Darko Tresnjak, director of last season’s acclaimed production of The Merchant of Venice, returns this season to direct Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. 
The theme of Theatre for a New Audience’s season is √¢‚Ǩ≈ìAfrica, Europe, America: Exploring the Connections,√¢‚Ǩ¬ù and Mr. Tresnjak√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s production sets the drama in the late 19th century, when Italy viewed Africa as a prize for conquest√¢‚Ǩ‚Äùmuch as Ancient Rome did Egypt.
Born in Zemun, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), Mr. Tresnjak emigrated to the United States at the age of 10. He studied English Literature at Swarthmore College and went on to earn his M.F.A. in Directing from Columbia University. Since then, he has directed at many venues and festivals, and has won many awards for his work. He was recently appointed Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.
For Theatre for a New Audience, he has staged All’s Well that Ends Well (2006) and The Merchant of Venice, which opened in New York City and then toured to Stratford-upon-Avon to play in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Complete Works Festival – a Festival in which every word of the Bard was performed over one year by theatre companies from all over the world.