Tom Sturridge Joins Cast of Lyle Kessler's ORPHANS on Broadway

Tom Sturridge, the British stage and film actor whose credits include Being Julia and On The Road, will make his Broadway debut this spring in Orphans.

This production, which will begin performances on March 19 and open on April 7 2013 at the Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street), will mark the first Broadway staging of the play.

Sturridge will star with Alec Baldwin and Shia LaBeouf in Lyle Kessler's play, directed by Daniel Sullivan and produced by Frederick Zollo and Robert Cole.

In the play, two orphaned brothers are living in a decrepit North Philadelphia row house. Treat, the eldest, (LaBeouf), supports his damaged younger sibling Philip (Sturridge) by petty thievery, and makes the house a virtual prison for the seemingly simple-minded Phillip. One night he kidnaps a rich older man, Harold (Baldwin), who turns out to have his own motives and becomes the father figure the boys have always yearned for.

Tom Sturridge began his career in Mira Nair's feature film Vanity Fair alongside Reese Witherspoon, before going on to star in Being Julia with Annette Bening and Michael Gambon. A leading role ensued in Gregory J. Read's feature Like Minds alongside Toni Collette, before he gained further recognition in Working Title's The Boat That Rocked, directed by Richard Curtis with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Bill Nighy.

His film credits also include Tinge Krishnan's Junkhearts with Eddie Marsan and Romola Garai and Walter Salles' On The Road with Kristen Stewart, Viggo Mortenson and Amy Adams in which he plays Carlo Marx, Kerouac's alias for Allen Ginsberg. Forthcoming roles include the painter John Millais in Effie, opposite Dakota Fanning and Emma Thompson, and he has also recently completed filming on Terrence Malick's new feature, with Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbender.

Tom made his theatre debut in Simon Stephen's Punk Rock which performed at the Lyric Hammersmith in London and at the Manchester Royal Exchange. He subsequently received the Critics' Circle Best Newcomer Award in recognition of his leading performance, along with Best Newcomer at the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards. He was also nominated for the Milton Schulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards and London Newcomer of the Year at the Whatsonstage Awards. He has since played leading roles at London's Royal Court Theatre, in Simon Stephens' play Wastwater and most recently in Polly Stenham's new play No Quarter.

Tickets for Orphans are now on sale and can be purchased by calling Telecharge at 212-239-6200 or online by visiting www.Telecharge.com.

ORPHANS premiered in 1983 at The Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles where it won the Drama-Logue Award. Following its 1985 engagement at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, the play had a successful run at New York's Westside Arts Theatre and was subsequently produced in London. A film version was also produced.

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