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Re-Imagining the Classics

 

CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY

Under the direction of

Artistic Director BARRY EDELSTEIN and Producing Director ANNE TANAKA

 

Continues Its 35th Anniversary Season With

 

THE WINTER’S TALE

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Barry Edelstein

Original music by Michael Torke

January 15-February 23

 

David Strathairn to star as Leontes with Barbara Garrick as Hermione

 

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CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY, in its fifth year under the leadership of Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, continues its 35th Anniversary Season with THE WINTER’S TALE, marking the first time Shakespeare has been produced at Classic Stage in 16 years.  Directed by Barry Edelstein and  featuring original music by renowned contemporary classical composer Michael Torke, THE WINTER’S TALE will begin performances Wednesday, January 15 and have an official press opening on Thursday, January 30 at 8 PM at Classic Stage Company (136 East 13th Street).

 

Shakespeare’s sublime late masterpiece sweeps breathtakingly from jealousy, rage and loss to redemption, reconciliation and, finally, wonder.  Along the way it visits kings and queens, playful children, a singing street-hustler, dancing shepherds, a most extraordinary statue, and (of course) that famously hungry bear.  A profound exploration of the simple miracles in life, and the forces that shape them: love, friendship and forgiveness, The Winter’s Tale returns Shakespeare to Classic Stage Company after a 16-year absence.

 

DAVID STRATHAIRN (Leontes) last appeared at Classic Stage in Pinter’s The Birthday Party and Mountain Language.  Other New York credits include Strindberg's Dance of Death with Ian McKellan and Helen Mirren; Stoppard's Hapgood with Stockard Channing; Shepard's Eyes for Consuela; Chekhov's Three Sisters; Vaclav Havel's Temptation and Pinter's Ashes to Ashes.  Films include L.A Confidential, Passion Fish, The River Wild, In the Gloaming, A Good Baby and Sneakers.

 

BARBARA GARRICK (Hermione).  Her Broadway credits include A Thousand Clowns, Stanley, A Small Family Business and Eastern Standard.  Off-Broadway she’s appeared in Baby Anger, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.  Her TV and film credits include Dede in "Tales of the City" triology (Gemini nomination), Sleepless in Seattle, The Firm, Miami Rhapsody, A Couch in New York, Working Girl, Eight Men Out, Pollack and Far From Heaven.

 

MICHEL GILL (Polixenes) last appeared in Naked at Classic Stage Company.  His other NY credits include Othello (NYSF), Da Caravaggio (MCC) and Coyote Ugly (NYTW).  His regional credits include The Colossus of Rhodes, The Transit of Venus, As You Like It, The Heiress, She Stoops to Conquer and Skin of Our Teeth. His films include A Sense of Life, The Palermo Connection and Protocol.

 

MARY LOU ROSATO (Paulina) last appeared in The Misanthrope at the Classic Stage Company.  Her recent Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include the Queen in Once Upon A Mattress, The School for Scandal, Beaux Strategem and Henry V.  Her film credits include Quiz Show, Two Bits, The Hudsucker Proxy, Spike of Bensonhurst, Brenda Starr, Rescuing Desire, The Wedding Banquet and Illuminata.


TEAGLE F. BOUGERE (Autolycus) was recently seen as Prince Mlolu Obatusi in the New York premiere of Ossie Davis' A Last Dance for Sybil with Ruby Dee and Earl Hyman.  On Broadway

Mr. Bougere played Caliban in The Tempest, directed by George C. Wolfe (Drama League Award). At the NYSF his many appearances include Eros in Antony and Cleopatra with Vanessa Redgrave and Taj Mahal in Tina Landau's Space. 

 

The cast of sixteen also includes Tom Bloom (Antigonus/Old Shepherd), David Costabile (Clown), Angel Desai (Emilia/Dorcas), Mark H. Dold (Cleomenes), Gene Farber (Florizel), Andrew Guilarte (Dion), Larry Paulsen (Camillo), Elizabeth Reaser (Perdita), Michael Reid (Mamillius), Elizabeth Sherman (Mopsa) and Joaquin Torres (Jailer). 

 

The set will be designed by Narelle Sissons; costumes by Mattie Ullrich; lights by Jane Cox; original music by Michael Torke; and sound by Betsy Rhodes.

 

BARRY EDELSTEIN (Director) most recently directed last season’s Classic Stage production of Steve Martin’s comedy The Underpants.  Other Classic Stage productions include his own adaptation of Race in 2001; The Alchemist and Hurricane in 2000; and The Misanthrope with Roger Rees and Uma Thurman in 1999.  His production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons at the Roundabout won the Lucille Lortel Award and was nominated for Drama Desk and Drama League Awards for Outstanding Revival.  Edelstein has directed many Shakespeare plays at theaters around the country, including the New York Shakespeare Festival (Julius Caesar in Central Park; The Merchant of Venice, starring Ron Leibman; The Sonnets with Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver and others) and the Williamstown Theatre Festival (As You Like It, starring Gwyneth Paltrow).  He also teaches Shakespeare at the Juilliard School, the Graduate Acting Program at NYU and the Public Theater’s “Shakespeare Lab.”  He has directed many other classical plays, ranging from Aristophanes through the Spanish Golden Age and English Renaissance, to Shaw and other major 20th Century European and American classics.  Edelstein has also directed contemporary works by writers as diverse as Paul Schrader, Alan Zweibel, Erin Cressida Wilson, and Paula Vogel.  He holds an M. Phil. in English Renaissance Drama from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. 

 

MICHAEL TORKE (Composer) returns to Classic Stage having composed the music for The Misanthrope, directed by Barry Edelstein.  Recent projects include a millennium symphony commission from Michael Eisner and the Walt Disney Company; the Central Park triology, written with A.R. Gurney and commissioned by Great Performances and New York City Opera. Commissioned by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympics, his work Javelin went on to be featured on the album Summon the Heroes, which reached Number One on Billboard’s Classical Crossover chart. Current projects include a NY City Opera commission, House of Mirth and a ballet for the National Ballet of Canada.

Classic Stage Company’s 2003 season will conclude with the first major New York production of Marguerite Duras’ mid-century classic, SAVANNAH BAY.  A production in the theater’s “Classic Stages / New Visions” series of contemporary classics, the play will feature Kathleen Chalfant (Wit, Angels in America) and will be directed by Les Waters (Big Love).  SAVANNAH BAY runs from May 29 through June 29, 2003.

 

Complementing CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY's productions again this season will be the theater's unique series of free educational programming: Tuesday Talks, weekly post-performance discussions with the cast and artistic staff, and Saturday Symposia, presentations about the season's plays given by leading academic experts from fields outside theater.

 

This season marks the beginning of a new series, Classic Conversations, occasional in-depth discussions with artists and thinkers.  The second event in the series will be “Thinking Shakespeare: An Open Rehearsal” led by Barry Edelstein and featuring actors in the Classic Stage Company family, on Saturday, February 8 at 2 PM at Classic Stage Company.

 

Celebrating its 35th Season as one of New York’s most exciting Off Broadway theaters, CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY is committed to re-imagining the classics for New York audiences and contributing to the American theater with innovative works of outstanding merit.  CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY believes the works of the past are meaningful, relevant, and indeed essential to the world of today.  Taking the broadest view of what constitutes a classic, CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY explores the literature of many periods and diverse cultures.  Celebrating the living impulses that make classic stories endure, CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY creates vibrant contemporary theater that speaks vividly and directly to today, allowing audiences to understand in striking new ways how the shared human experience resonates across time.

 

Classic Stage Company's highly successful 2002 season included the critically acclaimed, sold-out run of Steve Martin’s new version of Carl Sternheim’s farce, The Underpants; the OBIE-winning world premiere of Neal Bell’s Frankenstein adaptation, Monster; and the remarkable solo performance, Room.  Previous seasons included Bill Irwin's stunning performance in his stage adaptation of Samuel Beckett's prose work, Texts for Nothing; the OBIE-Award winning productions of two Holocaust-themed dramas written by eyewitnesses to the Third Reich, Race and I Will Bear Witness; and the New York premiere of Philip Glass's "pocket opera" based on Kafka's In the Penal Colony.  Ben Jonson's masterpiece The Alchemist starring television's Dan Castellaneta; Pirandello's Naked with Mira Sorvino; Uma Thurman's stage debut opposite Roger Rees in Martin Crimp's update of the Moliere classic The Misanthrope; and John Turturro, Tony Shalhoub and Christopher Lloyd in Waiting for Godot are other recent highlights of Classic Stage Company programming.

 

THE WINTER’S TALE begins previews on Wednesday, January 15 and runs through Sunday, February 23 at Classic Stage Company (136 East 13th Street).  The performance schedule is Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 PM with matinees on Saturdays at 2 PM and Sundays at 3 PM.  (There will be no matinees on January 18, February 8 and February 15 and there will be two Earlybird performances on January 19 at 2PM and 7PM.)  Single tickets range from $35 to $50.

 

Memberships to CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY productions are available for $30 and entitle members to purchase the best seats for $25 per production.  For membership and ticket information, call the theater’s Box Office at (212) 677-4210, ext. 13, visit the theater in person at 136 East 13th Street, or order online at www.classicstage.org.

 

CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY

35th Anniversary, 2003 SEASON

Barry Edelstein, Artistic Director; Anne Tanaka, Producing Director