Julius Caesar photos by Rick Malkin
The Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s 12th annual Winter Shakespeare production is the political thriller Julius Caesar, directed by Santiago Sosa. This edgy, action-packed production will tell the story of the assassination of Rome’s charismatic dictator Julius Caesar in a compelling, Roman-noir re-imagining where conspiracy thrives in the shadows and dark corners of the city. The show runs Jan. 10–27 at Belmont’s Troutt Theater in Nashville and then at MTSU’s Tucker Theatre in Murfreesboro from Jan. 31–Feb. 2.
Veteran TV and Broadway actor Chuck Wagner plays the role of Julius Caesar. Wagner played the title role in TV’s science-fiction series Automan in the 1980s and has performed several starring roles in some of Broadway’s biggest hits, including Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast and Into the Woods.
“Shakespeare is at the heart of my theatrical education,” he says, “and I look forward to sharing it in January with old and new friends.”
Artistic director Denice Hicks adds, “We are so fortunate to have Chuck Wagner joining the cast. He brings a lifetime of professionalism and passion for great theater to this project.
“The timelessness and timeliness of this play never cease to amaze me. This is a 400-year-old play about people who lived over 2,000 years ago and yet their hopes, fears, ambitions and sorrows are true and relatable today. The rhetoric resonates in our politically charged times,” Hicks says.
Other cast members include Sam Ashdown—returning to Nashville after his critically acclaimed performance in the title role of NSF’s 2018 production of Hamlet—Melinda Sewak, Morgan Davis, Andrew Johnson, Matthew Cruz Benenson, Miranda Pepin and Antonio P. Nappo. Joining the company for the first time are Josh Inocalla, Ang Madeline Johnson, Natalie Rankin, Chamberlin Little and regional powerhouses Christopher Joel Onken and Jordan Gleaves.
Facilitating the shadowy, neo-noir aesthetic of the play is lighting and set designer Phillip Franck, and returning NSF composer Natalie Bell will design the suspenseful soundscape. The abundant violence in the play will be co-choreographed by fight director Eric Pasto-Crosby, along with Sosa.
Performances at MTSU’s Tucker Theatre (615 Champion Way) will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday, Jan. 31–Feb. 2. For more information, visit nashvilleshakes.org.
