Shakespeare Theatre Company

Plummer, McDonald Join Conversations

The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) is continuing its Classic Conversation series with two new installments featuring Audra McDonald and Christopher Plummer.

STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn will interview the two stage and screen stars before a live audience at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F St. NW). The Classic Conversation with McDonald will be Monday, May 20, at 7:30 p.m.; the Classic Conversation with Plummer will be Monday, June 3, at 7:30 p.m.

Classic Conversations with Michael Kahn is a series of discussions with classically trained actors that began during the Washington, D.C., company's 25th anniversary season in 2011. Since the series inception, STC has hosted such talents as Patrick Stewart, James Earl Jones, Kevin Kline, Stacy Keach, and, most recently, F. Murray Abraham, 2012 recipient of The William Shakespeare Award for Classical Acting (“Will Award”).

“Everybody knows that one of my favorite things to do is to interview other artists,” Kahn said in a press release. “I have always felt that if you can do opera and musical theater, you can do Shakespeare, and of course Audra McDonald has done both. She's played Lady Percy in Henry IV, Medea in the musical Mary Christine, and she most recently was Bess in The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. She has tackled, in different ways, three big classical roles.

“There's nobody like Christopher Plummer,” Kahn said of the Academy Award winner. “There is probably nobody who represents the best of classical theater on this continent. His career has lasted half a century and his work is more superb than ever. I'm very pleased he is going to be a part of Classic Conversations.”

Audiences are invited to join Kahn for an evening of in-depth discussions on classical theater and the craft of acting, plus a chance to analyze and discuss the importance of classical theater in today's society. This event will provide patrons with a look into some of the great minds of classical theater.

Tickets for these events are $20–$35. To reserve tickets or for more information, call the box office at 202-547-1122, or go online to ShakespeareTheatre.org.

April 17, 2013

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