A reminder of Shakespeare’s eternal relevance…Timeliness and timelessness are underscored by Rauch’s sinewy and bracingly fast-moving production.
The Boston Globe
Spectacular and complex performances by Chris Butler and Danforth Comins. This production in particular is one that Boston audiences should not miss!
Edge Boston
Stunning. An exquisitely profound theatrical Shakespeare experience.
Boston and beyond event dates
In Shakespeare’s most intimate tragedy, director Bill Rauch (All the Way, Fingersmith) explores society’s polarizing struggles with difference and the destructive results when women are silenced. Consumed by their bigotry and xenophobia, those who praised the Moorish general Othello for his military successes now reject his marriage to Desdemona. The newlyweds are determined to overcome this resentment, but Othello’s assignment in Cyprus draws them into the web of his lieutenant Iago, whose jealousy knows no bounds. A.R.T. brings the original company of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s acclaimed production to Cambridge.
This production contains strobe.
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Bill Rauch
An Oregon Shakespeare Festival Production
Notable dates
Opening Night: 1/18
ASL Interpreted: 2/3 at 2PM & 2/6 at 7:30PM
Audio Described: 2/2 at 2PM & 2/8 at 7:30PM
Open Captioned: 2/2 at 2PM & 2/7 at 7:30PM
Production Sponsors
Fay and Bill Shutzer
Hutchins Family Foundation
Donation Drive
The American Repertory Theater is hosting a donation drive for survivors of domestic violence throughout the run of Othello. All donated items will go to Transition House, the first domestic violence shelter on the East Coast, located in Central Square. Transition House works with survivors of all ages and backgrounds to prevent and end domestic violence in our community through safe housing programs, holistic support, education, and intervention.
Press Coverage
Reviews
Features
Explore

Soliloquy Workshop
FEB 4 6:30PM, Loeb Drama Center
Join Erika Bailey, A.R.T. Head of Voice and Speech, for a unique opportunity to explore Shakespeare’s rich text. Space is limited. $25 suggested donation.
Join Erika Bailey, A.R.T. Head of Voice and Speech, for a unique opportunity to explore Shakespeare’s rich text. Space is limited. $25 suggested donation.
Credits
Creative Team
Cast

Othello
Chris Butler

Othello
Chris Butler
A.R.T.: Othello. OSF (three seasons): Love’s Labor’s Lost, A Raisin in the Sun, The Piano Lesson, Much Ado About Nothing, Wild Oats. Broadway: 110 in the Shade. Regional: South Coast Repertory, Shakespeare Center LA, Rubicon Theatre Company, A.C.T., Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Matrix Theatre, Fountain Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Old Globe, Southwest Repertory Company, Nevada Shakespeare Theater, Illinois Shakespeare Festival. Film/TV: Rescue Dawn, Cradle 2 The Grave, “Designated Survivor,” “The Gifted,” “Scandal,” “Modern Family,” “Longmire,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “Shameless,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Major Crimes,” “Criminal Minds,” “Rizzoli & Isles,” “True Detective,” “Justified,” “True Blood,” “King & Maxwell,” “iCarly,” “The Good Wife.” Awards: LA Ovation, NAACP, LA Drama Critics and Garland Awards, Best Actor (Yellowman). Training: MFA, Theater, UC San Diego; BA, Dramatic Arts, UNC-Chapel Hill.
Actors’ Equity Association member

Iago
Danforth Comins

Iago
Danforth Comins
A.R.T.: Othello. OSF (fifteen seasons): Manahatta, Julius Caesar, The Odyssey, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Long Day’s Journey into Night, The Great Society, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Liquid Plain, Julius Caesar, Ghost Light, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Merchant of Venice, Throne of Blood, All’s Well That Ends Well, Coriolanus, Othello, As You Like It, Bus Stop, King John, Richard III. Off-Broadway: Throne of Blood, BAM. Regional: Ghostlight, Berkeley Rep; All the Way, The Great Society, Seattle Rep; Macbeth, Timon of Athens, Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Hamlet, The Spitfire Grill, Macbeth, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Utah Shakespeare Festival; Hamlet, PCPA Theaterfest; Geva Theatre Center; Tacoma Actors Guild. Film: Black Road, Redwood Highway, Walk-In, Shale, Indigo. Education: MFA, University of Illinois; BFA, Pacific Lutheran University.
Actors’ Equity Association member

Bianca, Security Officer
Rainbow Dickerson

Bianca, Security Officer
Rainbow Dickerson
A.R.T.: Debut. OSF (one season): Manahatta. Broadway: August: Osage County (Johnna u/s). New York: Another Kind of Hunger, Castillo Theatre; Sonnets for an Old Century, HERE; Much Ado About Nothing, Manhattan Repertory Theatre; Stray Dog Hearts, Abington Theatre; Theatre Is Dead and So Are You, Stolen Chair Theatre Company; The Buddha Prince (HH the 14th Dalai Lama), Tiger Lion, NY and MN. Regional: Redwood Curtain, White Buffalo, Purple Rose Theatre; Sweet Karma, Grove Theatre; Boleros for the Disenchanted, Florida Studio Theatre; Blue Jacket, First Frontier Theater Co; Human Race Theatre Company; River Rep. Film/TV: “Chicago Fire,” “Gone,” “Banshee,” Horizon; The World at Night; “Duff Till Dawn,” “Outrageous Chocolate,” “Ridiculous Cakes,” The Patron. Training: Circle in the Square Theatre School; East 15 Acting School/University of Essex (UK); LA Stunts.
Actors’ Equity Association member

Montano, Security Officer
Neimah Djourabchi

Montano, Security Officer
Neimah Djourabchi
A.R.T.: Othello. OSF: (one season): Debut. New York: The Lake Effect, Geva Theatre Center; Universal Robots, The Honeycomb Trilogy: Sovereign, Kill Shakespeare, Gideon Productions, Judson, Sheen Center; Jesus in India, The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, Vampire Cowboys, Theatre at St. Clement’s; Thieves, Public Theater; Dream Acts, HERE; Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Open Door, La MaMa; Twelfth Night of the Living Dead, Teatro LATEA; Impetuous Theater Group; Performa 11; The Brick; Center Stage NY; Kings County Shakespeare. Film/TV/Podcasts: “High Maintenance,” Steal the Stars, “Blue Bloods,” “The Blacklist,” “Gotham,” “Jessica Jones,” “American Odyssey,” “666 Park Avenue,” “Blindspot,” “Person of Interest,” The Cobbler, “The Good Wife,” “Elementary,” The Dictator, Imitation Girl, The Answer. Education: BFA, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU.
Actors’ Equity Association member

Duke of Venice, Hektor
Richard Elmore

Duke of Venice, Hektor
Richard Elmore
A.R.T.: Othello. OSF (thirty-four seasons): Romeo and Juliet; Henry IV, Part Two; Roe; All the Way; The Great Society; The Language Archive; August: Osage County; Hamlet; Equivocation; Tartuffe; The Visit; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Fuddy Meers; Uncle Vanya; The Merchant of Venice; Aristocrats; All My Sons; Strange Snow; What the Butler Saw; Lone Star. Regional: Seattle Rep, Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, Wallis Annenberg Center, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cincinnati Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center Theatre Company, Utah Shakespeare Festival, California Shakespeare Festival, Virginia Stage Company. Other: Over 100 radio, television, and print commercials. Awards: five Drama-Logue Awards. Education: BA, Arizona State University.
Actors’ Equity Association member

Desdemona
Alejandra Escalante

Desdemona
Alejandra Escalante
(she/her) A.R.T.: Othello. Off-Broadway: Dying City, Second Stage. Regional: Simona’s Search, Hartford Stage; The Cherry Orchard, 2666, Upstairs Concierge, Measure for Measure, Song for the Disappeared, Goodman Theatre; Henry V, All’s Well that Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Chicago Shakespeare Theater; The Taming of the Shrew, American Players Theatre; Sense and Sensibility, Guthrie Theater; The Excavation of Mary Anning, Another Word for Beauty, Fingersmith, New York Stage and Film; Darwin in Malibu, Washington Stage Guild. In six seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Measure for Measure, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, The Tenth Muse, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Wrinkle in Time, The Tempest, Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, Othello, Love’s Labor’s Lost. Education: BFA, Boston University.
Actors’ Equity Association member

Cassio
Derek Garza

Cassio
Derek Garza
A.R.T.: Othello. OSF (one season): Romeo and Juliet. Regional: Million Dollar Quartet, Welk Resorts Theater; The Mecca Tales, Chicago Dramatists; Push Button Murder, Mike and Seth, the side project theatre company; Between Pancho Villa and a Naked Woman, Halcyon Theatre; My Kind of Town, TimeLine Theatre Company; I Am Montana, Inherit the Whole, Mortar Theatre Company; CIC Theater; Montana Shakespeare Company; Pennsylvania Centre Stage; Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre. Toronto: The War of 1812, VideoCabaret; Native Earth Performing Arts; Salt Baby Productions. Film/TV: JimMortal, Canal Street, “Chicago Fire,” /i>“Betrayal,” Along for the Ride, “Arts & Crafts: A Web Series,” Supermodels With Tasers, Deep Ship. Commercials/Industrial: Lowe’s Flooring, Sanford-Brown, U.S. Army. Training: BA, Theatre, Adams State University; MFA, Acting, Pennsylvania State University; Second City; Pro Actors Lab; The Green Room.
Actors’ Equity Association member

Brabantio, Kosta
Richard Howard

Brabantio, Kosta
Richard Howard
A.R.T.: Othello. OSF (thirty seasons): Title role: Henry IV, Part One; Henry IV, Part Two; Hamlet; Richard II; Pericles; Romeo and Juliet. Company: Love’s Labor’s Lost; Julius Caesar; The Odyssey; Great Expectations; Guys and Dolls; Henry V; The White Snake; Throne of Blood; The Servant of Two Masters; Our Town; The Cherry Orchard; Tartuffe; Cyrano de Bergerac; UP; Room Service; The Royal Family; Noises Off; As You Like It; The Merry Wives of Windsor; The Night of the Iguana; The Three Musketeers; Measure for Measure; Pentecost; Arcadia. Broadway: Execution of Justice. Off-Broadway: Ten by Tennessee. Regional: Hedda Gabler, Arena Stage; Our Town, Room Service, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Candida, Julius Caesar, Guthrie Theater. Training: The Juilliard School.
Actors’ Equity Association member

Lodovico, A Sailor
Daniel José Molina

Lodovico, A Sailor
Daniel José Molina
A.R.T.: Othello. OSF (five seasons): Henry V (Henry V, Chorus, Ensemble); Love’s Labor’s Lost (Ferdinand, Ensemble); Henry IV, Part One; Henry IV, Part Two; (Prince Hal, Ensemble); The Tempest (Ferdinand); Water by the Spoonful (Ellior Ortiz); A Streetcar Named Desire (Young Collector, Blanche’s Husband, Doctor, Ensemble); Cymbeline (Posthumus Leonatus); Romeo and Juliet (Romeo); Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella (Malcolm, Ensemble), Black Swan Lab. Broadway: Fish in the Dark. Regional: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Utah Shakespeare Festival; Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Film: The Yellow Birds. Awards: 2011 National Irene Ryan Acting Award. Education: BFA, Savannah College of Art and Design; Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey Apprenticeship Program.
Actors’ Equity Association member

Gratiana, Andela
Vilma Silva

Gratiana, Andela
Vilma Silva
A.R.T.: Othello. OSF (twenty-four seasons): Destiny of Desire, Love’s Labor’s Lost, Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The River Bride, Timon of Athens, Water by the Spoonful, King Lear, The Tenth Muse, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, Henry VIII, Othello, A View from the Bridge, The Taming of the Shrew, Gibraltar, As You Like It, Life Is a Dream, Two Sisters and a Piano, Twelfth Night, The Trojan Women, El Paso Blue, Pericles, The Comedy of Errors, Measure for Measure, The Magic Fire, The Turn of the Screw, Romeo and Juliet, Blood Wedding, others. Regional: Steppenwolf, TheatreWorks, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Dallas Theater Center, El Teatro Campesino, Sundance Institute Playwrights Lab. Awards: Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship.
Actors’ Equity Association member

Roderigo
Stephen Michael Spencer

Roderigo
Stephen Michael Spencer
A.R.T.: Othello. OSF (four seasons): Love’s Labor’s Lost (Berowne, Ensemble), Julius Caesar (Caska, Plebeian, Ensemble), Off the Rails (Pryor, Ensemble), Hamlet (Cornelius, Player, Ensemble), The Winter’s Tale (Autolycus, Ensemble), Timon of Athens (Alcibiades’ Messenger, Cupid, Soldier (select performances), Musician, Ensemble), Sweat (Jason, Fight Captain), Hamlet (Fight Captain), Julius Caesar (Fight Captain). Regional: The Legend of Georgia McBride (Casey/Georgia), Ensemble Theatre Company; The Heart of Robin Hood, Mirvish Productions; Yentl, A Carol for Cleveland, Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, Cleveland Play House; Go West, Clybourne Park, The Comedy of Errors, As You Like It, Chautauqua Theatre Company; Tartuffe, Triad Stage; The Tempest, NC Shakespeare Festival; Go, Dog. Go!, North Carolina Theatre for Young People. Training: MFA, Acting, Case Western Reserve/Cleveland Play House; BFA, Acting, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Actors’ Equity Association member

Emilia
Amy Kim Waschke

Emilia
Amy Kim Waschke
A.R.T.: Debut. OSF (four seasons): Snow in Midsummer (Tianyun), Julius Caesar (Calphurnia), Hannah and the Dread Gazebo (Mother), The Winter’s Tale (Hermione), Vietgone (Huong track), The White Snake (White Snake). New York: The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G, Alice in Slasherland, Living Dead in Denmark, Vampire Cowboys; disOriented, Theatre C. Regional; The White Snake, McCarter, Berkeley Rep, Guthrie, Goodman, Old Globe, Wuzhen Theatre Festival (China); Water By The Spoonful, Studio Theatre; Fabuloso, Merrimack Repertory Theatre; Somebody/Nobody, Arizona Theatre Company; Tamburlaine, Shakespeare Theatre Company. Film/ TV: “Law & Order: SVU,” The Choice, Eighteen Seconds, “Boystown” (NYTVF Selection). Education: MFA, University of Washington. Upcoming: Macbeth (Lady Macbeth), Alice In Wonderland (Queen of Hearts, Dodo), OSF.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Additional Staff
Additional sound equipment provided by Sound Associates.
Special Thanks
Stephen Greenblatt; Matthew Wittmann, Micah Hoggatt, Dale Stinchcomb, Harvard Theatre Collection at Houghton Library