Bernadette Quigley, Dee Nelson & More Set for Cornelia Street Cafe's HAPPY BIRTHDAY W.B. YEATS Today

Cornelia Street Café proudly presents Happy Birthday W.B. Yeats, an evening of poetry by the famous Irish poet as part of its ongoing poetry series. The Yeats tribute will take place tonight, June 10th at 6 and features Bernadette Quigley, Dee Nelson, Jarlath Conroy and Paul Hecht with original music by composer/pianist Ellen Mandel and tenor Michael Slattery.

Curated by veteran actor Paul Hecht, this series celebrates the birthdays of famous poets with an hour-long evening of poetry and music. The Happy Birthday Poetry series, started about 7 years ago to reflect Mr. Hecht's love of poetry and belief that poems should be read out loud and by actors. Dates are determined by the poets' birthday months. Cornelia Street Café provides the perfect setting - a casual intimate space where the audience is close to the actors and where they can drink while listening. The music gives the listener a moment to reflect on the words just spoken and to get ready for the next 'onslaught'. Over the years, some programs have been so popular that they have become an annual event.

Paul Hecht, Actor - Paul Hecht has starred on Broadway opposite such actors as Rex Harrison and Maggie Smith, was a Tony nominee for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and received an OBIE for the title role in Pirandello's Henry IV. He has a long and varied career in film and television and has directed and appeared in many literary events in NYC, including at least a dozen at Cornelia Street including last year's Shakespeare celebration and, in an inspired stroke of typecasting, God in Milton's Paradise Lost.

Bernadette Quigley, Actress - Bernadette Quigley is an American stage, film, television and voice-over actress of Irish and French descent. Her many film & t.v. credits include The Suspect (upcoming), Dream House, starring Daniel Craig, Holger Ernst's The House Is Burning, Jim Sheridan's Oscar-nominated In America, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Third Watch, and Kings, starring Ian McShane. Quigley has worked extensively in regional theatres across the U.S. and played Chris in the National Tour of Brian Friel's Tony-Award winning Dancing at Lughnasa, having understudied the Tony Award-winning play on Broadway. Off-Broadway credits include The Goldman Project (Abingdon Theatre); Portia Coughlan (Actors Studio); God of Vengeance (Jewish Repertory); and many leading roles at the Irish Arts Center in such plays as Billy Roche's Poor Beast in the Rain & Kenneth Branagh's Public Enemy. Quigley has also narrated many audiobooks, read short stories for Symphony Space/PRI's Selected Shorts broadcast, and is featured on Symphony Space's 2010 Audie nominated A Touch of Magic CD as well as their Bloomsday on Broadway XXIV CD, which also features Stephen Colbert, Paul Hecht and many other extraordinary performers. www.bernadettequigley.com

Dee Nelson, Actress - Dee Nelson recently made her Broadway debut in the revival of The Heiress with David Strathairn, Jessica Chastain, Dan Stevens, and Judith Ivey. Off-Broadway: Stephen Karam's acclaimed Sons of the Prophet at the Roundabout/Laura Pels. Regional roles include Hesione in Heartbreak House, Amanda in Private Lives, Hermione in The Winter's Tale, Mrs. Gibbs in Our Town (with James Whitmore), Elvira in Blithe Spirit (Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Actress). Films include State and Main and Moonlight Mile. TV: "Friday Night Lights," "Grey's Anatomy," "Judging Amy," "Joan of Arcadia," "The Sopranos

Jarlath Conroy, Actor - Jarlath Conroy recently played Frank in A Couple of Blaguards at Long Wharf Theater and also recently played The Gravedigger in Hamlet at Yale Rep with Paul Giamatti. His Broadway credits include The Seagull, The Weir; The Iceman Cometh; On the Waterfront; Philadelphia, Here I Come!; The Visit; Ghetto; Macbeth; and Comedians. His Off-Broadway credits include The Coward, A Man of No Importance, Pigtown, A Life, Our Lady of Sligo, A Couple of Blaguards, Gardenia, the American premiere of Translations, and The Matchmaker. His regional theatre credits include: The Homecoming; Da; The Steward of Christendom (Barrymore Award); Juno and the Paycock (Helen Hayes Award); Henry V (Helen Hayes Award nomination); Faith Healer; Molly Sweeney; Twelfth Night; Ah, Wilderness!; The Plough and the Stars; and A Christmas Carol. At The Royal Court: Cromwell and Hamlet. He has also directed productions of True West and Human Resources. His film and television appearances include Putzel, True Grit (2010), The Art of Getting By, Across the Universe, Kinsey, Stay, Day of the Dead, Heaven's Gate; Law & Order SVU, NYPD Blue, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Beat, Summer, and A Marriage: O'Keeffe and Stieglitz.

Ellen Mandel, Composer/Pianist - Ellen Mandel has created music for over fifty plays, at the Jean Cocteau Rep, Mint, Arkansas Rep, Riverside Shakespeare, Asolo, and performed at Ireland's Kilkenny Arts Festival. She has scored five indie films, and released five CDs: a wind has blown the rain away (E.E. Cummings songs), the first of all my dreams (Yeats, Cummings, Seamus Heaney), Every Play's an Opera (theatre music), Pamela Bob Sings the Mandel and Lydon Songbook (the star of Off Bway's Silence sings "Godot's Blues") and her latest, The Cat and the Moon (title song to the sweet Yeats poem, plus Seamus Heaney and others). This season Ellen composed music for Henry V, Present Laughter, and songs for Aesop's Fables. The NY Times calls Mandel's songs" ardent and spikyŠrefreshingly organic." Dizzy Gillespie called Ellen a "wonderful musician." http://ellenmandel.com

Michael Slattery, Tenor - Since graduating from Juilliard, Michael Slattery has enjoyed an exciting international career. He has worked with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, the French National Orchestra in Paris, the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin, and the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. Career highlights include Bach's B Minor Mass with Ivan Fischer and the National Symphony, the Tristan Project with the LA Phil at Lincoln Center, the title role in Bernstein's Candide at Royal Festival Hall in London, and Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at the Châtelet Theater in Paris, the Staatsoper in Berlin, and at Glimmerglass.

Michael Slattery has made many recordings, including the newly released solo album Dowland in Dublin, chosen by Opera News as one of the best recordings of 2012. www.michaelslattery.com