By Joseph Adler, GableStage

Joseph Adler, GableStage producing artistic director, announced an international collaboration between the Royal Shakespeare Company in London and The Public Theater in New York to present Tarell Alvin McCraney’s radical new staging of ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, to be directed and edited by McCraney. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA will premiere at The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Stratford-Upon-Avon in November 2013, before touring to the United States. GableStage will then be presenting the production in Miami at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts in January 2014, where it will be presented for subscribers and single-tickets buyers, with an additional 10 Special Morning Performances which will be free to Miami-Dade County Public Schools. From Miami, the production will move to New York to play The Public Theater’s Anspacher Theater in late January 2014.

Adler stressed that “the initial impetus for our involvement in this project came from a generous $125,000 Arts Challenge Grant from the John S. & John L. Knight Foundation and the support and guidance of our incredible Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs (Executive Director, Michael Spring).”  He went on to say that “GableStage is genuinely thrilled to be involved in a collaboration with two of the leading presenters of Shakespeare’s plays in the world. With Miami’s own Tarell Alvin McCraney at the helm, providing an innovative and exciting adaptation of ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, we believe this project will be a transformative event for South Florida Theatre.”

GableStage Board President Steven M. Weinger, Esq. said “Our Board has risen to the challenge and is committed to raising the funds necessary for GableStage to meet its obligations to create and present this remarkable production.”

This year, GableStage’s second play of 2012-2013 Season will be Shakespeare’s HAMLET, adapted and directed by McCraney, which was initially commissioned for the world-famous Royal Shakespeare Company. With the support of the Knight Arts Challenge, they will follow the regular 5-week run of Hamlet on their main stage with 10 special performances for Miami-Dade County Public School students spread over two weeks–at the Joseph Caleb Auditorium in Liberty City and the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center in Cutler Bay.  During these runs, transportation will be provided to bring an estimated 15,000 students to the production, free of charge.

The 2011 THE BROTHERS SIZE production