'A View from the Bridge' To Receive First Guthrie Staging

The Guthrie today announced complete casting for A View from the Bridge, the timeless tragedy by quintessential American dramatist Arthur Miller. Director Ethan McSweeny (A Body of Water, Romeo and Juliet, Six Degrees of Separation) returns for this first-ever Guthrie staging of Miller's acclaimed play, which begins previews September 13. A View from the Bridge opens September 19 and continues through November 8 on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Single tickets are priced from $24 to $60, with opening night prices ranging from $54 to $70. Tickets are on sale through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE and online at www.guthrietheater.org.

A play as timeless as the Greek tragedies on which it is modeled, A View from the Bridge is the story of a Brooklyn longshoreman whose love for his niece turns destructive. Eddie Carbone (John Carroll Lynch, "Fargo" and "The Drew Carey Show") lives in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn with his wife Beatrice (Amy Van Nostrand, Six Degrees of Separation) and her orphaned niece Catherine (Robyn Rikoon, 2008 graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts), whom they have brought up as their own daughter. Into the household come Rodolpho (Bryce Pinkham, 2008 graduate of the Yale School of Drama) and Marco (Ron Menzel, Jane Eyre), two of Beatrice's cousins from Italy, who enter the country illegally in order to find work on the waterfront. Eddie's love for his niece turns to obsession when she strikes up a friendship with Rodolpho that blooms into romance. Eddie's conflicted feelings, which seethe with repressed sexual tension, lead him to betray his family's trust and take action that ends in violence.

A notable feature of Miller's play, originally produced on Broadway in 1955 as part of a double-bill of one-act plays, is the transference of the form of Greek tragedy to workaday Brooklyn. While he's no king like Oedipus or Creon, Eddie Carbone enjoys a comfortable home and family life that he has worked hard to earn and maintain. Just as Sophocles and his peers had choruses in their plays to supply perspective and commentary, Miller introduces the character of Alfieri (Richard S. Iglewski, A Midsummer Night's Dream), a lawyer who provides a voice of reason and occasionally acts as narrator to the story.

Director Ethan McSweeny is co-artistic director of Chautauqua Theater Company, where he recently direcTed Miller's Death of a Salesman, featuring Amy Von Nostrand as Linda Loman. Other recent credits include the New York premieres of 100 Saints You Should Know and Jason Grote's 1001, which, in a rare double-header, were chosen to be among the top ten productions of 2007 by Time Out and Entertainment Weekly magazines. Recent national highlights include a revival of Shaw's Major Barbara at the Shakespeare Theatre, the world premieres of In This Corner at the Old Globe and 1001 at the Denver Center Theatre (Ovation Award).

The cast of A View from the Bridge also includes Michael Booth (First Immigration Officer), Mark Bradley (Mr. Lipari), J.C. Cutler (Tony), Hugh Kennedy (First Italian Immigrant), Joel Liestman (Second Immigration Officer), Tim McGee (Mike), Lee Mark Nelson (Louis), John Skelley (Second Italian Immigrant), Suzanne Warmanen (Mrs. Lipari).

The artistic team includes John Arnone (Set Designer), Robert Perdziola (Costume Designer), Donald Holder (Lighting Designer), David Maddox (Sound Designer), J. David Brimmer (Fight Choreographer), Carla Steen (Dramaturgy), Lucinda Holshue (Voice and Dialect Coach), Marcela Lorca (Movement), Martha Kulig (Stage Manager), Tiffany K. Orr (Assistant Stage Manager) and Leah E. Cooper (Assistant Director).

The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Guthrie is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Led by Director Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie opened their new three-theater home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in June 2006.

The Guthrie is located at 818 South 2nd Street (at Chicago Avenue), in downtown Minneapolis. To purchase tickets or season subscriptions call the Guthrie Box Office between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily at 612.377.2224 or toll-free 877.44.STAGE. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit www.guthrietheater.org.