Classic Stage Company Pushes First ROMEO & JULIET Preview to 9/28

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner, announced today that its upcoming production of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, starring Elizabeth Olsen as Juliet and Julian Cihi as Romeo, directed by Tea Alagic, will now begin previews Saturday, September 28 at 3 pm, one day later than originally scheduled. The shift is due to a scenic element modification that will require additional technical rehearsal later this week. The official press opening remains Wednesday, October 16.

The cast of Romeo & Juliet also features McKinley Belcher III (Benvolio), Daniel Davis (Friar Laurence), Stan Demidoff (Paris/Sampson), Harry Ford(Gregory, Friar John, Watchman), David Garrison (Capulet), T. R. Knight (Mercutio), Anthony Michael Martinez (Prince), Kathryn Meisle (Lady Capulet), Dion Mucciacito (Tybalt), John Rothman (Montague/Apothecary) and Daphne Rubin-Vega (Nurse). Set design is by Marsha Ginsberg; costumes by Clint Ramos, lighting by Jason Lyons, and original music and sound by Ryan Rumery.

Romeo & Juliet continues CSC's ongoing exploration of the works of William Shakespeare, which has included critically-acclaimed productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream with Bebe Neuwirth and Taylor Mac, The Tempest with Mandy Patinkin and Hamlet with Michael Cumpsty (for which he received an Obie Award for his performance).

Romeo & Juliet will perform Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7 pm; Fridays at 8 pm; Saturdays at 3 pm and 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm. Tickets start at $60.

With Romeo & Juliet, CSC also announced ACCESS FRIDAYS, with 20 tickets at $20 each for Friday evening performances (beginning Friday, October 4). Tickets will go on sale each Monday at 12 pm for the Friday performance of that week, available online, by phone or in person at CSC box office with an exclusive code made available weekly via email blast and social media.

Tickets for Romeo & Juliet are available at www.classicstage.org, by calling 212-352-3101 or 866-811-4111, or at the box office at 136 East 13th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues.

CSC is the award-winning Off-Broadway theatre committed to re-imaging the classical repertory for a contemporary American audience. Founded in 1967, CSC uses works of the past as a way to engage in the issues of today. Highly respected and widely regarded as a major force in American theatre, it has become the home to New York's finest established and emerging artists, the place where they gather to grapple with the great works of the world's repertory. CSC has been cited repeatedly by all the major Off-Broadway theater awards: Obies, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work.

CSC's upcoming 2013/2014 Season also features The Last Two People On Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville, performed by Mandy Patinkin and Taylor Mac, directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman; Bertolt Brecht's A Man's A Man, featuring new music by Duncan Sheik, directed by Brian Kulick; and David Ives'The Heir Apparent, adapted from the play by Jean-François Regnard, directed by John Rando.

CSC's recent 45th Anniversary Season featured Anton Chekhov's Ivanov, starring Ethan Hawke, Joely Richardson and Juliet Rylance, directed by Austin Pendleton; followed by the highly-acclaimed, sold-out production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Passion, directed by John Doyle, and starring Melissa Errico, Judy Kuhn and Ryan Silverman; and concluded with Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle, starring Christopher Lloyd, with music by Duncan Sheik, directed by Brian Kulick. Past productions include: Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Bebe Neuwirth; Brecht's Galileo with F. Murray Abraham; Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard with Dianne Wiest and John Turturro; Chekhov's Three Sisters with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessica Hecht, Juliet Rylance and Peter Sarsgaard; David Ives' The School for Lies with Hamish Linklater; Unnatural Acts conceived by Tony Speciale; Ostrovsky's The Forest with Dianne Wiest and John Douglas Thompson; David Ives' Venus in Fur with Nina Arianda (Broadway transfer 2011/2012, Tony Award nom. Best Play); Shakespeare's The Tempest with Mandy Patinkin; Chekhov's Uncle Vanya with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Denis O'Hare and Peter Sarsgaard; Anne Carson's An Oresteia; Chekhov's The Seagull with Dianne Wiest and Alan Cumming; David Ives' New Jerusalem with Richard Easton; Richard III, Richard II and Hamlet with Michael Cumpsty; Yasmina Reza's A Spanish Play with Zoe Caldwell; Steve Martin's adaptation of The Underpants; Philip Glass's In the Penal Colony; Bill Irwin's adaptation ofTexts for Nothing; Waiting for Godot with John Turturro, Tony Shalhoub and Christopher Lloyd; Entertaining Mr. Sloane with Brian Murray; Harold Pinter'sThe Birthday Party with David Strathairn and Faust Parts I and II.