In 2015, Oregon Shakespeare Festival commissioned 36 playwrights—more than half of whom were women and playwrights of color, each paired with a dramaturg—to translate Shakespeare’s canon into contemporary modern English. Beginning this May, the 39 resulting work-in-progress adaptations will be presented at Off-Broadway's Classic Stage Company.
The project, led by Lue Morgan Douthit, sees Sojourners playwright Mfoniso Udofia take on Othello, Wild Goose Dreams playwright Hansol Jung translate Romeo & Juliet, Lydia playwright Octavio Solis interpret Edward III, Passage playwright Christopher Chen take on Antony and Cleopatra, and The House That Will Not Stand playwright Marcus Gardley translate King Lear, among others.
Play On! will run May 29–June 30 at the Lynn F. Angelson Theater at CSC.
The lineup of performers includes Zenzi Williams (Lockdown), Tina Benko (Nantucket Sleigh Ride), Vichet Chum (Love), Diana Oh (Infinite Love Party), Renata Friedman (No One is Forgotten), Gregg Mozgala (Cost of Living), Vanessa Kai (The Pain of my Belligerence), and Mark Blum (Amy and the Orphans). The complete cast, as well as the lineup of directors, is listed after the schedule below.
May 29 at 7 PM: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Playwright: Amelia Roper; dramaturg: Kate McConnell; director: Lisa Wolpe
May 30 at 2 PM: The Taming of the Shrew
Playwright: Amy Freed; dramaturg: Drew Lichtenberg; director: Jackson Gay
May 30 at 7 PM: Titus Andronicus
Playwright: Amy Freed; dramaturg: Lezlie C. Cross; director: John Doyle
May 31 at 7 PM: Henry VI, Part 1
Playwright: Douglas P. Langworthy; dramaturg: Mead Hunter; director: Leah C. Gardiner
June 1 at 2 PM: Henry VI, Part 2
Playwright: Douglas P. Langworthy; dramaturg: Mead Hunter; director: Michael Barakiva
June 1 at 7 PM: Henry VI, Part 3
Playwright: Douglas P. Langworthy; dramaturg: Mead Hunter; director: Nelson Eusebio
June 2 at 2 PM: Richard III
Playwright: Migdalia Cruz; dramaturg: Ishia Bennison; director: Mariana King
June 3 at 7 PM: The Comedy of Errors
Playwright: Christina Anderson; dramaturg: Martine Kei Green-Rogers; director: Devin Brain
June 5 at 7 PM: Love’s Labor’s Lost
Playwright: Josh Wilder; dramaturg: Davina Moss; director: Nelson Eusebio
June 6 at 2 PM: Edward III
Playwright: Octavio Solis; dramaturg: Kimberly Colburn; director: Lillian Groag
June 6 at 7 PM: Richard II
Playwright: Naomi Iizuka; dramaturg: Joy Meads; director: Jennifer Chang
June 7 at 7 PM: Romeo & Juliet
Playwright: Hansol Jung; dramaturg: Aaron Malkin; director: Danya Taymor
June 8 at 2 PM: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Playwright: Jeff Whitty; dramaturg: Heidi Schreck; director: Jeff Whitty
June 8 at 7 PM: King John
Playwright: Brighde Mullins; dramaturg: Drew Barr and Katie Peterson; director: Drew Barr
June 9 at 2 PM: The Merchant of Venice
Playwright: Elise Thoron; dramaturg: Julie Felise Dubiner; director: Estefania Fadul
June 10 at 7 PM: Much Ado About Nothing
Playwright: Ranjit Bolt; dramaturg: Lydia G. Garcia; director: Desdemona Chiang
June 12 at 7 PM: Henry IV, Part 1
Playwright: Yvette Nolan; dramaturg: Waylon Lenk; director: Lavina Jadhwani
June 13 at 7 PM: Henry IV, Part 2
Playwright: Yvette Nolan; dramaturg: Waylon Lenk; director: Nelson Eusebio
June 13 at 2 PM: Merry Wives of Windsor
Playwright: Dipika Guha; dramaturg: Christine Sumption; director: Margot Bordelon
June 14 at 7 PM: Henry V
Playwright: Lloyd Suh; dramaturg: Andrea Hibler; director: Ralph Peña
June 15 at 2 PM: As You Like It
Playwright: David Ivers; dramaturg: Lezlie C. Cross; director: Rob Salas
June 15 at 7 PM: Julius Caesar
Playwright: Shishir Kurup; dramaturg: Nancy Keystone; director: Sabrina Peck
June 16 at 2 PM: Hamlet
Playwright: Lisa Peterson; dramaturg: Luan Schooler; director: Ellen McLaughlin
June 17 at 7 PM: Twelfth Night
Playwright: Alison Carey; dramaturg: Lezlie C. Cross; director: JaMeeka Holloway-Burrell
June 19 at 7 PM: Troilus and Cressida
Playwright: Lillian Groag; dramaturg: James Magruder; director: Lillian Groag
June 20 at 2 PM: Measure for Measure
Playwright: Aditi Brennan Kapil; dramaturg: Liz Engelman and Andrew Ian Carlson; director: Lisa Channer
June 20 at 7 PM: Othello
Playwright: Mfoniso Udofia; dramaturg: Ayanna Thompson; director: Victor Malana Maog
June 21 at 7 PM: All’s Well That Ends Well
Playwright: Virginia Grise; dramaturg: Ricardo Bracho and Natsuko Ohama; director: Elena Araoz
June 22 at 2 PM: Timon of Athens
Playwright: Kenneth Cavander; dramaturg: Lue Morgan Douthit; director: Andy Wolk
June 22 at 7 PM: King Lear
Playwright: Marcus Gardley; dramaturg: Nakissa Etemad and Philippa Kelly; director: Ian Belknap
June 23 at 2 PM: Antony and Cleopatra
Playwright: Christopher Chen; dramaturg: Desdemona Chiang; director: Desdemona Chiang
June 24 at 7 PM: Macbeth
Playwright: Migdalia Cruz; dramaturg: Ishia Bennison; director: Eddie Torres
June 26 at 7 PM: Coriolanus
Playwright: Sean San Jose; dramaturg: Rob Melrose; director: Awoye Timpo
June 27 at 2 PM: Pericles
Playwright: Ellen McLaughlin; dramaturg: Alan Armstrong; director: Lisa Rothe
June 27 at 7 PM: Cymbeline
Playwright: Andrea Thome; dramaturg: John Dias; director: John Dias
June 28 at 7 PM: The Winter’s Tale
Playwright: Tracy Young; dramaturg: Ben Pryor; director: Christopher Liam Moore
June 29 at 2 PM: Henry VIII
Playwright: Caridad Svich; dramaturg: Julie Felise Dubiner; director: Adrian Alexander Alea
June 29 at 7 PM: The Tempest
Playwright: Kenneth Cavander; dramaturg: Christian Parker; director: Andy Wolk
June 30 at 2 PM: Two Noble Kinsmen
Playwright: Tim Slover; dramaturg: Martine Kei Green-Rogers; director: April Cleveland
Other performers slated to be a part of the readings are: Carlo Albán, Tala Ashe, Jordan Baker, Pun Bandhu, Jordan Barbour, Raffi Barsoumian, Cynthia Bastidas, Jerome Preston Bates, Mark Bedard, Jeff Biehl, Becca Blackwell, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Benjamin Bonenfant, Sandra Caldwell, Nat Cassidy, Nemuna Ceesay, Yvette Clark, Anthony Cochrane, Bill Connington, Greg Cuellar, Angel Desai, Shannon DeVido, Danaya Esperanza, Tasso Feldman, Ceci Fernandez, Vivia Font, Chelsea Fryer, Kambi Gathesha, Martha Gehman, Fernando Gonzalez, Michael Gabriel Goodfriend, Christopher Ryan Grant, Kat Griffin, Jake Hart, Annie Henk, Michelle Hurst, David Huynh, Patrice Johnson, Paul Juhn, Mia Katigbak, Patrick Kerr, Kevin Kilner, Lisa Kitchens, Paul Kite, Tracie Lane, Bianca Leigh, Anthony Michael Lopez, Abraham Makany, Sol Marina, Asia Mark, Roberta Maxwell, Ellen McLaughlin, Pooya Mohseni, Jackson Moran, Bobby Moreno, Luis Moreno, Olivia Negron, Genesis Oliver, Brooke Parks, Ronald Peet, Flor de Liz Perez, Miguel Pérez, Portia, Christina Pumariega, Ben Quinn, Julian Remulla, Blake Russell, Zo Sakamoto, Mhari Sandoval, Susannah Schulman, Michael Sharon, Constance Shulman, David Ryan Smith, Sathya Sridharan, Allison Strickland, Amanda Sykes, Marie Thomas, Tramell Tillman, Paco Tolson, Tony Torn, Chinaza Uche, Peter Van Norden, Juan Villa, Terri Weagant, Lisa Wolpe, Kim Wong, Jade Wu, and Samy Nour Younes.
For more information, visit PlayOnFestival.org.
