The Merchant of Venice was conceived for and minted in the Jewish Ghetto of Venice in 2016 on the 500th anniversary of its founding.

Originally produced in the Venice Ghetto in partnership with Ca' Foscari University of Venice and the Creative Europe Project "Shakespeare In and Beyond the Ghetto."  Mille graze to Shaul Bassi, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Beit Venezia, Maria Ida Biggi, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Carol Rutter, David Kastan; filmmakers Ted Hardin and Elizabeth Coffman; and the entire company of extraordinary actors and crew who together breathed the production into its first life.  We honor you all.

After the performance in the Venice Ghetto, the production traveled to Castello degli Ezzelini in Bassano del Grappa, Italy and to the high security Padova Prison for men in Padova, Italy.