The Shakespeare Theatre Company

The ReDiscovery Series

Dates for the 2011-2012 Season have been announced. Please check our calendar for more information closer to the day of the reading.

Monday, September 26, 2011 – ReDiscovery Reading #1
Monday, December 19, 2011 – ReDiscovery Reading #2 - Egmont
Monday, February 27, 2012 – ReDiscovery Reading #3
Monday, June 4, 2012 – ReDiscovery Reading #4

Since the 1993-1994 Season, the Shakespeare Theatre Company has staged more 70 plays as part of its ReDiscovery Series. Now in its 18th year, the ReDiscovery Series has investigated many rarely produced classics that resulted in mainstage productions including Schiller’s Don Carlos (produced during the 2000-2001 Season), A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde (produced during the 1998-1999 Season), The Silent Woman by Ben Jonson (produced during the 2002-2003 Season) and a new translation and adaptation of George Farquhar’s The Beaux’ Stratagem by Thornton Wilder and Ken Ludwig (produced during the 2006-2007 Season). In recent years, the series has led directly to newly commissioned adaptations by David Ives of French verse comedy: Pierre Corneille’s The Liar (produced in the 2009-2010 Season) and Jean-François Regnard’s The Heir Apparent (produced in the 2011-2012 Season). The series also included the sold-out world premiere of Tennessee Williams’ rediscovered one-act plays, Five by Tenn, at the Kennedy Center in 2001, a production later remounted in New York at the Manhattan Theatre Club.

Works for the ReDiscovery series are chosen by Artistic Director Michael Kahn and presented under the direction of Shakespeare Theatre Company's artistic staff. Guest artists join members of the Washington theatrical community to investigate classic works of world literature at the Lansburgh on several Mondays throughout the year. Guest scholars, translators and adaptors involved with the evening's reading also frequently participate in rehearsal, performance and post-performance discussions.

The ReDiscovery Series is made possible through the generosity of donors Ann K. Morales and Jean and David Grier.

The production history of the series is as follows:

2011

September 26	Marta the Divine, by Tirso de Molina (translated and adapted by Harley Erdman)
June 6	Don’t Play with Love, by Alfred de Musset (translated by Michael Sadler)
April 4	The Superior Residence, by Carlo Goldoni (translated by Frederick Davies)
February 28	The Government Inspector, by Nikolai Gogol (adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher)

2 010

October 18	Madness in Valencia, by Lope de Vega (translated and adapted by David Johnston)
May 17	Arden of Faversham, anonymous
March 15	Waste, by Harley Granville-Barker

2 0 0 9

December 7	Ruy Blas, by Victor Hugo
September 14	The Bourgeois Gentleman, by Moliere, adapted by Barry Kornhauser
June 1	Britannicus, by Jean Racine
April 20	Sir Patient Fancy, by Aphra Behn

2 0 0 8

December 15	The Gamester, by Jean-Francois Regnard, adapted by Freyda Thomas
October 20	The Dispute, by Pierre Marivaux
June 30	The Venetian Twins by Carlo Goldoni
March 31	The Liar by Pierre Corneille, translated and adapted by Ranjit Bolt
February 4	The Demi-Monde by Alexandre Dumas fils, translated by Barret Clark

2 0 0 7

December 10	The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe
October 15	The Phantom Lady by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, translated and adapted by Richard Sewell
May 14	Sir Thomas More, attributed in part to William Shakespeare
April 22	The History of Cardenio, by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, an imaginative reconstruction by Gary Taylor
February 12	Edward III – attributed in part to William Shakespeare

2 0 0 6

December 4	The Belle's Stratagem – by Hannah Cowley, edited by Melinda Finberg and David McCallum
September 25	London Assurance – by Dion Boucicault
April 24	The Modern Husband – by Henry Fielding, adapted by Michael Kahn
February 20	Hernani – by Victor Hugo, translated and adapted by John Strand

2 0 0 5

December 5	The Voysey Inheritance – by Harley Granville-Barker
October 3	The Spanish Tragedy – by Thomas Kyd
May 2	The Beaux' Stratagem – by George Farquhar, adapted by Thornton Wilder and Ken Ludwig
February 7	A Busy Day – by Fanny Burney, adapted by Alan Coveney

2 0 0 4

December 6	The Dog in the Manger* –* by Lope de Vega
September 20 and October 18	Boston Marriage – by David Mamet
February 23	Nathan the Wise – by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, translated by Edward Kemp

2 0 0 3

December 9	Lorenzaccio –* by Alfred de Musset – translated and adapted by John Strand
September 22	A Chaste Maid in Cheapside – by Thomas Middleton
February 27	Brand – by Henrik Ibsen

2 0 0 2

December 9	The Recruiting Officer – by George Farquhar
October 14	Turcaret – by Alain-René Lessage
February 25	Mulatto – by Langston Hughes

2 0 0 1

December 10	The Newly Discovered One Acts of Tennessee Williams
October 8	The Alchemist – by Ben Jonson
February 26	The Beaux' Stratagem * – by George Farquhar

2 0 0 0

December	The Double Dealer – by William Congreve
October	The Silent Woman –* by Ben Jonson

1 9 9 8

December 7	The Alcestiad – by Thornton Wilder
February 23	The Wives' Excuse – by Thomas Southerne

1 9 9 7

December 15	Amphitryon – by Molière – translated by Richard Wilbur
September 29	The Surgeon of Honour – by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
May 12	Women Beware Women – by Thomas Middleton
March 3	All is True – by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher – adapted by Greg Doran
January 6	A Woman of No Importance* – by Oscar Wilde

1 9 9 6

November 4	The Roman Actor – by Philip Massinger
April 29	The Knight of the Burning Pestle – by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher
March 11	The Tutor – by Jakob Lenz

1 9 9 5

December 11	Lorenzaccio – by Alfred de Musset
October 30	Ion** – by Euripides
May 15	The Malcontent – by John Marston
March 13	The Man of Mode or Sir Flopping Flutter – by George Etherege
January 9	Venice Preserved – by Thomas Otway

1 9 9 4

October 10	The Last Days of Don Juan – by Tirso de Molina
February 14	Brittanicus – by Jean Racine

1 9 9 3

The Relapse – by Sir John Vanbrugh

The Critic – by Richard Brinsley Sheridan Beaumont and John Fletcher

Don Carlos* – by Frederich Schiller

*Fully produced by the Shakespeare Theatre Company.

** To be produced by the Shakespeare Theatre Company as part of the 2008-2009 season.