Signature Theatre to Conclude '10-'11 Season with Kushner's THE ILLUSION

Signature Theatre Company has announced the final production for their 20th Anniversary 2010-2011 Season, celebrating the work of Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winner Tony Kushner. Joining the previously announced first New York Revival of Parts 1 and 2 of ANGELS IN AMERICA: A GAY FANTASIA ON NATIONAL THEMES and the New York premiere of THE INTELLIGENT HOMOSEXUAL'S GUIDE TO CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM WITH A KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES will be THE ILLUSION, Kushner's freely adapted version of Pierre Corneille's L'Illusion Comique, directed by Tony Award-winner Michael Mayer. The production will be presented in Spring, 2011 at the Peter Norton Space, (555 West 42nd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues). Dates and casting will be announced at a later date.

The season will also include the Tony Kushner Reading Series, which will feature readings of selected other plays from Tony Kushner's body of work. Plays under consideration include A BRIGHT ROOM CALLED DAY; TINY KUSHNER (a new collection of one acts); IT'S AN UNDOING WORLD, OR WHY SHOULD IT BE EASY WHEN IT CAN BE HARD?; THE HENRY BOX BROWN PLAY; HYDRIOTAPHIA, OR THE DEATH OF DR. BrownE and HOMEBODY/KABUL.

Subscription renewals will be available beginning Tuesday at the Signature Theatre box office and online at www.signaturetheatre.org. New subscriptions will go on sale on May 18.

Subscribers may see all shows in Signature's 20th Anniversary Tony Kushner season for $20 through The Signature Ticket Initiative, which seeks to make great theatre accessible to the broadest possible audience. All regularly-priced single tickets ($75) are underwritten and will be available for $20 for every performance at The Peter Norton Space for the entire season, during a show's initial run.

The Signature Ticket Initiative is made possible by the lead sponsorship of Time Warner Inc. Generous support for The Signature Ticket Initiative is provided by Margot Adams, in memory of Mason Adams. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit signaturetheatre.org or call (212) 244-PLAY (7529).

A lawyer, facing mortality, desperate to find the son he drove away years before, travels in the dead of night to a mysterious cave. There he engages the services of a wizard, who conjures up visions of the romantic, adventurous, perilous life the lawyer's son has been living since his father expelled him from home. THE ILLUSION, freely adapted from Pierre Corneille's L'Illusion Comique, is Kushner's most joyfully theatrical play, a wildly entertaining tale of passion and regret, of love, disillusionment and magic.

Tony Kushner said, "I feel that there's no better way to conclude my season at the Signature than with THE ILLUSION. And I feel that there's something appropriate and magical in this play being the final play performed on the Norton stage, on which I've seen, over the years, so much unforgettable, soul-stirring and soul-transforming theater."

Michael Mayer commented, "Tony is not only one of my dearest friends, but he is also probably the most significant artistic influence in my life and work, so I'm honored to be included in his Signature season. Having long admired the high quality of the work at the Signature Theatre, I'm tremendously excited to direct The Illusion, which is a deeply funny and moving celebration of love in all its complexity. It is also a gorgeous valentine to the theatre."

James Houghton said, "Tony's adaptation of THE ILLUSION is a raucous and playfully theatrical piece - an evening of enchantment. It fits in beautifully with the rest of our Kushner season, showing the full spectrum of what Tony believes the theatre can do, with everyday lives coexisting alongside fantastical and cosmic elements. We're delighted to have Tony's long-time collaborator, the inventive and innovative Michael Mayer, directing THE ILLUSION. With the additional readings from Tony's body of work also joining the season's line-up, we are thrilled to take our audiences from Tony's earliest work through his very latest."