Reynolds (Fat Ham) makes her STC directorial debut in the play's regional premiere.

The Wild Duck
By Henrik Ibsen
Adapted by David Eldridge
Directed by Simon Godwin
OCT 18 - NOV 16
Klein Theatre
Produced in Association with Theatre for a New Audience

The eccentric son of a wealthy businessman wreaks havoc when he embarks on a crusade to unveil the false foundations of his friend's life. Ignorant of the adults' machinations, a young girl tries to shield a fragile creature from the hurts of the world. Artistic Director Simon Godwin (Macbeth) directs Henrik Ibsen's unflinching tale about truth's tragic toll in a timeless story "that explains why Ibsen is the greatest dramatist after Shakespeare" (The Guardian).

Guys and Dolls
Based on a Story and Characters of Damon Runyon
Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser
Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows
Choreographed by Joshua Bergasse
Directed by Francesca Zambello
DEC 2 - JAN 4
Harman Hall

The oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York just got busted and Nathan Detroit needs cold hard cash to get it up and running again. Enter high-roller Sky Masterson, who Nathan wagers can't get a date with the straightlaced Sarah Brown, a Salvation Army missionary trying to save them all from sin. Directed by Washington National Opera Artistic Director Francesca Zambello and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse (Smash, Broadway's Bull Durham), dance the night away to "Luck Be a Lady Tonight," "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat," "A Bushel and a Peck," and more classic tunes in the must-see show of the holiday season.

On Beckett
Conceived and performed by Bill Irwin
An Irish Repertory Theatre Production, Produced in association with Octopus Theatricals
FEB 11 - MAR 8
Klein Theatre

Tony Award-winning actor and master clown Bill Irwin (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Sesame Street) has spent a lifetime captivated by Samuel Beckett. With little more than a funny hat and a podium, Irwin mines the comedy and tragedy of Beckett's work-including Waiting for Godot, Texts for Nothing, and more-in a nonstop display of jovial verbal and physical comedy that has become Irwin's signature. Whether you're encountering the Nobel Prize winner's writings for the first time or building on a body of Beckett knowledge, the "pure, energizing joy" (The New York Times) of Irwin's dynamic showcase is not to be missed.

Hamnet
Adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti
Directed by Erica Whyman
MAR 17 - APR 12
Harman Hall

When the plague steals 11-year-old Hamnet from his loving parents, Agnes and William, they must each confront their loss alone. And yet, out of the greatest suffering, something of extraordinary wonder is born. Experience the U.S. premiere of the Royal Shakespeare Company's "sweeping and sentimental" (The Guardian) stage adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's best-selling novel, adapted by award-winning playwright Lolita Chakrabarti (Life of Pi) and directed by Erica Whyman.

Wendell Pierce in
Othello
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Simon Godwin
MAY 19 - JUN 21
Harman Hall

Simon Godwin directs Wendell Pierce (Elsbeth, The Wire) in Shakespeare's towering tragedy about the power of words to kill. Venice is scandalized when its protector, Othello (Pierce), elopes with a nobleman's daughter, while his most trusted lieutenant, Iago, seethes after being passed over for a promotion. Vengeful Iago speaks a word and contorts the world: transforming Othello's faithful wife into an adulteress and upright men into beasts. 

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