The Active Theater Presents THE VIOLET HOUR, Opening 3/12

The Active Theater  (Nathaniel Shaw, Artistic Director) now in its fourth season, presents the New York revival of Richard Greenberg's THE VIOLET HOUR in assocation with Goode Productions. The play opens on Monday, March 12^th at The Workshop Theater (312 W. 36^th Street). Previews begin Friday, March 9^th. The production runs through March 25^th.

THE VIOLET HOUR is about a young publisher who struggles to choose his next project while dealing with the appearance of a strange machine that spits out manuscript pages with information about his future. 

Starring newcomer John P. Keller, and Cheryl Freeman (Broadway: The Who's Tommy, Play On, The Civil War); the cast also features Lincoln Thompson, Heather Lee Harper, and Andrew Sellon.

The design team is comprised of Mike Inwood (Lighting), Craig Napoliello (Set), Jacob Subotnik (Sound) and Tony Award Nominee (for Taboo) Bobby Pearce (Costumes).

Richard Greenberg (Playwright) is the author of Take Me Out (Tony, New York Drama Critics, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lortel and Drama League Awards),The Violet Hour, The Dazzle (Outer Critics Circle Award), Hurrah at Last, Three Days of Rain (L.A. Drama Critics Award; Olivier, Drama Desk, Hull- Warriner nominations) and many other plays. He won the Oppenheimer Award for a debuting playwright, the first Pen/Laura Pels Award for a mid-career playwright and has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Nathaniel Shaw (Director) is the founder and Artistic Director of The Active Theater.For the company he has directed the World Premiere of Bridgeboy, and the Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival nominated World Premiere of Body Language. Under his leadership the company has collaborated with artists such as Tony Nominees Marcia Milgrom Dodge and Xanthe Elbrick, Jeremy Dobrish, Christian Campbell, Michael McGlone, Samantha Buck, and Marc Robin. His regional credits include the direction of Hair at the Mount Washington Valley Theater Company, which garnered 13 NHTA Nominations, including Best Direction and Best Choreography. Also for Mount Washington he directed and choreographed Hairspray and Damn Yankees,and directed A Chorus Line. His choreography has been seen at the Broadway Palm Theater in Mesa, Arizona in Fiddler on the Roof and Babes in Toyland, as well as in the film Perception by Daedalus Productions.

Now in its fourth season, The Active Theater produced the world premiere of Anthony Dodge's Venus Flytrap, Touch, Two Rooms, the musicalRomance/Romance, and the New York premiere of William Donnelly's Magnetic North. The Active Theater has presented new works in collaboration with producers Greg Schaffert, Craig Haffner, and Karl Held and recently joined forces with Bud Martin as associate producer. The Active Theater continues to produce thought provoking, Contemporary American Theater aimed at giving audiences an opportunity to more closely examine the world we all share.

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