Avant Bard | theatre on the edge
Our 35th season, beginning in October 2024, offers a rich and distinctive lineup that exemplifies our mission to interrogate the classics and classical themes and showcase innovative voices.
The season kicks off with the October 2024 9th annual FREE Scripts in Play festival presented in Arlington art galleries, featuring three bold and thought-provoking new scripts. A wine and cheese reception accompanies each reading!
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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, as conceived by Kathleen Akerley
Gunston Arts Center Theatre Two 2700 S Lang St, Arlington, VA
Avant Bard Theatre is thrilled to close its 35th season with a bold new interpretation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, directed by the visionary Kathleen Akerley, an Avant Bard Artistic Associate. Known for her cerebral and innovative approach to classical texts, Akerley reimagines the iconic tragedy by delving deep into Hamlet’s grief-fueled disorientation, and examines every character not in the context of how they fail the titular hero but are failed by him. “People tell you not to make any major decisions within a year of significant loss,” Akerley observes. “So much of Hamlet stands as cautionary proof of that point. When my mother died, I thought the globe was literally spinning wrong: how could I be trusted to measure reality or take the temperature of the world and people around me – many of whom were also flailing in grief?” This Hamlet will drive to its awful conclusion with few stops for air.