Peter Shaffer comedies. "The Royal Hunt of the Sun" (1964) presents the tragic conquest of Peru by the Spanish, while "Black Comedy" (1965) takes a humorous look at the antics of a group of characters feeling their way around a pitch black room — although the stage is actually flooded with light. "Equus" (1973) won Shaffer the 1975 Tony Award for Best Play as well as the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. A journey into the mind of a seventeen-year-old stable-boy who had plunged a spike into the eyes of six horses, "Equus" ran for over 1,000 performances on Broadway. It
Classic Stage Company O'Hare, and Peter Sarsgaard, and "The Seagull" with Dianne Wiest and Alan Cumming; David Ives' "The Heir Apparent", "Venus in Fur" with Nina Arianda (Broadway transfer 2011/2012, Tony Award nom., Best Play), "The School for Lies" with Hamish Linklater, and "New Jerusalem" with Richard Easton; "Unnatural Acts", conceived by Tony Speciale; Anne Carson's "An Oresteia"; and Shakespeare's "Hamlet" with Peter Sarsgaard, "The Tempest" with Mandy Patinkin, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with Bebe Neuwirth, and "Richard III", "Richard II", and "Hamlet" with Michael Cumpsty. Prominent artists who have worked at Classic Stage Company include F. Murray Abraham, Wes Bentley, Zoe Caldwell,