July 9 – August 3, 2025 | Main Stage, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, Center Valley, PA
Performance Schedule:
- Hamlet: Previews July 9–10 | Opens July 11 | Closes August 3
- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead:
Previews July 17–18 | Opens July 19 | Closes August 2
The repertory cast includes Biko Eisen-Martin, Sean Close, and Maboud Ebrahimzadeh
CENTER VALLEY, PA—July 7, 2025—Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival unveils a theatrical event as bold as it is ingenious: Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, performed in rotating repertory by a single powerhouse ensemble. Witness the same actors—and the same world of Elsinore—transform from tragedy’s center stage to comedy’s existential sidelines.
In Hamlet, the prince’s life shatters when his father’s ghost exposes a murderous betrayal: his uncle Claudius has stolen the throne and wed Hamlet’s mother. What follows is a relentless struggle between revenge and redemption, as Hamlet’s pursuit of truth threatens to destroy everything he holds dear.
Then, in Tom Stoppard’s Tony Award-winning Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, two minor characters from Hamlet stumble into the spotlight. With whip-smart wordplay and existential hilarity, the hapless duo grapple with their roles in a story they don’t understand—flipping coins, missing cues, and questioning reality itself.
Biko Eisen-Martin (Hamlet), whose credits include Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater world premieres of Table17 (Audelco Winner) and soft (Lortel and Audelco nominations), Ensemble Studio Theatre, 59E59, The Public Theater, and regional work at The Old Globe and Hudson Valley Shakespeare, anchors both plays with Hamlet’s searing intensity.
Sean Close (Rosencrantz), a PSF veteran of last season’s The Play That Goes Wrong and The Merry Wives of Windsor, with regional credits at 1812 Productions, Theatre Horizon, and Arden Theatre; and Maboud Ebrahimzadeh (Guildenstern), whose credits include Shakespeare Theatre Company, McCarter Theatre, Arena Stage, and Folger Theatre, plus a Barrymore Award, pivot from Hamlet’s shadows to R&G’s uproarious leads.
They’re joined by a standout ensemble including Taysha Marie Canales (Horatio), Arrianna Daniels (Marcellus/Tragedian), Akeem Davis (Claudius), Darin F. Earl II (Bernardo/Tragedian), Grace Gonglewski (Gertrude), Ian Higgins (Tragedian), Eric Hissom (Polonius), Relena Kiser (Voltemand/Ensemble), Shawn Laub (Ensemble), David Andrew Laws (Renaldo/Tragedian), Ian Merrill Peakes (Leading Player), David Pica (Laertes/Tragedian), Ryan Plunkett (Tragedian), Pepin (Ophelia), Damien J. Wallace (King Hamlet/Tragedian).
Directors Lindsay Smiling (Hamlet) and Jason King Jones (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead) helm this ambitious pairing.
The creative team includes scenic and lighting designer Brian Sidney Bembridge; costume designer Nancy Leary; sound designers Elizabeth Atkinson (Hamlet) and David M. Greenberg (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead); text coach Greg Leaming; intimacy director Kim Carson; fight director Ian Rose; stage manager Jackie Mariani; and assistant stage manager Jenna Gregson.
PSF invites patrons to enhance their theatre going experience with Opening Night Champagne Receptions, post-show talkbacks with the cast, specialty dinners, and, for a behind-the-scenes look, special Epilogues that include a backstage tour. Adding to the ambiance, patrons can relax to live music “On the Green” before each performance. PSF will also offer audio-described, open captioned, and a sign interpreted performance on select performance dates. For information on these experiences visit PAShakespeare.org.
Tickets can be purchased online at PAShakespeare.org, by calling the box office at 610.282.WILL [9455], or in person at the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of DeSales University in Center Valley, PA. Discounts are available for military, educators, seniors, students, and groups of 10+.
The Production Sponsor for Hamlet is Amaranth Foundation. The Co-sponsors are Douglas Dykhouse and Joanne Hartshorne. The Actor Co-sponsor is in memory of Judy D’Annibale.
The Production Sponsors for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead are Breslin Architects and the Co-Sponsor is Joanne Hartshorne.
The Festival’s 2025 Season Sponsors are Marilyn McDonald, MD and Joe Folger. The Associate Season Sponsors are Mary Bongiorno, Linda Lapos and Paul Wirth, Kathleen Kund Nolan and Timothy E. Nolan, Yvonne Payne and Edward Spitzer, The Szarko Family, and Harry C. Trexler Trust.
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival is the Lehigh Valley’s professional equity theater hosted on the campus of DeSales University.
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, the official Shakespeare Festival of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, features acclaimed actors from Broadway, television, and film, and is the summer home to over 200 artists from around the country, including winners and nominees of the Tony, Obie, Emmy, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Jefferson, and Barrymore Awards.