Many know New York native Gaius Charles as star running back Brian "Smash" Williams in the hit high school football series Friday Night Lights. But Public Theater audiences are about to know him as the Duke of Venice, star potentate of the Most Serene Republic of Venice, in William Shakespeare's Othello. This hotly anticipated production, directed by minimalist avant-garde opera and theater director Peter Sellars, electrified Vienna earlier this summer and makes its American debut on Saturday, for 23 performances only. The cast also includes the reliable and potentially riveting match-up of John Ortiz as Othello and Philip Seymour Hoffman as Iago—and that probably has something to do with why the run is almost sold out. During rehearsals last week Gaius spoke with us about Sellars's production, what the play means for contemporary audiences, and the odds of returning to Friday Night Lights for a cameo. more ›