The Acting Company will present a 21st-century drama and a Shakespearean classic—both touching upon personal and societal morality and justice—in repertory as part of its 2019 season.

Nambi E. Kelley’s stage adaptation of Native Son, based on the 1940 novel by Richard Wright, and Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure will both open at the Duke on 42nd Street July 28, 2019. Performances will run July 14 through August 24.

Both productions will feature the same cast of recent graduates from acting training programs, with half the cast coming from the Juilliard Drama Division.

Seret Scott will direct Native Son, which explores the effects of systemic oppression and poverty on a young Black man living in Chicago’s South Side in the 1930s, with Janet Zarish tapped to helm Measure for Measure.

The season will also include the return of the company’s John McDonald Salon Reading Series. The lineup for the series’ 23rd year includes Lillian Hellman’s Watch on the Rhine, Jessica Swale’s Nell Gwynn, Kelley’s Jazz, and the Dakin Matthews-curated Letters From Prison, as well as a fifth title to be announced.

Additional projects set for the new season include a workshop presentation of a stage adaptation of Willa Cather’s My Ántonia from Meg Miroshnik (featuring Juilliard students) and a production of Othello that will tour schools across New York City.