CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company will celebrate its grand reopening after more than a year-long shutdown with a lineup of outstanding plays.

On Friday the company announced it will begin its 2021-22 season at the Otto M. Budig Theater starting with William Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet" directed by Darnell Pierre Benjamin starting this October. Actors Courtney Lucien and Crystian Wiltshire will portray the star-crossed lovers in a traditional Elizabethan production of the play. Wiltshire also recently joined Cincinnati Shakespeare as its new associate artistic director.

Michael Carleton, James FitzGerald and John K. Alvarez will then delight audiences for their 15th holiday season with the production of "Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!)." The play, which is full of irreverent pop culture holiday humor, will begin performances in November.

The 2021-22 season will pick back up in the Spring with a production of August Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" directed by Candice Handy and featuring Torrie Wiggins as Ma Rainey. The season will continue with productions of "Hamlet," "The Comedy of Errors" and end with a special production of "Pride and Prejudice."

“While the past 18 months were not what anyone at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company originally envisioned, it is certainly one we will never forget," said Brian Isaac Phillips, the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's artistic director in a press release. "As we moved through it with imagination, flexibility, tenacity, and endurance, we were sustained by the hope that live theatre would eventually return."

For more information about the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's upcoming season and productions visit cincyshakes.com.

The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company announced its plan to bring more than 40 performances of three different Shakespeare plays to parks and venues across the Tri-State from June 16-Sept. 12.

The Free Shakespeare in the Park Tour will travel to all corners of the region performing Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth.

Each performance is free and seating is open, but early arrival is recommended for best seating.

A full list of show dates, times and locations can be found here.