CINCINNATI: Cincinnati Shakespeare Company has announced its 2020-21 season, featuring film and novel adaptations in addition to two Shakespeare classics.
“In our 2020-21 season, I am excited to share with you stories that I hope you will find as compelling as I do and to discuss with you how they touch our modern lives,” said producing artistic director Brian Isaac Phillips in a statement.
The season will open with Born Yesterday (July 17-Aug. 2), by Garson Kanin. This romantic comedy about politics and perceptions follows Billie Dawn, whose cleverness emerges when her gangster boyfriend starts looking to bribe a senator.
Next will be Network (Sept. 4-26), adapted by Lee Hall and based on the film by Paddy Chayefsky. Receiving its regional premiere here, Network follows anchorman Howard Beale after he unravels live on-screen, causing ratings to soar.
Following will be Shakespeare’s classic tale of star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet (Oct. 9-31).
After that will be Kate Hamill‘s Little Women (Nov. 13-Dec. 5), the story of the four daughters of the March family, adapted from the Louisa May Alcott novel.
The holidays will bring CSC’s annual production of Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) (Dec. 11-27), by Michael Carleton, James FitzGerald, and John K. Alvarez, an irreverent take on favorites like It’s a Wonderful Life, Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer, and Charlie Brown Christmas.
The season will continue with August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Jan. 22-Feb. 13, 2021). In 1927 Chicago, egos and ideologies clash when the undisputed queen of the blues, Ma Rainey, squares off against a battling quartet of musicians and a tight-fisted producer.
Dale Wasserman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Feb. 26-March 20, 2021), based on Ken Kesey’s novel, will follow. The rambunctious Randle P. McMurphy finds himself in an all-out war with the tyrannical Nurse Ratched at an Oregon state mental hospital.
Next up is Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors (April 2-24), which will mix the tale of love triangles and pairs of identical twins with golden era Las Vegas.
Closing out the season will be King Charles III (May 7-23), by Mike Bartlett. This story of modern royalty follows Prince Charles as he finally ascends to the throne, causing political upheaval.
Founded in 1993, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is dedicated to producing Shakespeare, literary adaptations, and contemporary classics. In 2015, CSC became one of the first five theatres in the United States to produce all 38 Shakespeare plays.
