Casting Complete for Shakespeare in the Park's Merchant of Venice and Winter's Tale

By Adam Hetrick
17 May 2010

Al Pacino in rehearsal for The Merchant of Venice
Al Pacino in rehearsal for The Merchant of Venice
Photo by Nella Vera

Casting is now complete for the Shakespeare in the Park repertory productions of The Merchant of Venice and The Winter's Tale, which will begin performances at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park June 9.

The ensemble, comprising non-equity performers, will include Happy Anderson, Liza J. Bennett, Tyler Caffall, Cary Donaldson, Luke Forbes, Bryce Gill, Shalita Grant, Jade Hawk, Bethany Heinrich, Tia James, Kelsey Kurz, Brian Macdonald, Alexander Maier, Dorien Makhloghi and Joe Short.

As previously reported, Oscar winner Al Pacino will star as Shylock in Merchant, with Lily Rabe (Steel Magnolias, Heartbreak House) as Portia, Tony Award nominee Linda Emond (Life (x) 3, A Spanish Play) as Hermione in The Winter's Tale and Tony winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Seven Guitars, Jelly's Last Jam) as Leontes.

The company will also feature Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Young Shepherd/Lord/Launcelot Gobbo), Jesse L. Martin (Polixenes/Gratiano), Max Wright (Old Shepherd/Prince of Arragon), Bill Heck (Lord/Lorenzo), Hamish Linklater (Autolycus/Lord/Bassanio), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Paulina/Nerissa), Gerry Bamman (Antigonus/Duke of Venice), Francois Battiste (Florizel/Lord/Salerio), Byron Jennings (Camillo/Antonio), Heather Lind (Perdita/Jessica), Nyambi Nyambi (Lord/Prince of Morocco), Matthew Rauch (Dion/Jailer/Solanio) and Richard Topol (Lord/Tubal).

Michael Greif will stage the first production to get underway, which will be The Winter's Tale beginning June 9. Daniel Sullivan will helm Merchant of Venice, which begins June 12. Repertory performances will run through Aug. 1.

Designing the productions are Mark Wendland (scenic design), Jess Goldstein (costume design for Merchant), Clint Ramos (costume design for Winter's Tale), Kenneth Posner (lighting design) and Acme Sound Partners (sound design).

Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Tom Kitt will score The Winter's Tale, while Dan Moses Schreier has been enlisted to pen original music for Merchant of Venice.

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