About the project
King Lear Project
Dramatic Reading of King Lear, by William Shakespeare
Adapted and Directed by Bryan Doerries
The King Lear Project presents streamlined readings of scenes from Shakespeare’s King Lear to engage diverse audiences—including older adults, caregivers, and family members—in open, healing, constructive, discussions about the challenges of aging, dementia, and caring for friends and loved ones.
The King Lear Project was developed in partnership with Brooklyn Public Library, and the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, with support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the Weissman Foundation.
KING LEAR
Doth any here know me? This is not Lear:
Doth Lear walk thus? speak thus? Where are his eyes?
Either his notion weakens, his discernings
Are lethargied--Ha! waking? 'tis not so.
Who is it that can tell me who I am?
FOOL
Lear's shadow.
About the play
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King Lear by William Shakespeare
King Lear by William Shakespeare depicts an elderly king at the border of losing his faculties and independence, who makes a series of rash decisions regarding the future of his kingdom, fracturing his family and isolating himself from those who love him most.
King Lear Highlights
James Earl Jones
The Bronx Museum of the Arts / 2019
Photo by Beowulf Sheehan
Grandparents around the world presents king lear project
Bronx Museum of The Arts / 2019
It was a star-studded performance at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. Legendary Actor James Earl Jones partnered with Grandparents Around the World and Theater of War to bring Shakespeare's King Lear to the Bronx with a team of famed actors -- as a way to build bridges through communication among the various age groups reflected in communities.
Linda Powell, James Earl Jones, and his son, Flynn Jones
The Bronx Museum of the Arts / 2019
Photo by Beowulf Sheehan
James Earl Jones as King Lear
The Bronx Museum of The Arts / 2019
photo by Beowulf Sheehan
The King Lear Project Cast
The Bronx Museum of The Arts / 2019
Juliana Francis Kelly, Andrea Patterson, Obi Abili, Linda Powell, James Earl Jones, and his son, Flynn Jones.
photo by Beowulf Sheehan
Peter Francis James as Albany, and Juliana Francis Kelly as Goneril
The Bronx Museum of The Arts / 2019
photo by Beowulf Sheehan
The King Lear Project presented to Grandparents Around The World
The Bronx Museum of The Arts / 2019
Photo by Beowulf Sheehan
Andrea Patterson plays Regan and Juliana Francis Kelly plays Goneril
The Bronx Museum of The Arts / 2019
Photo by Beowulf Sheehan
Obi Abili plays the Fool
The Bronx Museum of the Arts / 2019
Photo by Beowulf Sheehan
Peter Francis James plays Albany
The Bronx Museum of the Arts / 2019
Photo by Beowulf Sheehan
Juliana Francis Kelly plays Goneril
The Bronx Museum of The Arts / 2019
Photo by Beowulf Sheehan
James Earl Jones plays King Lear
The Bronx Museum of The Arts / 2019
Photo by Beowulf Sheehan
Marjolaine Goldsmith as Cordelia
Edie Windsor SAGE Center / 2019
Cynthia Nixon as King Lear, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams as the Fool
Edie Windsor SAGE Center / 2019
Harris Yulin as Lear
Carroll Gardens Branch - Brooklyn Public Library / 2019
Obi Abili plays the fool, Marjolaine Goldsmith plays Cordelia.
photo by Gregg Richards
Obi Abili plays the fool
Carroll Gardens Branch - Brooklyn Public Library / 2019
photo by Gregg Richards
The Audience at the King Lear Project
Carroll Gardens Branch - Brooklyn Public Library / 2019
photo by Gregg Richards
Juliana Francis Kelly as Goneril
Carroll Gardens Branch - Brooklyn Public Library / 2019
photo by Gregg Richards
Tesa Arozqueta, Director of Outreach
Carroll Gardens Branch - Brooklyn Public Library / 2019
Tesa Arozqueta, Director of Outreach for the Mayor's Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence speaks from the audience of the King Lear Project.
photo by Gregg Richards
Painting by Wyckoff Senior Center
Wyckoff Senior Center / 2019
We were so honored that in advance of our performance of The King Lear Project, the Wyckoff Senior Center Art Class collectively worked on a painting inspired by the play. To open the event, the Wyckoff choir performed "Lean on Me".
Explore Projects
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Ethics & The Justice SystemTheater of Law
Developed with New York University’s Forum on Law, Culture, & Society, and designed as a professional development program for legal professionals, as well as for the general public, Theater of Law drives conversations about moral justice in the court system. The project is aimed at engaging audiences who have in some way been disenfranchised by the law in constructive, powerful dialogue.
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Domestic ViolencePatient and Impatient Griselda
Theater of War Productions and Margaret Atwood return to the Toronto International Festival of Authors with an exciting new collaboration exploring power and control, domestic violence, and family dynamics by way of two versions of the same story, one written by Giovanni Boccaccio in 1348 during the bubonic plague and the other by Atwood in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. In Bocaccio’s version, a woman named Griselda remains in an abusive and controlling relationship, showing great patience and forbearance in the face of her husband’s sadism and cruelty. In Atwood’s version, Griselda takes matters in her own hands and, with the help of her sister, turns the tables on her husband.
This free, public event featured a live, dramatic reading of the “Patient Griselda” story from Boccaccio's Decameron by Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, Fleishman is in Trouble), Maev Beaty (Beau is Afraid, Mouthpiece), and Araya Mengesha (Tiny Pretty Things, Nobody). Then, in response, Margaret Atwood performed “Impatient Grisleda,” a story that is narrated to a group of humans in quarantine by an alien that looks like an octopus. The readings of both texts was followed by immediate responses by community panelists and culminated in a guided audience discussion, facilitated by Bryan Doerries (Artistic Director, Theater of War Productions).
Co-presented by Theater of War Productions and Toronto International Festival of Authors.
This hybrid presentation took place in person at the Toronto Harbourfront Centre Theatre and on Zoom Webinar on September 30, 2023.
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Pandemic & Climate CrisisAn Enemy of The People
An Enemy of the People presents acclaimed actors, public health leaders, scientists, journalists, elected officials, and local community members performing dramatic readings of scenes from Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 play An Enemy of the People to help frame powerful, guided audience discussions aimed at generating connection, understanding, compassion, moral repair, and much-needed healing. The play tells the story of a doctor who discovers the water supply in his small, rural town has been poisoned by a tannery. Despite his efforts to convey the truth to the public, the doctor fails to save his community from environmental disaster and is ultimately scapegoated for his whistleblowing. An Enemy of the People was first performed in Norway in 1882, and yet it speaks to the present moment as if it were written for our times — to the corrosive influence of power and money in politics, the distortions of the media, and the many other challenges to public health in our culture today, especially during times of crisis.