Classic Stage Company's THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE, Starring Christopher Lloyd, Opens Tonight Off-Broadway

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner, presents Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle featuring Christopher Lloyd (Azdak), directed by Brian Kulick (who directed Brecht's Galileo last season), and featuring new music by Tony Award-winning singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening). The show was recently extended for two additional weeks through Sunday, June 23. The official opening is tonight, May 30.

Comedic Actress Lea DeLaria will succeed Mary Testa, who has a previously scheduled conflict, as the Governor's Wife for the extension weeks. Tickets are now on sale.

The cast of The Caucasian Chalk Circle also features Jason Babinsky (The Adjutant/Ironshirt/Yussup/Nephew/Lawyer);Elizabeth A. Davis (Grusha), a Tony Award nominee last season for her performance in Once; Alex Hurt(Simon/Ironshirt/Monk/Bandit), son of actor William Hurt; Tom Riis Farrell (The Cook/Fat Prince/Corporal/Lavrenti/Shauva); andDeb Radloff (The Nurse/Peasant Woman/Aniko/Ludovica).

Scenic design for The Caucasian Chalk Circle is by Tony Straiges, costume design by Anita Yavich, lighting design by Justin Townsend and sound design by Matt Kraus. Production Stage Manager is Terri K. Kohler. The translation is by James and Tania Sternwith lyrics by W.H. Auden.

Lea DeLaria. Broadway: On the Town (Obie, Theatre World & Drama Desk nominee), The Rocky Horror Show. Off-Broadway/Regional: Prometheus Bound (ART), On the Town, Midsummer Night's Dream (McCarter Theater), As You Like It(Williamstown Theater Festival), Happy Days (Drama League Honoree), Little Fish, Cinderella (NY City Opera), The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Encores! and Reprise! Li'l Abner, Boys from Syracuse (Ovation nominee) National tour: Chicago. Film: Dear Dumb Diary, Edge of Seventeen, The First Wives Club, Sgt. Bilko, Rescuing Desire, Mercury in Retrograde, Fat Rose & Squeaky, Sister Spirit. Television: "Orange is the New Black," "Californication," "One Life To Live," "The Oblongs," "Law & Order: SVU," "Friends," "Further Tales of the City," "Matlock," "Saved By The Bell: The New Class." Misc: Featured Vocalist for the 50th Anniversary of the Newport Jazz Festival; Four CD's on the Warner Jazz label; "Lea's Book of Rules" is in its 3rd printing with Dell Publishing. www.delariadammit.com

Tickets for The Caucasian Chalk Circle are available at www.classicstage.org or by calling 212-352-3101 or 866-811-4111. The Caucasian Chalk Circle will play Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7pm; Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm; and Sundays at 3pm. Tickets start at $60 for Tuesday through Thursday performances and $65 for Friday through Sundayperformances.

Now in its 45th Anniversary Season, 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 from Sophocles to Sondheim. CSC 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.

CSC began its current season with Anton Chekhov's Ivanov, starring Ethan Hawke, Joely Richardson and Juliet Rylance, directed by Austin Pendleton. The theatre is currently presenting the highly-acclaimed, sold-out production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine'sPassion, directed by John Doyle, and starring Melissa Errico, Judy Kuhn and Ryan Silverman. 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 of Texts for Nothing; Waiting for Godot with John Turturro, Tony Shalhoub and Christopher Lloyd; Entertaining Mr. Sloane with Brian Murray; Harold Pinter's The Birthday Partywith David Strathairn and Faust Parts I and II, directed by CSC founding Artistic Director Christopher Martin.