Cox, Dano, Gettelfinger et al. Lead Guare's FREE MAN OF COLOR at LCT; Opens 11/18

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of André Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) has announced that Peter Bartlett, Nicole Beharie, Arnie Burton, Rosal Colon, Veanne Cox, Paul Dano, Sara Gettelfinger, Joseph Marcell, Nick Mennell, mos, Teyonnah Parris, Brian Reddy, Reg Rogers, Triney Sandoval, Robert Stanton, Wendy Rich Stetson, David Emerson Toney and Jeffrey Wright will be featured in it upcoming production of A FREE MAN OF COLOR, a new play by John Guare, directed by George C. Wolfe, which will begin performances Thursday, October 21 at 8pm at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Opening night is Thursday, November 18 at 6:45pm.

A FREE MAN OF COLOR is a freewheeling epic set in 1801 New Orleans. Jacques Cornet, the title character (to be played by Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor Jeffrey Wright), is a new world Don Juan and the wealthiest inhabitant of this sexually charged and racially progressive city. Jacques thinks all is well in his paradise until history intervenes, setting off a chain of events which no one, much less this free man of color, realizes is about to splinter the world.

A FREE MAN OF COLOR will have sets by David Rockwell, costumes by Ann Hould- Ward, lighting by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, sound by Scott Stauffer, original music by Jeanine Tesori and choreography by Hope Clarke.

A FREE MAN OF COLOR marks John Guare's return to Lincoln Center Theater where his plays The House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation, Four Baboons Adoring The Sun (all three nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play) and Chaucer in Rome, were produced. His other plays include Rich and Famous, Landscape of the Body, Marco Polo Sings A Solo, Bosoms and Neglect, Lydie Breeze, Women and Water, A Few Stout Individuals and His Girl Friday. He won a Tony Award for the book of the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona and also wrote the book for the musical Sweet Smell of Success.

Director George C. Wolfe will make his LCT debut with this production. Former Producer of The Public Theater, his Broadway directorial credits include Caroline or Change, Topdog/Underdog, Elaine Stritch At Liberty, Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk, The Tempest, On the Town, The Wild Party, Jelly's Last Jam and Angels in America. His film credits include Lackawanna Blues and Nights in Rodanthe.

Lincoln Center Theater is currently presenting the Tony Award winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific in the Vivian Beaumont Theater where it will end its record-breaking run on Sunday, August 22.

This season, in addition to A FREE MAN OF COLOR, Lincoln Center Theater will be producing the premieres of the new musical WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN, based on the film by Pedro Almodóvar, with a book by Jeffrey Lane, music and lyrics by David Yazbek and direction by Bartlett Sher (beginning Saturday, October 2) on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre, Jon Robin Baitz' Other Desert Cities, directed by Joe Mantello, (beginning Thursday, December 16) in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, the American premiere of the National Theatre of Great Britain's critically acclaimed production of War Horse (beginning Tuesday, March 15) in the Vivian Beaumont Theater and the New York premiere of A Minister's Wife, a new musical version of Shaw's Candida (beginning Thursday, April 7) in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. LCT3, Lincoln Center Theater's programming initiative devoted to the work of new artists, will present three productions next season at The Duke on 42nd Street including the world premieres of The Coward, a new play by Nick Jones, directed by Sam Gold (November 8 - December 4) and When I Come To Die, by Nathan Louis Jackson, directed by Thomas Kail (January 31 - February 26).

A FREE MAN OF COLOR is sponsored by The National Actors Theatre Foundation. This play is also a recipient of an "Edgerton Foundation New American Plays" award. The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust provides generous support for new American plays at LCT.

Tickets to A FREE MAN OF COLOR will be available beginning Sunday, September 12 at the Lincoln Center Theater box office, at telecharge.com or by visiting www.lct.org.

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Peter Bartlett LCT: The New Century, The Frogs. Broadway: The Drowsy Chaperone, Never Gonna Dance, Voices in the Dark, Beauty and the Beast, A Patriot For Me. Off-Broadway: What's That Smell: Music of Jacob Sterling, Rude Entertainment, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Mr. Charles, Currently of Palm Beach, Jeffrey. Film: The Producers, Meet The Parents. TV: One Life To Live, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Ed, Law & Order.

NICOLE BEHARIE Theater: Father Comes Home From The War, Intimate Apparel, Dark of the Moon, The Good Person of Sezchuan, The Greeks. FILM: American Violet, The Express. TV: Sins of the Mother (Lifetime), Three Rivers.

Arnie Burton Broadway: The 39 Steps, Amadeus. Off-Broadway: The Last Sunday In June, Mere Mortals, The Jew of Malta & The Merchant of Venice (Theatre for a New Audience). FILM: The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Igby Goes Down. TV: White Collar, Life on Mars, Hope & Faith, Frasier, Caroline in the City.

Veanne Cox Broadway: La Cage Aux Folles, Caroline or Change, The Dinner Party, Company, Smile. Off-Broadway: Paradise Park and Spain (Lucille Lortel nominations for both), Last Easter (Drama Desk nomination), House/Garden, The Vagina Monologues, The Altruists. Many Film and TV credits include: Erin Brockovich, You've Got Mail, Miss Firecracker, Royal Pains, Boston Legal, CSI, Joan of Arcadia, Judging Amy, Seinfeld. 2008 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence.

ROSAL COLON Many roles at Purchase Repertory Theatre include: The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, Home and Away, The Cherry Orchard.

Paul Dano Broadway: Inherit the Wind with George C. Scott and Charles Durning, A Month in the Country. Film: For Ellen, Knight & Day, The Extra Man, Where The Wild Things Are, There Will Be Blood, Fast Food Nation, Little Miss Sunshine.

Sara Gettelfinger LCT: Anything Goes. Broadway: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Nine, The Boys From Syracuse, Suessical. Off-Broadway: Grey Gardens. Film: Sex & The City: The Movie. TV: Ed, Without A Trace, The Guiding Light.

Joseph Marcell Theatre: more than 30 plays with the the National Theatre of Great Britain, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Young Vic and The Royal Court Theatre in London. Film: A Beautiful Life, Cry Freedom, Sioux City, The Loser. TV: The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Rough Crossings, Eastenders.

Nick Mennell Theater at the Juilliard School: Macbeth, Marriage of Figaro, Woyzeck, The Three Sisters, As You Like It. Regional theatre credits include Jack in The Importance of Being Earnest at the Guthrie Theatre, directed by Joe Dowling. Film: Friday the 13th, Lost Tribe, Halloween, My Little Eye. TV: LAPD, Numbers, Sins of the City. Broadway: Topdog/Underdog (Theatre World Award), Off-Broadway: f-ing A at The Public Theater (Obie Award, Lucille Lortel Award nomination). Film: Cadillac Records, Be Kind Rewind, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, The Italian Job, Monster's Ball. TV: House, Lackawanna Blues, Something the Lord Made (Emmy, Golden Globe, Image Award nominations). A hip- hop artist he is a six time Grammy Award nominee.

TEYONAH PARRIS Theater at the Juilliard School: The Misanthrope, As You Like It, Electra, Uncle Vanya, Joe Turner's Come And Gone. Film: How Do You Know, directed by James L. Brooks.

Brian Reddy LCT: Dinner at Eight, Abe Lincoln in Illinois. Broadway: Finian's Rainbow, Gypsy with Patti LuPone, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, The Crucible, Alice in Wonderland. Off-Broadway: Death Defying Acts, The Cradle Will Rock, Orchards. Film: O Brother Where Are Thou, Primal Fear, The Bird Cage, Casino, Double Exposure, What About Bob?. TV: The Good Wife, Numbers, The Gilmore Girls, Providence, Chicago Hope, Picket Fences.

Reg Rogers Broadway: The Royal Family, Holiday (Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations). Off-Broadway: The Pain and the Itch, Bach at Leipzig, The Dazzle (Obie and Lucille Lortel Awards). Film: I Shot Andy Warhol, Primal Fear, Runaway Bride, Analyze That. TV: Law & Order, Friends.

Triney Sandoval Broadway: Frost/Nixon. Regional Theater: resident company member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Idaho Shakespeare Festival. TV: The Sopranos, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, All My Children, One Life To Live.

Robert Stanton LCT: The Coast of Utopia. Broadway: Mary Stuart, A Small Family Business. Off-Broadway: Love Child (also co-wrote with Daniel Jenkins), The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui with Al Pacino, Fuddy Meers, A Cheever Evening, All in the Timing (Obie Award, Clarence Derwent Award). Regional Theater includes many credits at such theaters as The Hartford Stage, ART, Long Wharf Theatre, Westport Country Playhouse, NY Stage & Film and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Film: Arthur and the Invisibles 3, Stepford Wives, The Quiet American, Mercury Rising, Bob Roberts, A League of Their Own. TV includes: all three Law & Orders, Third Watch, Ed , Frasier.

Wendy Rich Stetson LCT: In The Next Room or the vibrator play, Big Bill. Off-Broadway: Hamlet, Tartuffe, Cymbeline (all at The Public Theater). Film and TV includes: Could Souls, For Love of the Game, As The World Turns.

David Emerson TONEY LCT: Juan Darien. Off-Broadway: Richard III, Once On This Island. Regional theater credits include productions at the Yale Repertory, Arena Stage, Old Globe Theatre, and The Shakespeare Theatre. Film: The Thomas Crown Affair, Lonely in America. TV: Law & Order, The Cosby Show.

Jeffrey Wright Broadway: Topdog/Underdog (Tony Award nomination), Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk, Angels in America (Tony Award). Off-Broadway: This Is How It Goes (Lucille Lortel Award nomination) and the Fool in King Lear, both at The Public Theater. Film: Cadillac Records, Quantum of Solace, W., Casino Royale, Syriana, Broken Flowers, The Manchurian Candidate, Ali, Shaft, Basquiat, Presumed Innocent. TV: Lackawanna Blues, Angels in America (Emmy, Golden Globe Awards), Homicide: Life on the Street, New York Undercover, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Separate But Equal.

 

 

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.