Simon Godwin

Artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC. Godwin has led STC since 2019, following associate-director roles at the National Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, and Royal & Derngate; his work spans major Shakespeare, classical theater, and opera productions, and he was the Aspen Institute Arts Program’s 2023–24 Harman/Eisner Artist in Residence.

Mark Rothko’s Color Fields Reveal America’s Possibility and Tragedy

Director Simon Godwin argues that Mark Rothko’s abstractions define a vision of America through scale, color and emotional force rather than literal scenery. Recalling his first encounters with Rothko’s paintings in London, Godwin says their “American grandeur” lies in a charged doubleness: beauty and tragedy, outward vastness and inward longing, possibility and loss.

The Aspen InstituteJul 2, 20263 min read