Alison Fraser, Sam Underwood, et al. Set for Culture Project's IN MASKS OUTRAGEOUS AND AUTERE

Producers Victor Syrmis, Carl Rumbaugh and Susan Batson, along with Culture Project (Allan Buchman, Artistic Director) today announced the complete cast and creative team for the World Premiere of In Masks Outrageous and Austere, the final full length play by Tennessee Williams, directed by David Schweizer. Performances will now begin on Friday, April 6, 2012 with an Opening Night set for Monday, April 16, 2012 at Culture Project at 45 Bleecker (at Lafayette Street). The production is scheduled to play through May 26, 2012.

Joining the previously announced Shirley Knight are: Scot Charles Anderson, Kaolin Bass, Robert Beitzel, Connor Buckley, Alison Fraser, Christopher Halladay, Ward Horton, Jonathan Kim, Jermaine Miles, Pamela Shaw, and Sam Underwood.

The creative team for In Masks Outrageous and Austere is comprised of Jim Noone (set design), Gabriel Berry (costume design), Alexander V. Nichols (lighting design), Dan Moses Schreier (sound design), Darrel Maloney (projections & visual effects) and Joe E. Jeffreys (dramaturg).

Tennessee Williams goes for broke in his final work, exploring the surreal, the nefarious, and the erotic in ways never before attempted by the great American master. The richest woman in the world, her gay husband and his young lover are thrust into a mystery world, defined by disorientation and paranoia, where they are held captive by omnipotent corporate forces. A cast of bizarre characters enters their increasingly threatening environment, and tensions reach a fever pitch as trust among the three protagonists begins to disintegrate. In Mask Outrageous and Austere takes its characters -- and its audience -- to a wholly unique theatrical realm that’s every bit as thrilling as it is dangerous.

“’Masks’ is a sublimely haunting piece of theater and feels almost uncanny in its expressiveness as Tennessee’s farewell piece,” commented director Schweizer. “There are utterly surprising, surreal theatrical gestures here, but also a deeply rooted, passionate sense of yearning that only he can evoke in the theater. I knew Tennessee when I was a young man and he was exactly the age that I am now, and I feel privileged to bring this astonishing work in all of its explosive theatricality, to the stage.”

In Masks Outrageous and Austere will play the following schedule: Tuesday – Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm & 8pm and Sunday at 3pm.

Tickets (0n sale now) are $75 for Tuesday-Friday performances and $85 for Saturday & Sunday performances. They may be obtained by calling (866) 811-4111 or by visiting www.cultureproject.org.

 

Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter-Keddy