Classic Stage Company's IVANOV, Starring Ethan Hawke, Extends Through Dec 9

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner, has announced that their upcoming production of Anton Chekhov's IVANOV, starring Ethan Hawke, Joely Richardson and Juliet Rylance, which begins performances Wednesday, October 17 at CSC (136 East 13th Street), has extended its run by popular demand through Sunday, December 9. Directed by Austin Pendleton, IVANOV will have its official opening on Sunday, November 4.

Hawke, in the title role, Richardson, who will play Anna, and Rylance, who will play Sasha, will be joined in IVANOV by Glenn Fitzgerald (Borkin), Annette Hunt (Avdotya Nazarovna), Stephanie Janssen (Babakina), Roberta Maxwell (Zinaida), George Morfogen (Shabelsky), James Patrick Nelson (Kosykh), Anthony Newfield (Guest), Jonathan Marc Sherman (Lvov), Anne Troupe (Gavrila) and Louis Zorich (Lebedev). 

Hawke and Richardson will be making their CSC debuts in IVANOV, as the theatre continues its immensely successful Chekhov Cycle. As Chekhov's first great dramatic anti-hero, Hawke takes on the role considered by many to be "the Russian Hamlet." Returning to CSC, Pendleton has directed the highly-acclaimed productions of Chekhov's Three Sisters and Uncle Vanya for The company. Rylance, Maxwell, Morfogen and Zorich have each been featured in previous Chekhov Cycle offerings.

Translated by Carol Rocamora, IVANOV will feature scenic design by Tony Award-winner Santo Loquasto (who also designed CSC's The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya and The Seagull), costumes by Marco Piemontese (The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters), lighting by Keith Parham (Three Sisters) and original music and sound by Ryan Rumery (The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters).

Tickets are available at www.classicstage.org or by calling 212-352-3101 or 866-811-4111. Tickets are $60 on Tuesday through Thursdays and $65 on weekends; $55 tickets are available for select side seats (all performances).

Following IVANOV, CSC's season continues in February with Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Tony Award-winning Best Musical PASSION, featuring beloved musical theatre stars Judy Kuhn and Melissa Errico, and directed by Tony Award-winner John Doyle, who has won acclaim for his revelatory reinterpretations of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and Company. Additional casting will be announced in the coming months. (Doyle's directorial concept for PASSION will not include musical instruments played by actors.)

CSC's Mainstage season wraps up in May with Bertolt Brecht's THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE featuring a new score by Tony Award-winning singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening). Directed by Brian Kulick (who directed this past season's sold-out production of Brecht's Galileo starring F. Murray Abraham at CSC), Brecht's playful parable calls into question our basic assumptions of right in a world that has gone wrong.