Washington, D.C., is a Shakespearean town where people’s humanity and mettle are tested daily.

To wit, tonight the Shakespeare Theatre Company will host its third “Shakespeare and the Law” panel discussion at the Sidney Harman Hall. The topic of the evening is the topic du jour every jour on Capitol Hill: lobbying and money. 

The event “‘If money go before …’: Shakespeare, Lobbying and Elizabethan England” will be moderated by Abbe David Lowell, an attorney with Chadbourne & Parke.

The panel includes Nick Allard with Patton Boggs, former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) with Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Matz, Michael Isikoff, the national investigative correspondent with NBC News, and Melanie Sloan with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

In her official invitation to supporters, Sloan says: “We’ll be examining Washington’s favorite pastime through the lens of the Bard.”

Upcoming events that explore the intersection of Shakespeare and Capitol Hill include the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s mock trial, which will be held April 30.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will preside, and Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan will join Ginsburg at the bench.

And on May 7, Shakespeare Theatre’s “Will on the Hill,” celebrates its 10th anniversary with the play “Speak the Speech, I Pray You!” by Peter Byrne. The bipartisan cast always features Members of Congress and other Washington insiders, and this year includes such aspiring thespians as Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Democratic Reps. Donna Edwards (Md.) and Jared Polis (Colo.).