Danny Burstein Launches The Drama League's 2015 'Up Close' Series Today

The Drama League launches its Winter 2015 Season of events at the Drama League Theater Center in Tribeca.

Highlights include the ever-popular Up Close Series of intimate discussions with leading theater professionals, including Academy Award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham (It's Only a Play) and Tony Award nominees Danny Burstein (Cabaret) and Andy Karl (Rocky), in addition to the monthly new play development series, Rough Draft.

The Drama League also offers special performances on Broadway and Off-Broadway for its members, as well as open rehearsals, artist residencies, play readings, intimate gatherings with legendary stars and industry titans, day trips to world-class theatres, excursions to London's West End, and more.

To reserve seats for any of The Drama League's events or series, visit dramaleague.org/events.

Selected highlights from the Winter 2015 Schedule Calendar:
Intimate discussions with leading theatre artists all to be held at the Drama League Theater Center, 32 Avenue of the Americas.

Up Close: Danny Burstein
Moderated by Rebecca Luker
TODAY, February 6 at 5:00 p.m.
Premium Seating: $20
General Public: $15
League Members: $10

Currently appearing in his Tony Award-nominated role as Herr Schultz in Roundabout's revival of Cabaret, Danny Burstein is well known to Broadway audiences for captivating, scene-stealing performances in Golden Boy, Follies, South Pacific and The Drowsy Chaperone, each of which earned him a Tony nomination. Next season, you'll see him dancing on rooftops as Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof. Join us for an enlightening and intimate discussion of his career, moderated by the one who knows him best - his wife, multi-talented performer Rebecca Luker.

Up Close: F. Murray Abraham
Monday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m.
Premium Seating: $35
General Public: $25
League Members: $15

Academy Award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham will join us in March to discuss his incredible career on stage and screen spanning over forty years. Abraham gained worldwide fame for his portrayal of the conflicted composer Salieri in Amadeus (1984), for which he earned an Oscar. More recently, he can be seen in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Inside Llewyn Davis, and as a regular on television's hit series "Homeland". He is currently on Broadway, garnering laughs and acclaim as a playwright trapped in the body of a theater critic in Terrence McNally's smash It's Only A Play.

Up Close: Andy Karl
Moderated by Paul Wontorek, Creative Director/Editor In Chief, Broadway.com
Monday, March 16 at 8:00 p.m.Premium Seating: $20
General Public: $15
League Members: $10

Best known for his knock-out, Tony-nominated performance last season as the title character in last year's Rocky, Andy Karl is a multi-talented performer who has appeared on Broadway in The Mystery of Edward Drood, 9 to 5, and made UPS uniforms sexy in Legally Blonde: The Musical. His next role has him playing opposite Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher in Roundabout's On The Twentieth Century.

ROUGH DRAFT

Rough Draft allows directors to explore the earliest developmental stages of a new play, musical or devised project in a one-day residency in The Drama League Theater Center's Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley Studio Lab. Rough Draft is designed for directors with an interest in a focused artistic exploration that includes direct engagement with an invited audience.

Rough Draft is not necessarily a play reading. It's a moment for a director and his or her collaborators to joyfully dive into the work and make discoveries about a directorial approach to a theatrical work. It's a lab for a director who wants to investigate an idea with his or her collaborators in a lively, informal setting and share it with an invited community.

LULU
A new play by Frank Wedekind
Translation by Stephen Spender
Directed by Lauren Keating
With An All-Female Cast
Friday January 30th at 7:00pm
Tickets: $5

Lulu, written by Frank Wedekind and translated by Stephen Spender has been adapted and directed by Directors Project alumus, Lauren Keating. Wedekind's epic, monstrous and personal tragedy is presented for the first time by an all-female company. Lulu travels from Berlin to Paris to London, in an increasingly desperate bid for survival and self-determination.

The Dread Pirate Project
Conceived and Directed by Evan Yionoulis
Friday February 20th at 7:00pm
Tickets: $5

Directed by Obie Award winner Evan Yionoulis (Broadway's The Violet Hour), The Dread Pirate Project takes as its springboard the still-unfolding story of the young man accused of being the mastermind behind Silk Road - the illicit eBay of the "dark web," through which millions of dollars worth of illegal narcotics were bought and sold. The Dread Pirate Project will explore the nature of identity, the elusive quest for 21st century anonymity, and the deceptively thin membrane between the digital and natural worlds.

SPECIAL EVENTS

The Musical Celebration of Broadway Honoring James Earl Jones
Directed by Nick Corley
Monday, February 2, 7:00 p.m.
The Pierre Hotel (2 East 61st Street)
Tickets: (212) 244-9494

The lineup for the evening's one-of-a-kind musical tribute -- inspired by Mr. Jones' career in theater, film and television - includes legends of Hollywood and Broadway, including Tyne Daly, Kelsey Grammer, Elizabeth Ashley, Annaleigh Ashford, Jefferson Mays, James Monroe Iglehart, Phylicia Rashad, Kristine Nielsen, Dylan Walsh, Leslie Uggams and Special Tribute given by cast members of the Broadway revival You Can't Take It With You. Broadway veteran and You Can't Take It With You cast mate Nick Corley directs. The Musical Celebration of Broadway Honoring James Earl Jones will be produced by Mr. Danforth and Trevor Tamashiro.

During the evening's festivities, The Drama League will also recognize the acclaimed CBS Television series "The Good Wife" as its 2015 Arts Ally in recognition of Executive Producers Robert and Michelle King and Series Casting Director Mark Saks, whose enthusiastic support of the Broadway community and its artists have immeasurably benefited both the television and theater industries. Mr. Saks will accept the recognition from Tony Award-winning actor Alan Cumming, currently starring in the Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Cabaret and as a series regular on "The Good Wife."

The 2014 Drama League Awards
Friday, May 15, 11:30 a.m.
Broadway Ballroom
Marriott Marquis Times Square,
Tickets: (212) 244-9494

Lauded as "a wonderful, notoriously swanky affair" by Playbill and as "the best party on Broadway" by John Lithgow, The Drama League Awards is considered by many to be the most enjoyable and friendly event of the awards season. Over a delicious afternoon luncheon, the nominees gather to celebrate the triumphs of New York's theatrical season, chosen from more than 200 Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.