Director’s Note

Welcome to the 2025 ISC Santa Fe repertory season! Throughout history, political institutions have identified theatre as a threat to their power. I think the reason is that theatre can activate our minds, cultivate our empathy, and present a plurality of perspectives, identities, and beliefs. This summer, we explore wonder and terror and how these experiences can be two sides of the same coin.

Othello is a play about the wonder of love, and the terror of racism, misogyny, and what happens when strong love becomes warped and twisted. We have found it to be an uncommonly focused and sharp play that exposes deep societal wounds, nowhere close to healing. It explores the bonds of men who fight together, the politicization of an interracial marriage, the demonization of women’s sexuality, the venom of jealousy, and intimate partner violence. It is the story of the systematic destruction of a charismatic and gifted black leader by a white man that he believes loves and supports him in a society that never fully accepts him. It is an uncomfortable play that asks difficult questions without providing any easy answers. I am deeply indebted to the writings of James Baldwin, Lolita Chakrabarti, Keith Hamilton Cobb, Imtiaz Habib, Kim F. Hall, Farah Karim-Cooper, Toni Morrison, Ian Smith, and Ayanna Thompson. Their books, essays, and plays were sources of illumination to me in preparing for Othello.

Why these plays now? Very simply, they are plays about the dangers of misinformation.

I am so grateful to our ensemble for delving deeply and with such sensitivity into the deep pain, delicate beauty, and wondrous exuberance in these plays. Thank you again, so much, for joining us. You are our final ensemble member, and the plays will change because YOU are here.

With gratitude,

Ariana Karp, Artistic Director