This Just In: The following is a news release written by an arts organization, submitted to Chicago On the Aisle.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER ANNOUNCES 2016-17 30TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON

Chicago—April 7, 2016—On the heels of announcing the Theater’s expansion with an innovative performance venue known as The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare and in the midst of a full calendar of programs around the yearlong Shakespeare 400 Chicago celebration, Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and Executive Director Criss Henderson share the line-up for the Theater’s 2016-17 Season. The twenty productions range from works inspired by Shakespeare and world premieres to standout performances by artists from around the globe.

Artistic Director Barbara Gaines declared, “What better way to mark this momentous year—Chicago Shakespeare’s 30th Anniversary, the 100th Centennial Anniversary of our home, Navy Pier, and the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s legacy—than with a veritable explosion of work both on our stages and in cherished cultural institutions across the city. Shakespeare’s influence and relevance continues to amaze and inspire us as we begin this next chapter of our story.”

The season begins with the Theater’s centerpiece contribution to Shakespeare 400 Chicago: Barbara Gaines’ action-packed Shakespeare history saga, Tug of War. Picking up where Foreign Fire left off, Tug of War: Civil Strife, encompassing Henry VI, Parts 2 and 3 and Richard III, is underscored by stunning live music, surprising poignancy and humor. The focus shifts to the home front, as family divisions launch a country at war with itself—and nobility and commoners alike pay the price.

Following Gaines’ cycle of Shakespeare’s history plays, Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin directs the inventive new “future history play” King Charles III by Mike Bartlett, which imagines the reign of Prince Charles after the death of England’s present-day monarch Queen Elizabeth II. Invoking the pomp and prose of Shakespeare’s greatest works, the play garnered the 2015 Olivier Award for Best New Play. Griffin, who recently directed the Broadway sensation Honeymoon in Vegas, returns to the Chicago Shakespeare stage for his twenty-third production.

Beginning in February is William Shakespeare’s clever satire on young love—Love’s Labor’s Lost, brought to the stage in merry revelry by former Stratford Festival Artistic Director Marti Maraden. Shakespeare’s witty wordplay comes to the forefront with a luscious eighteenth-century manor house setting. Maraden previously directed Othello (2008) and Much Ado About Nothing (2005) at Chicago Shakespeare, and now returns to Chicago to take on Shakespeare’s beguiling comedy.

The wildly popular stage adaption of Shakespeare in Love—based on the beloved Academy Award®-winning film with screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, and adapted for the stage by Lee Hall (Tony and Olivier Award winner for his work on Billy Elliot the Musical)—takes the stage in April. This sweeping romantic comedy playfully imagines a young William Shakespeare’s bout with writer’s block and the inspirational love that sparked his creativity anew. The production is staged by multiple Jeff Award-winning director and choreographerRachel Rockwell, who most recently collaborated with CST on the hit new musical Ride the Cyclone (2015).

These Chicago Shakespeare productions are joined by a wealth of international presentations that continue the Theater’s Shakespeare 400 Chicago festivities throughout 2016. The summer is filled with productions across CST’s stages—from the stunning Shakespeare’s Globe production of The Merchant of Venice, starring Jonathan Pryce, to a pair of off-beat, one-man shows: Tim Crouch in I, Malvolio and David Carl in Gary Busey’s One-Man Hamlet. The fall continues with companies from four continents: hailing from Belgium, Theater Zuidpool’s live-concert version of Macbeth presented at Thalia Hall; Shanghai Peking Opera’s The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan(based on Hamlet) presented in association with the Harris Theater for Music and Dance; The Company Theatre of Mumbai’s Hindi translation of Twelfth Night—Piya Behrupiya; Songs of Lear from Poland’s Song of the Goat; a new personal audio-walking theater work from Australia’s one step at a time like this, unpathed waters, undreamed shores; Chilean playwright Eduardo Pavez Goye’s collaboration with Mexico’s Foro Shakespeare—Enamorarse de un incendio, inspired by the themes of Romeo and Juliet; and from the UK, Spymonkey’s The Complete Deaths. Closing the year’s festivities in December 2016 is the return of Cheek by Jowl with its new English-language production of The Winter’s Tale.

Continuing the Theater’s commitment to developing and commissioning new work, Barbara Gaines directs the world premiere of The Book of Joseph by Karen Hartman—the riveting, true story that unfolds when Richard Hollander discovers an unopened suitcase of letters written by a family he never knew during the Second World War. We come to know three generations—their hopes, fears and fates revealed—in a compelling journey of the human family and the primal need to understand those who came before. Hartman is an award-winning playwright and librettist, whose work includes Goliath, Donna Wants, Gum, Going Gone and Troy Women, among others that have been commissioned and staged by dozens of theaters across the nation.

Commissioned by Chicago Shakespeare and developed with CST Creative Producer Rick Boynton, the whimsical and musical Gravediggers’ Hamlet—written by Michael Mahler, Alan Schmuckler and Laura Schellhardt and featuring Chicago’s own band of actor/musicians The Lincoln Squares—explores the story of Denmark’s prince from the perspective of five blue-collar gravediggers.

Shakespeare’s work connects with audiences of all ages through the Theater’s vibrant education and community outreach initiatives. Touring to 18 neighborhood parks across the city, Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks brings FREE performances of Shakespeare’s music-infused romantic comedy Twelfth Night, adapted and directed by Kirsten Kelly, to 30,000 audience members during Summer 2016. In Spring 2017, the abridged production Short Shakespeare! Romeo and Juliet, directed by Marti Lyons, introduces Shakespeare’s classic tragedy to family and student audiences at Chicago Shakespeare before embarking on a Midwest school tour as part of the Theater’s commitment to reach 40,000 students and teachers annually.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE’S 2016/17 SEASON CALENDAR

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from the UNITED KINGDOM

I, Malvolio

June 2–5, 2016 | Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare
written and performed by Tim Crouch

Tim Crouch, one of Britain’s most innovative and respected theater-makers, re-imagines Twelfth Night in a brilliant one-man show that tells a timeless story of bullying, prudery and practical jokes. I, Malvolio is a charged, hilarious and sometimes unsettling rant from a man adrift in front of a cruel audience. Part abject clown, part theater-hating disciplinarian, Malvolio asks his audience to explore the pleasure we take in other people’s suffering. This is a show for anyone who has ever been told off, called a name or has fallen in love with the wrong person.

www.chicagoshakes.com/malvolio | #shakes400chi

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David Carl

Gary Busey’s One Man Hamlet

July 12–17, 2016 | Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare
co-created and directed by Michole Biancosino
co-created, written and as performed by David Carl
presented by Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Richard Jordan Productions

NY Fringe Outstanding Solo Performance Award-winner David Carl portrays Gary Busey in this offbeat, hilarious one-man show. Having triumphed in “Celebrity Big Brother,” survived “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew,” taken on Meatloaf and Donald Trump, Keanu Reeves’ favorite costar now undertakes his biggest challenge yet: performing all the parts in Hamlet with outrageous songs and homemade puppets. Carl channels the ultimate Hamlet-ized Busey in what Georgetown Voice has deemed “the best impersonation of Gary Busey the world will ever know.” A hit among critics, Shakespeare scholars and fans of Busey alike, don’t miss out on the tragically epic madness.

www.chicagoshakes.com/gary | #shakes400chi

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Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks

Twelfth Night

July 15–August 14, 2016 | Free performances in neighborhood parks across the city
by William Shakespeare
adapted and directed by Kirsten Kelly

Chicago’s summer tradition, Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks returns with a free 75-minute abridged production of Twelfth Night, coming to neighborhood parks across the city. At each tour location, a specially equipped truck rolls into each park, a stage unfolds and a company of professional actors shares the delight of Shakespeare with families and neighbors of all ages. This year’s production tells the tale of a young girl named Viola, who is separated from her twin brother in a shipwreck. Resilient, she adopts a male disguise and enters into the service of Duke Orsino—only to find herself in the middle of a triangle of unrequited love. Since the inception of the program five years ago, more than 80,000 Chicagoans have experienced free Shakespeare in their communities.

www.chicagoshakes.com/parks2016 | #shakesintheparks

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from the UNITED KINGDOM | Shakespeare’s Globe

The Merchant of Venice

August 4–14, 2016 | CST’s Courtyard Theater
by William Shakespeare
directed by Jonathan Munby
starring Jonathan Pryce

The critically acclaimed Shakespeare’s Globe production that took London by storm comes to Chicago. In some of his most highly charged scenes, Shakespeare dramatizes the competing claims of tolerance and intolerance, religious law and civil society, justice and mercy; while in the character of Shylock he created one of the most memorable outsiders in all theater. Double Olivier and Tony Award®-winner Jonathan Pryce plays Shylock, and is joined on stage by his daughter, Phoebe Pryce. The Telegraph praises “Director Jonathan Munby’s oak-solid, finely weighted production…the lighter and darker elements combine in a seamless whole.”

www.chicagoshakes.com/merchant | #shakes400chi

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from BELGIUM | Theater Zuidpool

Macbeth

August 21–23, 2016 | Thalia Hall

Theater Zuidpool brings Macbeth to life in a raw, minimal, live concert, featuring an original score by two of Belgium’s greatest alternative musicians, Mauro Pawlowski and Tijs Delbeke. A dynamic and feverish production bordering between underground opera and rock concert, this Macbeth is a music theater deconstruction of one of Shakespeare’s most recognizable works. CuttingEdge declares “rough rock, partybeats and country mingle with the impassioned expression of the players…this shows how you can move the boundaries of theater without using far-fetched concepts.” Interweaving modern music with the spoken words of Macbeth and his Lady, this is a one-of-a-kind experience.

www.shakespeare400chicago.com | #shakes400chi

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from AUSTRALIA | one step at a time like this

unpathed waters, undreamed shores (or a little water in a spoon)

Fall 2016 | Navy Pier
conceived & created by one step at a time like this
commissioned and presented by Chicago Shakespeare Theater & Richard Jordan Productions

unpathed waters, undreamed shores (or a little water in a spoon) is a journey into Shakespeare’s words and imagination, amongst the tempests, the wrecks and the sea-changes of life, death and transformation rolling in on the waves of his genius. This new personal audio-walking theater work by multi-award-winning Australian performance group one step at a time like this (en route, Since I Suppose) has been specially commissioned and created to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Performed in and around the environs of Lake Michigan and Navy Pier, this piece will take its audiences on a contemplative voyage into Shakespeare’s lifelong engagement with imagery of water, sea, tears and oceans—and their echoes in our own lives today.

www.chicagoshakes.com/unpathed | #shakes400chi

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SHAKESPEARE HISTORY SAGA CONTINUES

Tug of War: Civil Strife

Henry VI, Parts 2 and 3 and Richard III

September 14–October 9, 2016 | CST’s Courtyard Theater
by William Shakespeare
adapted and directed by Barbara Gaines

Civil Strife is the second installment of Artistic Director Barbara Gaines’ electrifying adaptation, Tug of War, which distills six Shakespeare plays into two action-packed dramas that trace the rise and fall of kings, and the uncommon courage of common men. In the spirit of addictive epic sagas, like Scandal and House of Cards, tensions build as the origin stories of Shakespeare’s most iconic rulers unfold—underscored by stunning staging, live music, surprising poignancy and humor. Picking up where Tug of War: Foreign Fire left off, focus shifts to the home front in Civil Strife, as family divisions launch a country at war with itself in Henry VI, Parts 2 and 3 andRichard III—and nobility and commoners alike pay the price.

www.chicagoshakes.com/civilstrife | #cstTugofWar

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from POLAND | Song of the Goat

Songs of Lear

September 15–18, 2016 | Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare
directed by Grzegorz Bral
composed by Jean-Claude Acquaviva & Maciej Rychły

The highest-rated performance in the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Songs of Lear is an ensemble-driven, constantly evolving original work that invites audiences to witness the fruition of an intimate artistic process. Using crucial scenes from King Lear, it weaves a story using gestures, words and music, exploring the subtle energies and beautiful rhythms that govern one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. Through this musical exploration of the text, melody becomes the embodiment of character, relationships and drama. London’s The Guardianexclaims, it “seems to have already passed into legend even though it’s only a work in progress” and The Scotsman five-star review raves, “there is surely no other show like this one!”

www.chicagoshakes.com/songs | #shakes400chi

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from MEXICO | Foro Shakespeare

Enamorarse de un Incendio

September 22–24, 2016 | Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare
written and directed by Eduardo Pavez Goye

One of Mexico City’s most innovative and courageous theater companies, Foro Shakespeare is world-renowned for its social justice work and inventive spirit. Enamorarse de un incendio, its first production with acclaimed Chilean playwright Eduardo Pavez Goye, draws on Shakespeare’s exploration of love and relationships in Romeo and Juliet. Aimed at breaking the traditional mold of theater in Mexico, Foro Shakespeare utilizes camera-work and film projection to highlight and hide moments during three conversations on the phenomenon of love.

www.chicagoshakes.com/enamorarse | #shakes400chi

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from INDIA | Company Theatre Mumbai

Piya Behrupiya

September 27 & 29, 2016 | CST’s Courtyard Theater
presented by Chicago Shakespeare Theater & Eye on India

First premiered at Shakespeare’s Globe in London, Piya Behrupiya is an award-winning Hindi translation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, filled with a cast of unforgettable characters. Amidst the household of Olivia, two campaigns are being quietly waged: one by Duke Orsino against the indifferent heart of Olivia; the other by an alliance of servants and hangers-on against the high-handedness of her steward Malvolio. When Orsino engages the cross-dressed Viola to plead with Olivia on his behalf, a bittersweet chain of events follows. Part of the 2016 Eye On India festival, the production combines cruelty with high comedy and the pangs of unrequited love with some of the subtlest poetry and most exquisite songs Shakespeare wrote. Performed in Hindi with projected English translation.

www.chicagoshakes.com/piya | #shakes400chi

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from CHINA | Shanghai Peking Opera

The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan (Hamlet)

September 28 & 29, 2016 | Harris Theater
directed by Shi Yukun
written by Feng Gang
presented by the Harris Theater for Music and Dance and Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Internationally renowned Shanghai Peking Opera transforms Shakespeare’s Hamlet into one of China’s most impressive forms of traditional art, setting the story in the fictitious ancient Chinese state of the Red City. Here, as in Shakespeare’s classic, the prince becomes disillusioned after discovering his uncle has killed his father and seduced his mother. The stage presentation strictly follows the rules of Chinese dramatic aesthetics, famous for its succinct and meaningful depiction. Described by The Guardian as “an evening that makes you sit up, look and listen afresh at a familiar story,” this Peking opera is sure to thrill.

www.shakespeare400chicago.com | #shakes400chi

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CHICAGO PREMIERE

King Charles III

November 5, 2016–January 15, 2017 | CST’s Courtyard Theater
by Mike Bartlett
directed by Gary Griffin

The Queen is dead. Long live the King. That is King Charles III. After decades as “king in waiting,” Charles ascends to the throne. His first official act: to rubberstamp Parliament’s bill restricting freedom on the press, but Charles III refuses in a provocative act of conscience. England is thrown into crisis, absurdly escalating with tanks guarding the palace gates. Camilla, Prince William and Kate, Prince Harry even Princess Diana all play roles in this “imaginary future history” that artfully invokes Shakespeare in its blank verse and familiar characters. Winner of the 2015 Olivier Award for Best New Play, The New York Times calls it “flat out brilliant,” with The Times of London proclaiming “theatre doesn’t get much better than this.”

www.chicagoshakes.com/charlesiii | #cstCharlesIII

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from the UNITED KINGDOM | Spymonkey

The Complete Deaths

November 30–December 11, 2016 | Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare
directed and adapted by Tim Crouch
co-produced with Brighton Festival and Royal & Derngate Northampton
developed at The Other Place at the Royal Shakespeare Company

There are 74 onstage deaths in the works of William Shakespeare—75 if you count the black ill-favored fly killed in Titus Andronicus. From the Roman suicides in Julius Caesar to the death fall of Prince Arthur in King John; from the carnage at the end of Hamlet to snakes in a basket in Antony and Cleopatra. And then there’s the pie that Titus serves his guests. Spymonkey will perform them all—sometimes lingeringly, sometimes messily, sometimes movingly, sometimes musically, but always hysterically. The four “seriously, outrageously, cleverly funny clowns” (Time Magazine) will scale the peaks of sublime poetry and plumb the depths of darkest depravity. It may even be the death of them. Directed and adapted by Tim Crouch, (I, Malvolio, An Oak Tree, Adler & Gibb),The Complete Deaths is a solemn, somber and sublimely funny tribute to the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

www.chicagoshakes.com/deaths | #shakes400chi

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Shakespeare Tonight!

December 5, 2016 – 7:30 p.m.| CST’s Courtyard Theater
written by Bob Mason
music direction by Beckie Menzie

Celebrate the Bard on and off Broadway with music from the great American songbook by such illustrious composers as Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. Written by Chicago Shakespeare Theater Artistic Associate Bob Mason with musical direction and arrangements by nationally renowned cabaret artist Beckie Menzie, Shakespeare Tonight! will star some of the top cabaret and musical theater performers from Chicago and beyond. From reinterpretations of well-known songs from such classics asWest Side Story and Kiss Me Kate to little-known gems like Frank Loesser’s jazz-inflected version of Hamlet and Jimmy Van Heusen’s blues-inspired Darn That Dream, this is an inspired marriage of Shakespeare and cabaret.

www.chicagoshakes.com/tonight | #shakes400chi

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from the UNITED KINGDOM | Cheek by Jowl

The Winter’s Tale

December 14–21, 2016 | CST’s Courtyard Theater
by William Shakespeare
directed by Declan Donnellan
designed by Nick Ormerod

In December, the award-winning British company Cheek by Jowl returns to Chicago with a new production of one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. Writing The Winter’s Tale after completing his great tragedies, this is a new Shakespeare. Unity of time, place and action are hurled aside as we move across Europe—from court to country, from high tragedy to low comedy—in a story that spans fourteen years. A delusional and paranoid king tears his family apart, but the struggle for redemption yields flickers of hope. Initial darkness gives way to joy as Time leads the characters to a shattering conclusion.

www.chicagoshakes.com/winter | #shakes400chi

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WORLD PREMIERE

The Book of Joseph

January 29–March 5, 2017 | Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare
by Karen Hartman
based on the life of Joseph A. Hollander and his family
directed by Barbara Gaines

Every family has its secrets. Richard Hollander’s remained in an unopened suitcase for fifteen years after the death of his parents. Inside, he found a collection of Swastika-stamped letters written during World War II by a family he never knew—his late father Joseph’s mother, three sisters, their husbands and children. Unable to convince the family to leave Poland, Joseph escaped to the United States where he fought from afar to save his family from annihilation at the hands of the Nazis, and to avoid deportation and death himself. Richard collected his family’s letters in his book, Every Day Lasts a Year, the inspiration for this frequently chilling, often humorous, and always deeply moving drama, staged by Artistic Director Barbara Gaines. We come to know three generations—their hopes, fears and fates revealed—in a compelling journey of the human family and the primal need to understand those who came before.

www.chicagoshakes.com/joseph | #cstJoseph

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Love’s Labor’s Lost

February 7–March 26, 2017 | CST’s Courtyard Theater
by William Shakespeare
directed by Marti Maraden

King Ferdinand of Navarre’s ‘no fun’ edict includes scholarly endeavors, quiet contemplation and complete commitment to chastity for three entire years. His closest courtiers reluctantly sign on. But this is a comedy and it doesn’t take long for everyone to figure out that the whole thing is a bad idea and rules are meant to be broken—especially when the French Princess and her beautiful entourage arrive on the scene. The young men’s studies soon give way to secret letters and amorous vows as the women set out to teach the men a thing or two about love. The puns fly and the playwright’s wordplay take flight in this witty satire about young love with a surprising conclusion where real-life lessons are suddenly revealed. Directed by Marti Maraden, former Artistic Director of Canada’s Stratford Festival.

www.chicagoshakes.com/loveslabors | #cstLovesLabors

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Short Shakespeare! Romeo and Juliet

February 25–March 25, 2017 | CST’s Courtyard Theater
followed by a tour to schools around the region
by William Shakespeare
adapted and directed by Marti Lyons

Verona burns under summer’s heat—and the hatred of two families. The Prince decrees: if Montague or Capulet again disrupts the peace, lives will answer to the law. Violence stains Verona’s streets. Against this horror, Shakespeare sets Romeo and Juliet, a tale of true love found—and tragically lost—within an endless cycle of hate. This 75-minute adaptation, told in Shakespeare’s own words, speaks to today’s youth about their own lives. After the performance, audiences are welcome to join the cast for a post-show discussion. Recommended for ages 10 and up.

www.chicagoshakes.com | #shortshakes

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WORLD PREMIERE

Gravediggers’ Hamlet

Spring 2017 | Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare
written by Michael Mahler, Alan Schmuckler and Laura Schellhardt
developed with Rick Boynton
directed by Sean Graney

While the famous story of Denmark’s prince plays out among the rich people in the castle up the hill, down in the graveyard five blue-collar gravediggers crack jokes about mortality, laugh at ghosts passing through, and live out a story of betrayal, loss, obsession, love—a “gravediggers’ Hamlet” of their own. Featuring by Chicago’s own band of actor/musicians The Lincoln Squares, this world premiere commissioned and developed by Chicago Shakespeare Theater considers what happens when the thing that comes for everyone else finally comes for you.

www.chicagoshakes.com/gravediggers | #cstGravediggers

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CHICAGO PREMIERE

Shakespeare in Love

April 15–June 11, 2017 | CST’s Courtyard Theater
based on the screenplay by Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard
adapted for the stage by Lee Hall
directed by Rachel Rockwell

The Oscar-winning romantic comedy about Shakespeare and his Chamberlain’s Men returns to its rightful home—the stage. Imagine a young playwright on the make struggling to write his new tragic love story, Romeo and Ethel, The Pirate’s Daughter. The title just doesn’t have the right ring—and young Will Shakespeare knows it. He’s got writer’s block and must do something quickly. Will needs a muse, and he finds one in Viola, a vivacious beauty who will do anything –even disguise herself as a man—to audition for the stage where no women are permitted to perform. Once revealed, the torrid affair begins inspiring the completion of the most romantic tragedy ever penned. Backstage maneuverings jostle hilariously with onstage dramas in this love letter to Theater itself. Rachel Rockwell, multiple Jeff Award-winner and Chicago Shakespeare favorite, directs this hilarious stage adaption of the beloved movie, called “riotously funny” by The Sunday Times.

www.chicagoshakes.com/shakespeareinlove | #cstShakesinLove

 

For information on purchasing tickets, visit the Theater’s website at www.chicagoshakes.com or call the CST Box Office at 312.595.5600. Chicago Shakespeare Theater offers a broad selection of affordable tickets providing opportunities for a wide-range of audiences to interact with the Theater. Patrons can purchase subscription packages with low-priced, preview series and discounted family subscriptions; accessibly-priced, family productions; discounts for groups and tickets for young professionals for as little as $20.

ABOUT CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER
Chicago Shakespeare Theater is a global theatrical force, known for vibrant productions that reflect Shakespeare’s genius for storytelling, language and empathy for the human condition. Throughout 2016, CST is spearheading the international arts and culture festival, Shakespeare 400 Chicago, a citywide celebration of the playwright’s 400-year legacy. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and Executive Director Criss Henderson, CST is dedicated to creating extraordinary production of classics, new works and family programming; to unlocking Shakespeare’s work for educators and students; and to serving as Chicago’s cultural ambassador through its World’s Stage Series. CST serves as a partner in literacy to Chicago Public Schools, working alongside English teachers to help struggling readers connect with Shakespeare in the classroom, and bringing his text to life on stage for 40,000 students every year. And each summer, 30,000 families and audience members of all ages welcome the free Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks tour into their neighborhoods across the far north, west and south sides of the city. Reflecting the global city it calls home, CST is the leading producer of international work in Chicago, and has toured its plays abroad to Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Canada/North America and the Middle East.

ABOUT SHAKESPEARE 400 CHICAGO
Shakespeare 400 Chicago is a yearlong international arts festival in 2016 celebrating the vibrancy, relevance and reach of Shakespeare. As the world commemorates the four hundred years since Shakespeare’s death in 1616, Shakespeare 400 Chicago will engage more than 500,000 Chicagoans and visitors to the City through 850 events. Spearheaded by Chicago Shakespeare Theater and with leading support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Pritzker Military Museum & Library and the Julius Frankel Foundation, this quadricentennial celebration is anticipated to be the world’s largest and most comprehensive celebration of Shakespeare’s enduring legacy. www.shakespeare400chicago.com