In the elevator to the upstairs cocktail hour, a retired general meets a Supreme Court Justice. Make that an actor who has played a Supreme Court Justice. Before dinner, a troupe of young actors in fancy dress swan by a local politician looking for flesh to press. Later, a scholar breaks bread with an economist and a journalist, while a lawyer and a consultant share center stage. Such scenes—such strange but interesting bedfellows—could only happen in D.C., and likely only at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s annual gala, which took place on April 15 at the Anthem. Make that the Ides of April.
Titled “All the World’s a Stage: Celebrating the US/UK Relationship,” the gala mixed artists, politicians, and supporters to raise funds for what STC’s artistic director Simon Godwin believes can become “the best classical theater in America,” he told the audience. Over a lively four hours, the company highlighted its educational offerings and honored a trio of stars—Indira Varma (Game of Thrones), two-time Tony and three-time Emmy Award winner Judith Light, and John Lithgow (Dexter, Third Rock from the Sun)—as well as Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
The evening’s theme was clear in large and small choices, from emcee Katty Kay, a British-born journalist who covers U.S. policies for the BBC, to the fish-and-chips appetizers. In her opening remarks, Kay mused on the similarities between the Bard’s body of work and the United States, calling both “generous” and “inclusive,” and able to accommodate multiple points of view.
Lit by hundreds of tabletop candles and low-hanging chandeliers, the Anthem, with its ground floor and surrounding galleries, evoked the Globe and Blackfriars, William Shakespeare’s original venues. The stage was washed in dramatic red and purple lighting as a small band played. Banners bearing portraits of well-known Shakespearean actors flew high above the stage. An army of chefs, servers, technicians, and staff kept the food, wine, and program on a steady course. (The caterer’s prep tables ran more than 20 yards.)
The highlights of the evening were the honorees speeches. After receiving the Shakespeare Theatre Company Lifetime Achievement Award, Light took a moment to recognize her presenter and Doubt co-star Laverne Cox, saying to the artist and activist, “You are the epitome of Shakespeare’s words, ‘To thine own self be true.’” Light thanked longtime STC artistic director Michael Kahn, who directed her in the company’s 2001 production of Hedda Gabler, for his support and friendship. “Life is not about what you get, but what you give,” Light said.
Sen. Klobuchar received STC’s inaugural Sea Change Award in honor of her work stewarding the Save Our Stages bill, alongside Texas Sen. John Cornyn. The act, signed into law in December 2020, sent more than $15 billion to performing arts venues during the COVID shutdown. Klobuchar credits the bill with saving more than 12,000 venues of all sizes across the country. While the audience applauded the bipartisanship effort, D.C.’s own Audrey Fix Schaefer went unmentioned. Schaefer—the communications director for I.M.P., which runs numerous venues around town including the Anthem, and board vice president of National Independent Venue Association—was instrumental in getting the idea off the ground.
Varma, who’s currently starring as Lady M in STC’s production of Macbeth, received the Will Shakespeare Award for Classical Acting, presented to her by her co-star Ralph Fiennes. Upon receiving the award, the British actor confessed to previously turning down many great Shakespearean roles for fear of failing to play them “correctly.” But when Godwin approached her to play the murderous would-be queen, she decided to take the character’s own advice: “Screw your courage to the sticking place/ And [you’ll] not fail.”
In a funny and touching speech, STC Lifetime Achievement honoree Lithgow admitted to “betraying [his] birthright.” His father, Arthur Lithgow, was a pioneer of the regional theater movement in the 1950s and 1960s. The younger Lithgow grew up playing small roles (with “one-syllable names” like Pinch) at his father’s Shakespeare festivals, before turning down stage opportunities to pursue television and film. Although he went on to earn great acclaim for his portrayal of King Lear at New York’s Shakespeare in the Park in 2014, there is one role Lithgow would love another crack at—the fairy Mustardseed in a Midsummer Night’s Dream. He jokingly suggested Godwin direct an age-swapped version of the play, with children in the leads and “mature” actors—perhaps himself, Varma, Light, and Fiennes—as the fairies.
No truly Shakespearean event would be complete without a song. Nova Y. Payton, backed by members of the Howard University choir, performed “There’s a Place for Us” from West Side Story, the American musical based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Payton’s stirring rendition brought the audience to their feet and made leaving the event such sweet sorrow.
