Alan Rickman to Return to Broadway in SEMINAR by Theresa Rebeck This Fall

Producers Jeffrey Finn and Jill Furman announced today that two-time Tony Award nominee, Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner Alan Rickman (Private Lives, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the Harry Potter franchise) will make his eagerly-anticipated return to Broadway starring in the World Premiere of SEMINAR, a new play by Theresa Rebeck (Mauritius, The Understudy, Omnium Gatherum, The Family of Mann, Spike Heels, NBC's upcoming "Smash"). Directed by acclaimed Obie Award winner Sam Gold (Circle Mirror Transformation, The Aliens, Tigers Be Still, Kin, The Coward) in his Broadway debut, the production will open at a Shubert Theatre to be announced this Fall 2011.

In the biting comedy SEMINAR, four young writers are thrilled to be participating in a private seminar taught by the brilliant but unpredictable Leonard (Mr. Rickman), an international literary legend. But as Leonard deems some students more promising than others, tensions arise. Sex is used as a weapon, alliances are made and broken, and it's not just the wordplay that turns vicious...

An internationally-renowned actor of stage, screen and television, Alan Rickman returns to the Broadway stage for the first time since being nominated for a Tony Award for his acclaimed starring performance as Elyot in the 2002 production of Noel Coward's Private Lives. He previously made his Broadway debut and earned his first Tony Award nomination as Valmont in the 1987 U.S. premiere production of Les Liasions Dangereuses. On film, he is perhaps best known for his iconic performances as Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter franchise and Hans Gruber in the 1988 hit Die Hard, as well as award-winning roles in such films as Sense and Sensibility and, more recently, Sweeney Todd and Bottle Shock.

For nearly a decade, Theresa Rebeck's more than a dozen plays have been produced in New York, as well as regionally and internationally. SEMINAR marks the first time one of her works will be produced as a commercial Broadway production. (Mauritius, her acclaimed 2007 Broadway debut, was presented by Manhattan Theatre Club.) In addition to her work as a playwright, Ms. Rebeck is also a respected, award-winning television writer and producer ("NYPD Blue," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," the eagerly-awaited NBC series "Smash"), film writer (Harriet the Spy, Seducing Charlie Barker) and novelist (the recent Twelve Rooms with a View and Three Girls and Their Brother).

One of the most consistently-praised directors to emerge on the New York theatrical scene in the last several years, Sam Gold has made his mark with an impressive string of critically-embraced Off-Broadway productions. He most notably won a 2010 Obie Award for directing two productions, Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation and Ms. Baker's The Aliens. SEMINAR marks the director's Broadway debut.

With additional casting underway, the full cast, design team, dates and a theater are to be announced in the coming weeks.

www.SeminarOnBroadway.com

BIOGRAPHIES

Alan Rickman (Leonard). Theater credits include John Gabriel Borkman (Abbey Theatre, Dublin and BAM, New York), Private Lives (West End and Broadway; Variety Club Award, Olivier and Tony nominations, Best Actor); Anthony and Cleopatra (National Theatre); Hamlet (Riverside Studios); Tango at the End of Winter (Edinburgh Festival and Playhouse Theatre; Time Out Award, Best Actor); Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Royal Shakespeare Company, West End and Broadway; Tony nomination, Best Actor); Mephisto, As You Like It, Troilus and Cressida, Love's Labours Lost, The Tempest, Captain Swing (RSC); The Lucky Chance, The Grass Widow, The Seagull (Royal Court); The Last Elephant, Commitments (Bush Theatre); The Devil Himself (Lyric Studio); Bad Language (Hampstead); The Brothers Karamazov (Edinburgh Festival); and seasons at Glasgow Citizens, Sheffield Crucible, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Haymarket Leicester, and Library Manchester. He directed Creditors (Donmar Warehouse and BAM), My Name is Rachel Corrie (Royal Court, West End, Edinburgh Festival and New York; Theatregoers' Award, Best Director), Wax Acts (West End) and The Winter Guest (Almeida). Television credits include The Song of Lunch, Something the Lord Made (Emmy nomination, Best Actor), Rasputin (Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Awards, Best Actor), Fallen Angels, Revolutionary Witness, Spirit of Man, Benefactors, Busted, The Barchester Chronicles, and Romeo and Juliet. Films include Alice in Wonderland; the Harry Potter series; Bottle Shock (Best Actor, Seattle Film Festival); Sweeny Todd; Noble Son; Perfume; Snow Cake; Love Actually; Play; Blow Dry: Galaxy Quest; Dogma; Dark Harbor; Judas Kiss; Michael Collins (BAFTA nomination); Sense and Sensibility (BAFTA nomination); An Awfully Big Adventure; Bob Roberts; Mesmer; (Best Actor, Montreal Film Festival); Truly, Madly, Deeply (BAFTA nomination); Close My Eyes (Evening Standard Best Actor Award); Prince of Thieves (BAFTA Award); Quigley Down Under; Closetland; The January Man; and Die Hard. Rickman directed the film of The Winter Guest (CinemaAvvenire Award, OCIC Award Venice Film Festival, and Best Film Chicago Film Festival).

Theresa Rebeck (Playwright) is a widely produced playwright throughout the United States and abroad. Past New York productions of her work include Mauritius (directed by Doug Hughes) at the Biltmore Theatre in a Manhattan Theater Club production; The Scene, The Water's Edge, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann and Spike Heels at Second Stage; Bad Dates, The Butterfly Collection and Our House at Playwrights Horizons; and View of the Dome at New York Theatre Workshop. Omnium Gatherum (co-written, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003) was featured at the Humana Festival, and had a commercial run at the Variety Arts Theatre. The Understudy (2010 Lilly Award), premiered at the 2008 Williamstown Theatre Festival and ran in New York at the Laura Pels Theater in a Roundabout Theatre Company production. All of Ms. Rebeck's past produced plays are published by Smith and Kraus as Theresa Rebeck: Complete Plays, Volumes I, II and III and in acting editions available from Samuel French, Playscripts or Dramatists Play Service. Ms. Rebeck's two novels, Three Girls and Their Brother (ALA Alex award) and Twelve Rooms with a View, have been published by Random House/Shaye Areheart Books. In television, Ms. Rebeck has written for "Dream On," "Brooklyn Bridge," "L.A. Law," "American Dreamer," "Maximum Bob," "First Wave" and "Third Watch." She has been a writer/producer for "Canterbury's Law," "Smith," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "NYPD Blue." Her produced feature films include Harriet the Spy, Gossip and the independent features Sunday on the Rocks and Seducing Charlie Barker, an adaptation of her play, The Scene. Awards include the Mystery Writer's of America's Edgar Award, the Writer's Guild of America award for Episodic Drama, the Hispanic Images Imagen Award and the Peabody, all for her work on "NYPD Blue." She was the proud recipient of The National Theatre Conference Award for The Family of Mann, the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award in 2003 for The Bells and received both the 2007 IRNE Award for Best New Play and the Eliot Norton Award for Mauritius. She is also the proud recipient of the 2010 PEN Award for Playwriting. She is a board member of the Lark Theater, the Dramatists Guild and has taught at Brandeis University and Columbia University. She recently served as artist in residence at the University of Delaware. Her new play, Poor Behavior, will have its World Premiere this Fall at The Mark Taper Forum. She is creator, head writer and executive producer of the upcoming NBC series "Smash."

Sam Gold (Director) won a 2010 Obie Award for his direction of both Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation (Playwrights Horizons) and The Aliens (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater). His other recent New York work include acclaimed productions of Kin by Bathsheba Doran (Playwrights Horizons), The Coward by Nick Jones (Lincoln Center Theater's LCT3), Tigers Be Still by Kim Rosenstock (Roundabout Theatre Company), Stephen Belber's Dusk Rings a Bell (Atlantic Theater Company) and Nick Jones' Jollyship the Whiz-Bang, which played to sold out runs at Ars Nova in 2008 and The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival in 2010. He most recently directed Tracy Letts' August: Osage County at The Old Globe. Other credits include Noah Haidle's Rag and Bone (Rattlestick), Sam Marks' The Joke (Studio Dante), Betty Shamieh's The Black Eyed (New York Theater Workshop), Colin McKenna's The Secret Agenda of Trees (Cherry Lane), The Threepenny Opera and Marlowe's Edward II (Juilliard) and Anne Carson's translation of Electra (Williams College). From 2003 to 2006, Sam served as the dramaturg at The Wooster Group. He is a Roundabout Associate Artist, NYTW Usual Suspect, a Drama League Directing Fellow, a recipient of the Princess Grace Award, and a graduate of the Juilliard Directing Program. His future projects include Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at Williamstown Theatre Festival this Summer and Dan LeFranc's The Big Meal at Playwrights Horizons in Spring 2012. In addition, Sam Gold, Nick Jones and Dave Malloy are currently developing a new musical, Homunculus, which has been commissioned and will be produced by Center Theatre Group.

Jeffrey Finn (Producer). Broadway: American Idiot (Tony nomination, Best Musical), A View from the Bridge (Tony nomination, Best Play Revival), Oleanna, Blithe Spirit, On Golden Pond (Tony nomination, Best Play Revival). Off-Broadway: Game Show. Regional: Oleanna at the Mark Taper Forum, The Subject Was Roses at The Kennedy Center. National Tours: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber; On Golden Pond; The Who's Tommy; Leader of the Pack; Tell Me on a Sunday; Promises, Promises; Company; Chess; and numerous Broadway Songbooks concert tours. In 1992, Jeffrey Finn Productions launched a corporate events company, Hot On Broadway, to produce customized corporate entertainment exclusively featuring current Broadway performers. Upcoming projects include producing the World Premiere of Theresa Rebeck's new play Poor Behavior at The Mark Taper Forum and Executive Producing the new musical Saving Aimee at The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle. Visit www.JeffreyFinnProductions.com and www.HotOnBroadway.com.

Jill Furman (Producer) was co-lead producer of In the Heights, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2008. On Broadway, Jill co-produced the most recent revival of West Side Story, and is also co-producing the national tour, which is currently running. On Broadway, she produced The Drowsy Chaperone and associate produced Sly Fox and Fortune's Fool. Off-Broadway, she produced In the Heights and On the Line and associate produced Adult Entertainment. Currently, Jill is co-producing the hip-hop comedy group Freestyle Love Supreme, and will soon shoot a television pilot with the group for a cable network. In 2011 Jill received the Robert Whitehead Award from the Commercial Theatre Institute for Outstanding Achievement in Commercial Theatre Producing. Jill is on the Board of Directors of MCC Theater, the advisory committee of the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center and is a member of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.