Theater
The path of Kahn
Keeper of the classics celebrates 25 years directing theater in D.C.
Michael Kahn has a long reputation of making classical theater accessible to contemporary audiences. He’s celebrating 25 years in town this month. A party is planned for October. (Blade photos by Michael Key)
When Michael Kahn came to Washington in 1986, he intended to stay for two years tops. The plan was to share his theater expertise for a while and then get back to his life in New York and continue teaching and staging plays and operas.
But luckily for local theatergoers, things played out very differently. Instead, Kahn remained in town as artistic director of the Shakespeare Theater Company (STC) where he’s currently gearing up for the classical troupe’s 25th anniversary season.
Seated at a long conference table in STC’s busy administration offices on Capitol Hill, Kahn explains how he initially came to D.C. to help save the then-failing Folger Theatre and stayed on when he was named artistic director of a newly created Shakespeare Theatre at the Folger. Later he orchestrated the Shakespeare Theatre’s move to the larger Landsburgh location, adopted the STC name and more recently helped to expand the company’s home with the grand 775-seat Sidney Harman Hall.
“I took the job happily but not for a moment along the way did I think I was in for the long haul,” says Kahn, who is gay. “I’d think about leaving but then something interesting would always come up — an expanded season, the educational program, the STC Free-For-All [a terrific Washington tradition that annually offers free performances of a Shakespearean classic to the general public] and, or course, I’m glad I stuck around.”
Over the years, Kahn has successfully pursued STC’s core mission of doing classic theater “in an accessible, skillful, imaginative, American style that honors playwrights’ language and intentions while viewing their plays through a 21st-century lens.” In doing so, he’s created arguably the nation’s premier classical company and emerged as one of America’s foremost directors of Shakespeare.
Kahn alone selects the STC’s titles and directors. For the upcoming milestone season that kicks off in late August, Kahn wants to make things a little special. In addition to seven plays (a mix of dramas and comedies), he plans to celebrate the Bard with a pair of musicals performed in concert-style staging: Rodgers and Hart’s “The Boys from Syracuse,” a late-1930s swing version of “The Comedy of Errors;” and John Guare’s rock opera “Two Gentlemen of Verona.”
As a special anniversary treat to himself, Kahn will direct Eugene O’Neil’s “Strange Interlude,” a famously difficult play about love and deception that he’s longed to stage for years. He also plans to work with some of his favorite actors (many of whom can’t be named until contracts are signed), as well as two former STC associate directors who’ve made good outside of the nest – P.J. Paparelli (artistic director of Chicago’s American Theater Company since 2007) and successful New York-based freelance director Ethan McSweeny — who’ll stage “The Two Gentlemen From Verona” (the original non-musical) and “Much Ado About Nothing,” respectively.
D.C. native McSweeny met Kahn while still a secondary student at St. Albans School. He invited the director to speak to his drama club and Kahn agreed. During college and after, he interned with Kahn at STC, and at just 22, he was named the company’s resident assistant director.
“My four years at STC were graduate school for me,” McSweeny says. “I think directing is a craft that’s learned from watching a master craftsman like Michael in action. He doesn’t dictate. He just does it.
“Michael is also a tough teacher. With him, you’ve got to bring your A game,” McSweeny adds. “We alums of Kahn all maintain high standards — we inherited that from Michael. But in addition to the stick there’s the carrot: Michael can be a torrent of creative passion and it’s thrilling to be in the vortex with him.”
The school of Kahn isn’t reserved exclusively for promising directors. Actors have benefited as well. Via phone from New York, Veanne Cox, a delightful, versatile actor who rapidly has become an STC regular, recounts how six or so years ago Kahn happened to catch her playing the very dramatic part of a woman dying from cancer, and afterward matter-of-factly commented that she was made for Restoration Comedy. The story still makes Cox laugh, and she is quick to add that soon after Kahn cast her in STC’s production of the classic comedy “The Beaux Stratagem” and changed her life.
“Prior to knowing Michael I’d done very little classical theater,” Cox — who memorably appeared as the heckler in a “Seinfeld” episode — says. “Because of him, my career is flourishing in new ways. My best work experiences have been at STC, better than Broadway and off-Broadway. [In the fall, Cox is slated to return to STC as Beatrice in “Much Ado About Nothing.”] The actors are exquisite to work with, and D.C. audiences are better educated than New York audiences about the works. Because of Michael, they understand language and themes. He has trained them how to appreciate and understand classical theater.”
STC is not Kahn’s first act, far from it. He began his career in New York in the ‘60s, directing for gay playwright Edward Albee and Joseph Papp’s Shakespeare in the Park. His Broadway successes include revivals of “Showboat,” “The Royal Family” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (starring a young and gorgeous Elizabeth Ashley). He’s also earned excellent reviews staging opera and regional theater. Before coming to Washington, he was artistic director for the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Conn.; producing director for the McCarter Theatre; and founder and head of The Chautauqua Conservatory Theater. In addition, Kahn maintained a parallel career as an educator, commuting to Manhattan as head of the Drama Division of New York’s prestigious Juilliard School until 2006. He has won multiple Helen Hayes Awards for his STC work, and is frequently honored by the LGBT community.
Repeatedly, Kahn’s skills and impressive vitae have and continue to lure well-known actors like Elizabeth Ashley, Stacy Keach, Kelly McGillis and the late Dixie Carter to STC. He enjoys working with big names. Usually, Kahn says, big names become famous because they’re good.
“Well, not always,” he backtracks. “Anyone who waits in line at a supermarket can’t help but know Kim Kardashian, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be working with her any time soon.”
Growing up in Brooklyn as an only child with “all the vices and problems that that entails,” Khan was just 5 when his Russian immigrant mother introduced him to the works of Shakespeare. He attended High School for the Performing Arts and went on to Columbia University where he directed plays for the French club (a pre-famous Andy Warhol designed the set for one of the productions). Kahn came out early. He never struggled with his sexual orientation, only unrequited love. As a young man he carried an unreciprocated torch for gay playwright Terrence McNally. He outed himself to the Washington Post in 1986 and believes a lot of conservative society’s problems with the arts is, in fact, subterranean homophobia. Lately he’s come to the conclusion that good direction requires sensitivity, and whether it comes from a gay or straight person makes little difference.
Kahn says it’s possible to have a relationship despite an all-consuming professional life, but you pay a price: “With me here and Frank [Donnelly, Kahn’s late, longtime partner] in New York, we were often apart. I wasn’t there when he died.” A psychotherapist, Donnelly died in his sleep shortly after 9-11. He’d spent his last days counseling those who had lost loved ones in the World Trade Center collapse.
When asked if he’s in a relationship now, Kahn replies playfully, “Yes, at least that’s what it says on Facebook.”
And does he miss working in New York?
“I could never do in New York what I do here,” he says. “I’d be in a 200-seat theater with a much smaller budget. They’re just not interested in lesser known shows like Musset’s ‘Lorenzaccio” from our [2005] season, or David Ives’ adaptation of Regnard’s 1706 masterpiece ‘The Heir Apparent’ that we’re doing in the fall.”
Highfalutin legacy talk isn’t Kahn’s style; however, he will say that he “really wants to make sure the theater is in a good financial position so anyone who wants to take over [his] job will also want to stay.” But for today, Kahn continues doing what he does best — thinking of ways to bring more high quality, classical theater to Washington.
Theater
‘Suffs’ an entertaining chronicle of battle to pass 19th Amendment
Tony-winning musical highlights trailblazing women’s rights activists
‘Suffs’
June 16 – 28
National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
$115 and up
Broadwayatthenational.com
Poised to kick off a two-week run at D.C.’s National Theatre (June 16-28), “Suffs,” the Tony Award-winning musical written by Shaina Taub, promises an entertaining chronicle of what was the arduous political battle to pass the 19th Amendment.
Far from a dry look backward, Taub’s dramedy brings to life a high stakes world inhabited by historical trailblazing women’s rights activists like Alice Paul, Carrie Chapman Catt and Catt’s lifetime partner, Mollie Garrett. It manages to be upbeat without neglecting the grim bits including incarcerations and forced feedings.
Out actor Gwynne Wood plays suffragist Lucy Burns. As Alica Paul’s old college friend and fellow organizer of the 1913 march on Washington, Wood’s Lucy brings comforting humor and razor wit.
In real life, Wood, a Boston Conservatory grad, is married to lighting designer Anna Brevetti. They met in 2023 while working on the tour of “1776” (Wood played Founding Father George Read) and were instantly smitten.
In true theater fashion, they became engaged while on tour in San Francisco and tied the knot this past March in Boston on a day off from “Suffs.” The entire cast was invited to the wedding.
“The craziest thing about touring and being newly married is that you’re away from the person you most want to be with. But I do love touring (with long-haired chihuahua Gemma for company), and I love doing this show.
“During my long-distance courtship with Anna, we felt so good, seen and appreciated; we didn’t want to let that go just because I’m on the road.”
As of now, Wood is booked with “Suffs” through Aug. 9, and then it’s home to Bushwick, Brooklyn to enjoy married life.
BLADE: You’ve expressed a close connection to your character Lucy Burns.
WOOD: I was an ensemble member of the “Suffs” pre-Broadway workshop, and even then, the role of Lucy (played on Broadway by Ally Bonino) resonated.
Lucy is that friend who we all want to be and have. She’s very funny. She’ll hold you accountable but will still give support. She’s the one who brings cupcakes to the sleepover.
She also has a poignant second act ballad aptly titled, “Lucy’s Song. In it, Lucy talks about the importance of her long friendship with Alice Paul, while also officially retiring from activism. Basically, she’s saying “girl, I’m tired.”
BLADE: What about “Suffs” is especially meaningful for a queer actor?
WOOD: There’s so much about it that’s GREAT for a queer actor. I love learning about queer suffragists who were at the front of societal change. They were fighting this fight while having to deal with internal stuff like feeling marginalized, some were experiencing gender fluidity and transness. There’s documented evidence of all these things.
For a lot of lesbians in particular who felt out of place in heteronormative society, the suffragist movement was a place where they felt comfortable, a place where they were not told what to do by men.
BLADE: What was your introduction to musical theater?
WOOD: Growing up in Waynesboro, Va., Mom put me in community theater at ShenenArts in nearby Staunton. My first part was a salt shaker in “Beauty in the Beast.” My sister was the pepper shaker. We were two little tiny redheads waddling out like penguins. I was obsessed.
BLADE: Was Lucy Burns queer?
WOOD: There’s no evidence that Lucy was queer. Unlike fellow prominent suffragists [Carrie Chapman and Mollie Garrett] who were buried side by side, Lucy isn’t known for being in a romantic relationship.
I don’t know if Lucy and Alice were a couple, and I don’t want to rewrite a story that I don’t know. But I can say there is a lot of love from Lucy to Alice. That said, “Suffs” is undeniably intertwined with queerness.
BLADE: Can you see yourself as having been a suffragist?
WOOD: I’d love to say yes. It takes a lot, but I hope that I could have done it. People before us have done it, and people after will probably have to do it too.”
Theater
Timothy Nelson on the premiere of his opera ‘Song of Sakuntala’
Story of love, loss, redemption unfolds amid Indian classical music
‘The Song of Sakuntala’
IN Series
In Washington and Baltimore
Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St., N.E.
(Selected dates June 6-14)
Baltimore Theatre Project, 45 W. Preston St., Baltimore
(June 19-21)
$25-35
Inseries.org
As the artistic director of IN Series, Timothy Nelson rarely blows his own horn, but for the world premiere of his own opera “The Song of Sakuntala,” he’ll make an exception.
During a recent interview squeezed in between afternoon and evenings rehearsals, Nelson took time to talk about his opera (while nearby his “blessing of a husband” prepared a giant dinner for the entire cast and crew).
As smart and gracious as ever, Nelson explains that he wrote the opera a decade ago at a low point in his life: He was divorcing and wanted to immerse himself into something musical, all-consuming, a project tantamount to writing a thick novel.
At the time, Nelson’s mentor, the influential American stage and opera director Peter Sellers, pushed him to write again. Nelson recalls, “I hadn’t composed for some time. I wanted to see if I could do it, and I wanted to revisit Indian classical music.”
He adds, “There was never any anticipation of it being produced. It was a way of processing and dealing with life in a healthy way.”
Adapted from Kālidāsa’s 5th-century dramatic masterpiece, “The Song of Sakuntala” brings together Western baroque and Indian classical musical traditions into a story of “love, loss, memory, and redemption.” His libretto, a reflection of South Asian storytelling, includes the words of the great Indian poets Tagore, Naidu, and Vidyapati.
The story follows “a prince and a woman of the forest who fall in love and wed in secret. He departs, and she later seeks him out, only to have him deny all recognition of her. She disappears in sorrow; he spends the rest of his life searching. At the end, in the same forest where they first met, they find each other again and are transfigured.”
At 90 minutes, the uninterrupted piece features three singers (Aryssa Leigh Burrs, Teresa Ferrara, Marvin Wayne Allen) accompanied by an instrumental ensemble led by acclaimed sitarist Rajib Karmakar, who specializes in bridging Indian and Western classical traditions, and conducted by Nelson who also joins the music making on drone and harmonium.
Burrs plays the prince. Originally written for a countertenor, Nelson imagined a man singing the role but ultimately cast a woman to play the part.
Because the piece is “fiendishly difficult in almost unnecessary ways,” Nelson explains with a wicked chuckle, he knew that Burrs had the talent and sharp brain required for the role.
The prince is cruel without explanation. Despite that, 40-something Nelson admits to relating to the opera’s prince: “In midlife, you reflect on your mistakes. At least for now that’s how I feel. I might have felt different earlier and it could change later on.”
Nelson lived in India for nine months, backpacking and studying in different places, absorbing different musical styles and playing pieces as varied and complex as any Western music.
And while based in D.C., IN Series performs in both Washington and Baltimore using various borrowed venues. “The Song of Sakuntala” is playing at both the Atlas Performing Center in D.C. (6/6-6/14) and Baltimore’s beloved Baltimore Theatre Project (6/19-6/21) with its terrific acoustics.
In a past conversation, Nelson who lives in Adams Morgan, shared that all audiences bring something specific to the table. Baltimore tends to attract more risk taking while D.C. audiences often lean into the intellectual side of what the company does.
At the helm of IN Series for eight years, Nelson has relished reimagining opera and musical theater, but only recently did he decide to program his latest work. The way in which “The Song of Sakuntala” blends Western and non-Western music is very much a part of the IN Series music brand, so it seemed the perfect selection to close the season.
“I do this humbly with great hesitancy. And I know it feels a little unseemly to cheer on your own work, but I will say, it’s a piece that is successful in sitting in both places (Western and South Asia) and the Indian musicians on board are responding to it.”
Theater
Cedric Neal on his juicy narrator role in ‘Pippin’
A rash of terrific reviews for a part he’s longed to play
‘Pippin’
Through July 26
Signature Theatre
4200 Campbell Ave.
Arlington, Va.
$47-$153
Sigtheatre.org
As Leading Player in Signature Theatre’s revival of “Pippin,” Cedric Neal portrays the manipulative narrator who guides the title character, a young medieval prince, on a quest for meaning. Neal is also receiving a rash of terrific reviews for a part he’s longed to play for some time.
Recently, after the first “Pippin” preview performance, Neal shared his thoughts. “Last night was exciting, mystic and exotic. It was magical. Words are overused, but it was all those things.”
With a powerful, rich tenor voice, Neal is best known as a charismatic West End and Broadway star (“Back to the Future,” “Hadestown,” “Guys & Dolls”) as well as for his memorable semifinalist win on the “The Voice UK” in 2019.
And now Stephen Shwartz’s “Pippin” marks Neal’s second show at Signature Theatre, a place he dearly loves. His first was as Jimmy Early in “Dreamgirls” in 2012, a raucous role that won him a Helen Hayes Award. During that production, Neal forged deep friendships with actor Nova Y. Payton and director Matthew Gardiner. What’s more, while rehearsing the show, he met his husband.
“He likes to say we met on Match.com but I remember it differently,” says Neal. “It was something called Adam4Adam. It might have been a hookup, but instead we met for coffee in Shirlington Village where we talked and talked for hours. Two years later we married.”
BLADE: Your triumphant return to town sounds pretty great.
NEAL: I’m having the time of my life. Takes me a half hour to come down after the show ends. It’s explosive.
BLADE: Is Leading Player a part you’ve wanted to do?
NEAL: Very much, and just this way. Rather than leaning on its circus troupe aspect, our director Matthew [Gardiner] explores the darkness of the story and the risk of falling prey to cultish ideology.
BLADE: Just how nefarious is Leading Player?
NEAL: I’m not judging my character. I believe at some point that Leading Player has good intentions. Somewhere along the line, ego becomes involved. The promise becomes warped.
BLADE: When doing “Pippin,” is it possible to separate the iconic Bob Fosse choreography and Ben Vereens’s sexy portrayal of Leading Player from the original production?
NEAL: Not entirely, but in our production Matthew [Gardiner] and Rachel Leigh Dolan have meticulously honored the choreography and storytelling of Fosse’s work without it being a carbon copy. I think it’s amazing.
BLADE: Was your participation in the “The Voice UK” a strategic career move?
NEAL: It was. At the time, I had just gotten a BIG NO on a West End show where the casting director told me the part should have been mine but using a then-unknown American would have created an uproar.
Then when “Voice UK” scouted me, my agent said this would be the perfect opportunity to boost my profile. Ultimately, I was given a global scale opportunity to go onstage and sing as Cedric.
BLADE: Your thrilling, original rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” made the audience and judges like Jennifer Holliday and Sir Tom Jones just go crazy (in a good way). In musical theater, do you make beloved, well-known songs like “Join Us” and “Glory” in “Pippin,” your own in that same way?
NEAL: I couldn’t always, but I can now. When I talk to younger performers, I tell them about the song in “Gypsy” where the experienced strippers talk about getting a gimmick if you want to be a star.
I come from a gospel, R&B, and serious classical background and have always retained my gospel, soulful flair on things. When I entered the world of musical theater, I’d put my twist on a song and the musical director would ask that I tone it down.
Ten years into my career, I became known for putting my flair on musicals, and that became my gimmick. To “Cedricfy” a song is a legitimate term in musical theater. And you’ll see me bring that to “Pippin.”
BLADE: Reading about you, it seems you’ve made bold choices and surround yourself with supportive friends and family, blood and chosen.
NEAL: Yes, and it’s not an accident. I come from a bloodline of revolutionaries and pioneers whose shoulders I stand on. My ancestors are all fighters and refuse to let their fight be in vain. Also, I will always step up to the plate and represent all the marginalized communities that I’m a part of: Black, gay, biracial relationships, liberals.
BLADE: Are you and your husband still living in the windmill?
NEAL: We left the windmill but we’re still in the U.K. Try to imagine our story: A Black boy from the hood in Dallas, Texas, meets a fifth-generation cattle rancher from Alberta, Canada, and they move to the UK, adopt a labradoodle, and live in an actual windmill. Isn’t that the gayest shit you’ve ever heard?
BLADE: It’s like a fairytale.
NEAL: It was. It still is.
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