Acclaimed Shakespeare interpreter Peter Sellars stages the contemporary take on Shakespeare's classic about the struggle for power. Othello officially opens Sept. 27 and will run through Oct. 4 at the NYU Skirball Center.

Ortiz (Jesus Hopped the A Train, Jack Goes Boating) stars in the title role, opposite Hoffman (Long Day's Journey, Jack Goes Boating, The Seagull) as Iago. The company also features Julian Acosta (Anna in the Tropics) as Roderigo, Gaius Charles (Broke-Ology) as Duke/Lodovico, Jessica Chastain ("Salomaybe?") as Desdemona, Liza Colon-Zayas (Little Flower of East Orange) as Emilia, Saidah Arrika Ekulona (Ruined) as Montano/Bianca and LeRoy McClain (The Good Negro) as Cassio.

Sellars' production, according to the Public, "explores the new prospects for hope in 21st-century America giving the play a modern resonance that raises a mirror to our culture's racial struggles and achievements, both darkened and illuminated by overwhelming personal and political yearning."

"Peter Sellars is a brilliant, breath-taking, audacious director and his encounter with Othello has produced an absolutely unique and riveting production," Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis said in a previous statement. "It continues one of The Public's great traditions, that of making Shakespeare our contemporary and using his extraordinary work to throw light on our specific historical moment."

Othello has scenic design by Gregor Holzinger, costume design by Mimi O'Donnell, lighting design by James F. Ingalls, with original music and sound design by Mark Grey. The production is a special presentation between the Public Theater and LAByrinth Theater Company in association with Wiener Festwochen, Vienna and Schauspielhaus Bochum.

For tickets visit SkirballCenter, or phone (212) 352-3101. The Skirball Center is located at 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South.