Christina Ricci & Bebe Neuwirth Lead CSC's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM this Spring!

Classic Stage Company has announced complete casting for their upcoming production of Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, which begins previews at CSC on Wednesday, April 4 for a limited engagement through Sunday, May 20. Joining two-time Tony Award winner Bebe Neuwirth (Hippolyta/Titania) and acclaimed film/television/stage star Christina Ricci (Hermia) in the cast are Jordan Dean (Demetrius), Nick Gehlfuss (Lysander), David Greenspan (Flute/Fairy), Halley Wegryn Gross (Helena), Anthony Heald (Theseus/Oberon), Erin Hill (Starveling/Fairy), Chad Lindsey (Snout/Fairy), Taylor Mac (Egeus/Puck), James Patrick Nelson (Snug/Fairy), Steven Skybell (Bottom) and Rob Yang (Quince/Fairy). Directed by Tony Speciale (Unnatural Acts), A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM has its official opening Sunday, April 29.

Anthony Heald, a two-time Tony Award nominee (Love! Valour! Compassion! and Lincoln Center's Anything Goes) and a three-time Obie Award winner, returns to the New York stage for the first time in 16 years since moving to Oregon and being a vital member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Acting Company. The actor is also well-known for a variety of film and television roles, including Silence of the Lambs, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Firm, "Boston Legal," "The Practice,"and "Boston Public," among many others. Taylor Mac is an acclaimed performer, playwright and singer/song-writer who Time Out called "one of the most exciting theater artists of our time." His plays include The Walk Across America For Mother Earth, The Lily's Revenge

Scenic design for A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM is by Mark Wendland; costumes by Andrea Lauer and Original Music & Sound Design Christian Frederickson and Ryan Rumery.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM will perform Tuesdays at 7pm; Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8pm; Saturdays & Sundays at 3pm. Tickets are $75-$80. For tickets and information, visit www.classicstage.org or call (866) 811-4111, or (212) 352-3101, or visit the CSC box office at 136 East 13th Street, Monday through Friday 12 pm to 6pm.

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Jordan Dean (Demetrius). Broadway: Mamma Mia, Cymbeline (LCT). Off-Broadway: The New Century (LCT), As You Like It (NYSF), The Free Zone (UBU Rep), and Six Characters. Regional: The Corn is Green, An Enemy of the People (Williamstown) TV: "Guiding Light," "Law & Order," "Law & Order: SVU," "Law & Order: CI." Film: Twylight Zones, Burning Blue, Virgin and Jersey Girl. Training: Carnegie Mellon University.

Anthony Heald (Theseus/Oberon) is a two-time Tony Award nominee and three-time Obie Award winner. In eight seasons at Oregon Shakespeare Festival his roles have included Vincentio in Measure for Measure; Cobbler, Cicero, Publius, Cinna the Poet and Pindarus in Julius Caesar; Shylock in The Merchant of Venice; Glendower in Henry IV, Part One; Shag in Equivocation; Wolsey in Henry VIII; Patrick in The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler; Stage Manager in Our Town; Simyonov-Pischik in The Cherry Orchard; Tartuffe in Tartuffe; Iago in Othello; Rosmer in Rosmersholm; Lucio in Measure for Measure; Man in The Turn of the Screw; Otto in The Magic Fire. His Broadway credits include Hornbeck in Inherit the Wind, Perry in Love! Valour! Compassion! (Tony Award nomination), Benedict in A Small Family Business, Lord Evelyn in Anything Goes! (Tony Award nomination), Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, Wayne in The Wake of Jamey Foster. Off-Broadway: Later Life; John in Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Higgins in Pygmalion; Elliot in Elliot Loves; Charlie in The Foreigner (OBIE Award), Derek in Quartermaine's Terms (OBIE Award), Fluellen in Henry V (OBIE Award), Gunner in Misalliance (Theater World Award). Film/TV: Boston Public, Boston Legal, Cheers, The Practice, X-Files, Frasier, Red Dragon, 8MM, Silence of the Lambs, A Time to Kill, The Client, The Pelican Brief, Postcards from the Edge.

Nick Gehlfuss (Lysander) Theater credits include Little House on the Prairie (Coterie Theatre), Beyond Therapy (Westport Country Playhouse) and Spooky Dog: A Scooby-Doo-Like Mystery (La Esquina). TV credits include "Army Wives" and "The Good Wife."

David Greenspan (Flute/Fairy) last appeared at CSC in Sarah Ruhl's Orlando. Actor, director and playwright David Greenspan's recent theater credits include Coraline (he also wrote the stage adaptation, based on Neil Gaiman's novel), Some Men, and The Boys in the Band, for which he won an Obie Award and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. Greenspan appeared on Broadway as Jo in The Royal Family. His plays include The Myopia, Son of an Engineer, and She Stoops to Comedy. Other New York theater credits include Go Back to Where You Are, Beebo Brinker Chronicles and Hairspray. Greenspan is a graduate of the University of California at Irvine.

Halley Wegryn Gross (Helena) Off-Broadway theater credits include The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Hurlyburly and True Love. Studied classical theatre at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She earned a B.A. with high Latin Honors at New York University, Gallatin School, Dec. 2007 with a concentration in scriptwriting. She earned a M.F.A. at New York University, Tisch School in dramatic writing.

Erin Hill (Starveling/Fairy) Broadway: Urinetown, Cabaret, Titanic. Off-Broadway and Off-off-Broadway credits include Honky-Tonk Highway, Beowulf, People Are Wrong, The Fantasticks and Return to the Forbidden Planet.

Chad Lindsey (Snout/Fairy) was most recently seen in Kaspar Hauser at The Flea and Notes on the Land of the Earthquake & Fire at FringeNYC

Taylor Mac (Egeus/Puck) is a playwright, actor, singer-songwriter, and director and producer. His plays include The Walk Across America For Mother Earth, The Lily's Revenge, The Young Ladies Of, The Be(A)st of Taylor Mac, Red Tide Blooming, Dilating (an evening of one-acts), Blue Grotto and his first play The Hot Month. His concerts of original songs and covers include: "Comparison is Violence or The Ziggy Stardust Meets Tiny Tim Songbook", "Cardiac Arrest or Venus on a Half-Clam" and "The Face of Liberalism". Taylor has performed his work and/or others at The Sydney Opera House, The San Francisco MOMA and Opera House, New York's Public Theater, Stockholm's Sodra Teatern, The Spoleto Festival, The Bumbershoot Festival, The Time Based Arts Festival, Dublin's Project Arts Center, London's Soho Theater, and literally hundreds of other theaters, museums, music halls, cabarets, and festivals around the globe.

James Patrick Nelson (Snug/Fairy) made his Off-Broadway debut in Austin Pendleton's acclaimed production of Three Sisters at Classic Stage Company, with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard. He also appeared in the Mint Theatre's Rutherford and Son. Regional theatre: The Norman Conquests (dir. John Christopher Jones), Galileo (dir. David Wheeler), Duchess of Malfi (Boston Premiere), The Group (workshopped at The Actors Theatre of Louisville), two summers with the National Players at the Olney Theatre Center, and a year-long national tour of rotating repertory with the American Shakespeare Center. NYC: Primary Stages, Theatre for the New City, 47th Street Theatre, Hudson Guild Theatre, HERE Arts, among others. James is a Young Arts Scholar with the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Education: B.F.A. Boston University School of Theatre, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.

Bebe Neuwirth (Hippolyta/Titania) Broadway: A Chorus Line- Sheila, Little Me- Monique, Dancin'- Principal, Sweet Charity- Nickie (Tony Award), Damn Yankees- Lola, Chicago- Velma (Tony Award, Astaire Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama League Distinguished Performance of the Year) and Roxie, Fosse- Principle, The Addams Family – Morticia. Off-Broadway: Everett Beekin (Lincoln Center), Here Lies Jenny (Zipper Theater), Ashley Montana… (Flea Theater), Writer's Block (Atlantic Theater). Regional: A Chorus Line- Cassie, West Side Story- Anita, The Taming of the Shrew- Katherine. London's West End: Kiss of the Spider Woman- Aurora/Spider Woman. TV: "Cheers"- Lilith (two Emmy Awards), "Wild Palms"- Tabba Schwartzkopf, "Dash and Lily"- Dorothy Parker (Emmy nomination), "Law & Order: Trial by Jury"- D.A. Kibre, "Bored to Death"- Caroline. Cartoon voices: All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (and series), Another Goofy Movie, "Aladdin" (series), various PBS children's shows. Film: Green Card, Summer of Sam, Celebrity, Liberty Heights, Bugsy, Jumanji, The Faculty, Adopt a Sailor, The Paint Job, Fame, etc. Concerts: Bebe Sings Weill and Kander & Ebb, Stories with Piano. Revue: Upstairs at O'Neals'. Cabaret: Verboten. Recipient of the 2006 Rolex Dance Award, 2007 Dance Magazine Award. Honorary Ziegfeld Girl. She recently performed an acclaimed solo show at Feinstein's and released her new CD "Porcelain."

Christina Ricci (Hermia) made her Broadway debut last season in Donald Margulies' Tony-nominated Time Stands Still, for which she garnered critical acclaim for her performance opposite Laura Linney, Brian d'Arcy James and Eric Bogosian. She is currently starring in ABC's new drama "Pan Am" and will co-star in Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod's adaptation of Guy de Maupassant's short story "Bel Ami" opposite Robert Pattinson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Uma Thurman in 2012. Ricci's film credits include Richard Benjamin's "Mermaids," Barry Sonnenfeld's "The Addams Family" and "Addams Family Values," Brad Silberling's "Casper," Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm," Don Roos' "The Opposite of Sex," a performance which garnered her a Golden Globe nomination and an Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress, Vincent Gallo's "Buffalo 66, "John Waters' "Pecker," Larry and Andy Wachowski's "Speed Racer;" Mark Palansky's "Penelope;" Craig Brewer's "Black Snake Moan," a critically acclaimed performance in Patty Jenkins' "Monster," opposite Academy Award winner Charlize Theron; Woody Allen's romantic comedy "Anything Else," Sally Potter's "The Man Who Cried" and a memorable cameo in Terry Gilliam's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Additionally, Ricci starred opposite Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow." On television, Ricci's credits include a recurring role on "Ally McBeal;" a guest appearance on "Grey's Anatomy," for which she received an Emmy nomination; and a guest appearance on "Saving Grace."

Steven Skybell (Bottom) is currently appearing in Galileo at CSC and has appeared on Broadway in Pal Joey, The Full Monty, Wicked, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Café Crown and Ah, Wilderness. Off-Broadway credits include Love's Labor's Lost, The Controversy of Valladolid, Much Ado About Nothing, What Didn't Happen, Richard III, Two Gentlemen of Verona and more.

Rob Yang (Quince/Fairy) NYC Theater: World Premiere of Adam Rapp's Bingo With The Indians; Shanghai Gesture (Mirror Rep); Death and The Ploughman (La MaMa); Los Angeles, I.E. In Other Words, Twas the Night Before (The Flea). Film: Pretty To Think So, Make Yourself at Home, The Pill, The Adjustment Bureau, Did You Hear About The Morgans? Upcoming: The Bourne Legacy, Lola Versus. TV: The Good Wife, Bored to Death (recurring), The Big C, Suits, Gossip Girl, Mercy, Gravity, Law & Order, Law & Order CI; Upcoming: Nurse Jackie, Don't Trust the B--- in Apt 23. Rob has also performed at The Comedy Cellar and Gotham Comedy Club. (www.robertyang.com).

Now in its 45th year Classic Stage Company is the award winning theatre committed to re-imagining the classical repertory for a contemporary American audience. This season CSC has presented the critically-acclaimed production of The Cherry Orchard with John Turturro and Dianne Wiest and is currently presenting Academy Award-winner F. Murray Abraham in Bertolt Brecht's Galileo, directed by Brian Kulick. Past seasons have included critically acclaimed productions of Chekhov's Three Sisters with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessica Hecht, Juliet Rylance and Peter Sarsgaard, directed by Austin Pendleton (Obie Award); David Ives' The School for Lies with Hamish Linklater (Obie Award), directed by Walter Bobbie; Unnatural Acts, conceived and directed by Tony Speciale; Ostrovsky's The Forest with Dianne Wiest and John Douglas Thompson, directed by Brian Kulick; David Ives' Venus In Fur with Nina Arianda and Wes Bentley, directed by Walter Bobbie; Shakespeare's The Tempest with Mandy Patinkin, directed by Brian Kulick; Chekhov's Uncle Vanya with Denis O'Hare, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, directed by Austin Pendleton; Anne Carson's An Oresteia (International PENN Award for Poetry); Chekhov's The Seagull with Dianne Wiest and Alan Cumming; David Ives' New Jerusalem with Richard Easton, directed by Walter Bobbie; Hamlet, Richard II, Richard III with Michael Cumpsty (Obie Award as Hamlet), directed by Brian Kulick; and Yasmina Reza's A Spanish Play with Zoe Caldwell, directed by John Turturro.

CSC presents plays from the past that speak directly to the issues of today. As we return to works of the past, we endeavor to keep a clear eye on the future, particularly in terms of the next generation of artists and audiences. Founded in 1967, CSC has received wide recognition for its significant contributions to theatre as an art form through productions of classic plays, translations and adaptations and a long-standing commitment to the identification and nurturing of leading and emerging artists. Classic Stage's artists are the finest established and emerging theater practitioners working in this country. Highly respected and widely regarded as a major force in New York and American theatre, Classic Stage has been cited repeatedly by all the major Off-Broadway theater awards: Obies, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and the 1999 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work. For more information on Classic Stage Company visit the theatre's website at www.classicstage.org.

For further information on Classic Stage Company, call (212) 352-3101, visit the theatre in person at 136 East 13th Street, or go to www.classicstage.org.