The Three Musketeers

About the Show

En garde! Honoring his ancestors, Alexandre Dumas is writing The Three Musketeers in real time and setting the record straight: the action-packed adventure is a work of Black imagination. Chivalry, intrigue and betrayal abound as Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D’Artagnan fight for justice against the crooked Cardinal Richelieu and Milady, the OG femme fatale. Serving swagger, style and swordplay, The Acting Company (X: Or, Betty Shabazz vs. The Nation, 2017) mashes up waltz with spoken word and high court drama with high fashion hip-hop to reclaim the swashbuckling classic for today.

Content Note: This production contains strong language and mature themes, as well as depictions of smoking, drinking and violence.

Did You Know?

1. The Three Musketeers is playing in repertory with Romeo and Juliet—the two shows will be performed on alternating days by the same cast of actors.
2. Alexandre Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers, was of Haitian descent. His father, Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie—who commanded the French Revolutionary Army’s Black Legion in 1792—was the son of Marie-Cessette Dumas, an enslaved woman in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti).
3. By highlighting Dumas’s heritage and casting Black actors in the principal roles, director Kent Gash and writer Kirsten Childs are combating the centuries-long erasure of Black identity from the story.

About the Company

Known for launching the careers of Patti LuPone, Jeffrey Wright, Kelley Curran and many others, The Acting Company is the “major touring classical theater in the United States” (The New York Times), staging work from Shakespeare to Stoppard for 25,000 theatergoers annually. Their ensemble of classically trained young actors brings live performance to communities with limited access to theater, and their team of teaching artists engages middle and high school students in literacy-focused arts education.

Creative Team