Monday, September 11, 2017

Antoinette Robinson Cast as Viola in Ethan McSweeny's Twelfth Night

Antoinette Robinson makes her STC debut in Ethan McSweeny's Twelfth Night

From our friends at the Shakespeare Theatre Company...

Shakespeare Theatre Company Announces Antoinette Robinson Will Play Viola in Ethan McSweeny's Twelfth Night

The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) is delighted to announce that that actress Antoinette Robinson will make her STC debut when she plays Viola in the Company’s forthcoming production of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Directed by STC favorite and internationally acclaimed director Ethan McSweeny the production will run at Sidney Harman Hall from November 14 - December 20, 2017.

“It is really through Viola’s eyes that as an audience we watch the play. She’s the center - she’s witty and strong, yet vulnerable,” said Ethan McSweeny. “The audience follows her through the play as she tries to navigate this topsy-turvy world of people seemingly driven mad by love. I’m thrilled that Antoinette will join the cast of Twelfth Night and I’m looking forward to working with her to develop her portrayal of Viola.”


Twelfth Night, one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies, ponders love lost and found. A shipwreck separates twins Viola and Sebastian, but tragedy quickly turns to comedy when the quick-witted Viola assumes the disguise of a page boy for Duke Orsino and finds herself at the center of an explosive love triangle. Bursting with vitality and romance, Twelfth Night gives us one of Shakespeare’s most remarkable heroines matching wits with a host of captivating characters - from the love-struck Olivia to the puritanical Malvolio.

“It’s always a pleasure to welcome Ethan back to STC,” says STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn. “He is known for creating a richly imaginative world on stage and I’m looking forward to seeing how he uses his signature expressive visual style to bring to life Shakespeare’s dream world in Twelfth Night.”

Full casting to be announced soon

ABOUT ANTOINETTE ROBINSON:
Antoinette Robinson recently appeared in Timon of Athens at the Folger Theatre, where she also played the role of Celia in As You Like It. Her Off-Broadway credits include As You Like It at New York Classical Theatre and Sir Patient Fancy, The Winter's Tale, and The Taming of the Shrew at The Queens Company. REGIONAL: Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival: As You Like It, Our Town, Measure for Measure; Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival: Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet; Seattle Children's Theatre: Edge of Peace. Guthrie Theater: Time Sensitive; Hyde Park Theatre: Mr. Marmalade, Spirits to Enforce, The Motherf*cker with the Hat; Esperance Theatre Company: Becoming Something. FILM: Ol' Daddy, 9 Actors, Consumed. AWARDS: B. Iden Payne Nomination Best Actress for Lucy in Mr. Marmalade, B. Iden Payne Award Best Ensemble in Spirits to Enforce. TRAINING: University of Texas at Austin: MFA in Acting; Texas A&M-Corpus Christi: BA in Directing and Acting. WEB: Series: The Great Black Way.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:
Affiliated Artist Ethan McSweeny has directed STC productions of The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant Of Venice, Ion, Major Barbara and The Persians, as well as the Harman Center Opening Gala, and served as Associate Director from 1993 to 1997. In April, he brought his celebrated STC production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to the Macao Arts Festival in China. His Broadway credits include John Grisham's A Time To Kill and Gore Vidal's The Best Man (Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards, Tony Award nomination), and his Off-Broadway credits include John Logan's Never The Sinner (Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards), 100 Saints You Should Know (Top Ten: Entertainment Weekly and Time Out magazines), 1001 (Top Ten: Time Out), Rx (world premiere), Sabina and The Persians for the National Actors Theatre. McSweeny has worked abroad at Dublin's Gate Theatre and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and at regional theatres throughout the United States including Arena Stage, Signature Theatre, Center Stage, the Guthrie Theater, the Goodman, the Old Globe, Denver Center Theatre Company and South Coast Repertory, among others. He has served as Co-Artistic Director of Chautauqua Theater Company, Associate Director of the National Actors Theatre, Resident Director at New Dramatists and Associate Artistic Director of the George Street Playhouse. McSweeny is a member of the Executive Board of SDC, the national labor union for directors and choreographers.

ABOUT THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY:
Recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) is the nation’s leading premier classical theatre company. Today, STC is synonymous with artistic excellence and making classical theatre more accessible to audiences in and around the nation’s capital.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Michael Kahn and Executive Director Chris Jennings, STC’s innovative productions inspire dialogue that connects classic works to the modern human experience. The Company focuses on works with profound themes, complex characters and poetic language written by Shakespeare, his contemporaries and the playwrights he influenced in order to preserve and promote classic theatre - ambitious, enduring plays with universal themes - for all audiences.

A leader in arts education, STC has a stable of initiatives that teach and excite learners of all ages, from school programs and adult acting classes to accessible community programming like play-relevant discussion series and the Free For All. For the past 25 years, the Free For All program has offered an annual remount of a popular production completely free of charge to all audience members.

Located in downtown Washington, DC, STC performs in two theatres, the 451-seat Lansburgh Theatre and the 774-seat Sidney Harman Hall. In addition to STC productions appearing year-round, these spaces also accommodate presentations from outstanding local performing arts groups and nationally renowned organizations. The Company has been a fixture in the vibrant Penn Quarter neighborhood since 1992.