Historic Partnership between Elm Shakespeare Company and Legacy Theatre Announced

April 4, 2025: Elm Shakespeare Company Presents, Measure for Measure in Partnership with Play On Shakespeare at Legacy Theatre

New Haven’s cherished Elm Shakespeare Company, celebrating its landmark 30th year, will be in partnership this month with Branford’s premiere professional Legacy Theatre, which is celebrating its milestone 5th season! When? Of course around Shakespeare’s birthday weekend and Legacy’s opening anniversary date!

April 25 (7pm), 26th (2pm & 7pm) and 27th (2pm), come to the Legacy to learn what happens when a centuries-old story speaks in the language of today!

Join Elm Shakespeare Company for Measure for Measure —a stripped-down, high-impact, workshop performance of celebrated playwright Aditi Kapil’s modern verse translation of this haunting, timely play. Presented in partnership with Play On Shakespeare, Legacy Theatre, and Season Sponsor Alexander Clark, this unique event will feature some of Elm audience’s favorite performers in a ‘bare bard’ presentation that foregrounds the power and urgency of the text.

Join Lisa Wolpe as the Duke, Raphael Massie as Angelo, Elizabeth Daingerfield as the clown Lucio, and Brianna Bauch as the novitiate Isabella in an 8 person seasoned cast. After each performance, stay for a dynamic conversation with the director and cast as we explore what translation unlocks, allows, adds, or hinders. We want to hear YOUR experience of the play. How does contemporary language shift our understanding? What becomes newly visible in the characters, in the questions the play asks, and in how it reflects our lives right now?

Saturday, April 26, we are excited to announce that translating playwright Aditi Brennan Kapil, (known for her stunning 2017 Yale Rep debut of Imogen Says Nothing) and Lue Douthit, (Play On Shakespeare’s Director of Research and Practice and longtime Oregon Shakespeare Festival dramaturg) will join the discussion after the performance.

"Having cut my teeth in professional theater with the Elm Shakespeare Company, 25 years ago under the direction of James Andreassi, this partnership truly feels full circle. ESC Resident lighting designer Jamie Burnett is also the resident set and lighting designer at Legacy - I have worked with many of the actors in this production over the decades- and having this wonderful community of art makers in our theatrical home is a treat for me personally and one I'm so excited to give to our Legacy community! Many thanks to Rebecca Goodheart and her fabulous team for making this partnership possible!" -Keely Baisden Knudsen, Executive Artistic Director, Legacy Theatre

“We at Elm Shakespeare are excited to partner with everyone at Legacy Theatre as we head into the 30th anniversary, expanding our professional production offerings beyond free Shakespeare in the Park. It is an ideal partnering of resources, great artistry, and deep, decades-long friendships. Legacy has built such a beautiful home and we are grateful to be invited to play there!” - Rebecca Goodheart, Producing Artistic Director, Elm Shakespeare Company

Tickets go on sale April 4th at www.LegacyTheatreCT.org and are $30 in advance and $40 at the door. Thanks to a generous donation from Alexander Clark, audiences are free for ages 21 and under! Audiences can also celebrate these two theatre companies with their combined 35-year history with an added donation of $35 at ticket purchase.