Classic Stage Company's DOCTOR FAUSTUS, With Chris Noth, Opens Tonight

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Managing Director Jeff Griffin, presents DOCTOR FAUSTUS, adapted by David Bridel and Andrei Belgrader from the play by Christopher Marlowe, starring Chris Noth ("Law & Order," "Sex and the City," "The Good Wife"), and directed by Andrei Belgrader (CSC's production of The Cherry Orchard). Previews will began June 2 with an official opening tonight, June 18 at CSC (136 East 13th Street). Performances have been extended through Sunday, July 12.

Joining Noth in the cast are Tony Award nominee and "The Good Wife" co-star Zach Grenier as Mephistopheles, Jeffrey Binder, Ken Cheeseman, Carmen M. Herlihy, Walker Jones, Marina Lazzaretto, Geoffrey Owens and Lucas Caleb Rooney.

In DOCTOR FAUSTUS, a pact with the devil brings boundless knowledge and endless gratification. There's just one little catch... Marlowe's ever-irreverent DOCTOR FAUSTUS remains as ahead of its time today as it was when it first scandalized audiences some four hundred years ago.

Scenic design is by Tony Straiges, lighting design by Jason Lyons, costume design by Rita Ryack and Martin Schnellinger and sound design and original music by Fabian Obispo.

Tickets start at $65 and are available at www.classicstage.org or by calling (212) 352-3101 / 866-811-4111 or at the box-office at 136 East 13th Street, New York City (between Third and Fourth Avenues). Performance Schedule: Tuesday through Thursday at 7pm, Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 3pm and 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm. There will be a 3pm matinee on Friday, June 26.

Classic Stage Company is the award-winning Off-Broadway theatre committed to re-imagining the classical repertory for contemporary audiences. For more than 45 years, CSC has been a home for New York's finest established and emerging artists to grapple with the great works of the world's repertory that speak directly to the issues of today. CSC serves an average of 35,000 audience members annually, including more than 4,000 students through its nationally-recognized education programs. Recent productions include: Shakespeare's Hamlet starring Peter Sarsgaard; Turgenev's A Month in the Country with Peter Dinklage and Taylor Schilling; Rodgers & Hammerstein's Allegro; Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle with Christopher Lloyd, and Galileo with F. Murray Abraham; Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Passion with Melissa Errico, Judy Kuhn and Ryan Silverman; Chekhov's Ivanov with Ethan Hawke, The Cherry Orchard with Dianne Wiest and John Turturro, Three Sisters with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessica Hecht, Juliet Rylance and Peter Sarsgaard, Uncle Vanya with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Denis O'Hare and Peter Sarsgaard, and The Seagull with Dianne Wiest and Alan Cumming; David Ives' The Heir Apparent, Venus in Fur with Nina Arianda (Broadway transfer 2011/2012, Tony Award nom., Best Play), The School for Lies with Hamish Linklater, and New Jerusalem with Richard Easton; Unnatural Acts, conceived by Tony Speciale; Anne Carson's An Oresteia; and Shakespeare's The Tempest with Mandy Patinkin, A Midsummer Night's Dream with Bebe Neuwirth, and Richard III, Richard II and Hamlet with Michael Cumpsty. CSC productions have been cited repeatedly by all the major Off-Broadway theatre awards: Obie, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work.

CHRIS NOTH (Doctor Faustus). Broadway: That Championship Season and Gore Vidal's The Best Man. Off-Broadway/regional: Farragut North (Atlantic Theater and Geffen Playhouse), What Didn't Happen (Playwrights Horizons), Arms and the Man (Roundabout Theatre), American Buffalo (Berkshire Theatre Festival), A Play of Giants (Yale Rep), Hamlet (Stratford, CT). TV: "The Good Wife" (Golden Globe nom.), "Law & Order," "Sex and the City" (Golden Globe nom.). Film: Lovelace, Elsa & Fred, Sex and the City 1 & 2, and Mr. 3000. Upcoming films include White Girls and Chronically Metropolitan.

ZACH GRENIER (Mephistopheles). Off-Broadway: the original New York Theatre Workshop production of A Question of Mercy (Outstanding Artist, Drama League); Storefront Church (Lucille Lortel Award nom.) and Gabriel (Atlantic Theater Company); Stuff Happens (Ensemble Award, Drama Desk, and Drama League nom.), Woyzeck and Talk Radio (The Public Theater). Broadway: 33 Variations (Tony Award nom.); Man and Boy and A Man for All Seasons (Roundabout Theatre Company). Regional: title roles in Uncle Vanya and Tartuffe (Yale Rep, co-production with McCarter Theatre); Yvan in Art (Chicago's Royal George Theatre, Jefferson Award nom.). Film: Donnie Brasco, Ride with the Devil, Fight Club, Zodiac, Rescue Dawn, J. Edgar, Robocop. TV: currently David Lee on CBS's "The Good Wife," "C16:FBI," "Touching Evil," "Deadwood," "24," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "The Blacklist," "Law and Order," "Worricker Trilogy: Turks & Caicos," and others. Member, Ensemble Studio Theatre.

ANDRE BELGRADER (Director). Andrei is a theatre and TV director. The last show he directed in New York was Ibsen's The Master Builder with John Turturro at BAM, where he also directed Beckett's End Game with John Turturro, Max Cassella, Alvin Epstein and Elaine Stritch. At CSC he has directed Ramaeu's Nephew, an adaptation by Belgrader and Shelley Berc from Diderot with Tony Shalhoub; Scapin, a musical adaptation by Belgrader/Berc, music by Rusty Magee, with Stanley Tucci; Waiting for Godot with John Turturro and Tony Shalhoub; and The Cherry Orchard with Dianne Wiest and John Turturro. He has directed both classical and contemporary plays at theatres such as A.R.T., Yale Rep, Goodman, Seattle Rep, and A.C.T., as well as in Europe. For TV he directed several episodes of the sitcom "Coach" and many episodes of "Monk" for NBC/USA Network. He taught acting and directing at The Yale School of Drama, Juilliard, UCSD, and currently teaches acting at USC.