Theatre for a New Audience’s production of Measure for Measure, helmed by Cherry Orchard director Simon Godwin, officially opens June 25 at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center in Brooklyn. Leading the cast are Jonathan Cake (The Affair) as Vincentio, the Duke; Cara Ricketts (Cymbeline) as Isabella; and Thomas Jay Ryan (The Crucible) as Angelo.
Performances began Off-Broadway June 17 and are scheduled to play through July 16.
Measure for Measure was previously staged at TFANA in 1996 with Bill Camp, in 2006 with Mark Rylance, and in 2010 with Jefferson Mays.
“As different as each of those productions were from each other, Simon’s production will be from them,” commented Founding Artistic Director Jeffrey Horowitz in an earlier press statement. “It is one of Shakespeare’s most contemporary works. There is no definitive way to do this comedy. It must be re-imagined every time.”
“It’s a high-stakes conflict with urgency, clarity and narrative momentum—a diverse world in which incompatible values collide. It’s perfectly suited for the Samuel H. Scripps main stage at Polonsky Shakespeare Center. The simplicity of the space brings out language and relationships on a human scale,” added Godwin.
Completing the cast are Oberon K.A. Adjepong (Pericles and Tamburlaine the Great) as Provost; Kenneth De Abrew (Guards at the Taj) as Froth, Messenger, Abhorson, Friar Peter, and the 2nd Gentleman; Zachary Fine (The Two Gentlemen of Verona) as Friar Thomas, Elbow, Barnardine, and the 1st Gentleman; Leland Fowler (Seven Guitars) as Claudio; Merritt Janson (Tamburlaine the Great) as Mariana; January LaVoy (Funnyhouse of a Negro) as Mistress Overdone, Escala, and Francisca; Christopher Michael McFarland (As You Like It) as Pompey; Sam Morales (Pericles) as Juliet; and Haynes Thigpen (An Octoroon) as Lucio.
Measure for Measure at TFANA features scenic and costume design by Paul Wills, lighting by Matthew Richards, composition and sound design by Jane Shaw, choreography by Brian Brooks, and dramaturgy by Jonathan Kalb, TFANA’s resident dramaturg. Megan Schwarz Dickert is production stage manager.
Tickets are on sale at TFANA.org, by calling (866) 811-4111, and at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center box office (262 Ashland Place, Brooklyn).
(Updated June 25, 2017)
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