MainStage Production of

“District Merchants”

By Aaron Posner

July 26, 27, 28, and August 1, 2, 3, and 4

Directed by Leigh Taylor and performed by:

Bill Becker
Benni Little
Julia Nurenberg
Michah Bryan
Darrin Sims
Lisa Blodgett
Jacquetta Page
David Smith

Genre: Comedy 

Rated PG-13

The Story: Love, loss, litigation, and predatory lending are examined in surprising ways in this uneasy comedy, which wades fearlessly into the endless complexities and contradictions of life in America. Set among the Black and Jewish populations of an imagined time and place that is simultaneously Shakespearean, Reconstruction-era Washington, D.C., and today, District Merchants is a remarkable tale of money, merchandise, and mercy brought to the stage by award-winning playwright and director Aaron Posner.

“District Merchants” explodes with layers of complexity… Posner has faced the most problematic aspect of Shakespeare’s play here full-on: he turns the question of anti-Semitism on its head, layering in the difficult relationships between two groups historically treated as ‘Other’ in America.” —DC Metro Theater Arts. 

“As efforts go in making Shakespeare’s thornier plays more digestible, its concerns more relevant to contemporary playgoers, you’d be hard pressed to find a more admirably intelligent reworking of The Merchant of Venice than playwright Aaron Posner’s “District Merchants”… Posner invokes a complex social dynamic of a sort Shakespeare could never have envisioned—that of the alternately symbiotic and tense relationship of American Blacks and Jews, and their separate, powerful claims to the story of oppression.” —Washington Post