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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War & Mental HealthTheater of War: Hector, Andromache, and the Death of AstyanaxTheater of War: Hector, Andromache, and the Death of Astyanax presents live, dramatic readings of selections from Homer’s Iliad, Book VI and scenes from The Trojan Women by Euripides—featuring acclaimed actors and a Chorus of students, from a variety of backgrounds, whose lives have been impacted by war—to help frame powerful, healing dialogue about the human cost of war, centered on the suffering of children and civilians. The project uses ancient texts that explore and depict the dehumanization of war to create a vocabulary for openly discussing challenging and divisive subjects, with the aim of generating compassion, empathy, moral repair, understanding, and positive action.
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Consent & Sexual ViolenceTapeTape has been developed as a sexual assault awareness and prevention training program that uses dramatic readings of Stephen Belber’s 1999 play to ignite powerful discussions about consent, sexual assault, rape, and power dynamics.