The theatre arm of the Folger Shakespeare Library will launch the season with the Shakespeare comedy As You Like It, directed by Derek Goldman, Oct. 17-Nov. 25. Sarah Marshall will play Touchstone, Amanda Quaid will play Rosalind, and Tonya Beckman Ross will play Phoebe.
Macbeth will include the magic of Teller (of Penn & Teller) in a production "conceived and directed by Teller & Aaron Posner," Feb. 28-April 6, 2008. Expect Ian Merrill Peakes as Macbeth and Kate Eastwood Norris as Lady Macbeth. (The staging is co-produced with Two River Theater Company, Red Bank, NJ.)
The School for Scandal, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, will be directed by Richard Clifford for a May 7-June 15, 2008, run. The comedy of manners, gossip and romance will feature Catherine Flye as Mrs. Candour, Clint Brandhagen as Charles Surface and Tom Story as Lady Sneerwell.
As a "special holiday event, The Second Shepherds' Play will be directed by Mary Hall Surface and staged by Folger Consort Dec. 12-30. It's billed as "a rich blend of music and theatre, the earthly and the divine, this engaging medieval mystery play captures both the rustic life of the peasantry and the marvel of the Nativity. Musicians and actors center the production in its origins with medieval dances and sacred tunes." It will boast Holly Twyford as Gil and Andrew Brownstein as Mak, the sheep stealer.
For more information, visit www.folger.edu or call the Folger box office at (202) 544-7077. *
The Folger Library at 201 East Capitol Street, SE, in Washington, DC, is "home to the world's largest Shakespeare collection" and is "a major center for scholarly research; a lively venue for performances, readings, and exhibitions; and a national leader in humanities education."