IVANOV, Starring Ethan Hawke, and Duncan Sheik-Scored THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE Join Classic Stage Company Lineup

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner, has announced plans for their upcoming 45th Anniversary Season. In addition to the previously announced new production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's musical PASSION with Judy Kuhn and Melissa Errico, directed by John Doyle, CSC's 2012/2013 Season will feature Anton Chekhov's IVANOV, with Ethan Hawke, directed Austin Pendleton, and Bertolt Brecht's THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE, featuring a new score by acclaimed singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik and directed by Brian Kulick.

Hawke will be making his CSC debut in IVANOV in October, as the theatre continues its Chekhov Cycle. As Chekhov's first great dramatic anti-hero, Hawke will be playing a 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. Joining Hawke in the cast of IVANOV are Roberta Maxwell, George Morfogen, Juliet Rylance and Louis Zorich, all of whom have been featured in previous Chekhov Cycle offerings.

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 April with Bertolt Brecht's THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE featuring a new score by acclaimed Tony Award-winning singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening). Directed by Brian Kulick (who this past season directed the 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.

The 2012/2013 season will also reunite CSC with the Graduate Acting Program of the Columbia University School of the Arts for the eighth year of The Young Company, CSC'S unique Education and Outreach initiative that has greatly impacted the lives of thousands of New York City public schoolchildren throughout the five boroughs. This season The Young Company will feature Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Additionally, CSC will bring back its popular Open Rehearsal Series, featuring a company of seasoned actors and directors exploring a classic text over the course of three Monday evenings. This coming season will focus on Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet.

And finally, the company will bring back its popular Books On Stage series, highlighting the work of Dostoevsky this season. On three successive Monday nights, CSC will present staged readings of The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment and The Idiot.

Subscriptions for the 2012/2013 Season will go on sale to the general public on June 11. Patrons who join the Friends of CSC donors circle with a minimum tax-deductible donation of $145 in support of the 45th Anniversary Season will receive early access to subscriptions starting June 4. Visit classicstage.org for details.