Why wait around for the latest star-studded London production of a great Shakespeare play to transfer to Broadway when you’ve got the Classic Stage Company on 13th Street? Under the leadership of artistic director Brian Kulick, CSC has become a magnet for renowned, adventurous New York actors, hungry to delve into great works by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Beckett, Brecht, Aeschylus, and more in the company’s intimate theater. The last few years have seen Mandy Patinkin in The Tempest, Denis O’Hare, Peter Sarsgaard and Maggie Gyllenhaal in Uncle Vanya, Michael Cumpsty in Richard III, and Dianne Wiest and Alan Cumming in The Seagull.

CSC doesn’t just stick to the standard repertoire — the company has also brought great literature to the stage with The Proust Project and staged readings of The Iliad, and produced new plays by writers such as David Ives New Jerusalem and Yasmina Reza The Spanish Play. Through the efforts of The Young Company, classics come alive for young audiences in performances given by Columbia University acting students, and the innovative Open Rehearsal Series allows audiences to get a glimpse into the struggles that actors and directors encounter when exploring a classic text.