Dates Set for LCT Premiere of Stoppard's 'Utupia' Trilogy

The Coast of Utopia, Tom Stoppard's trilogy tracing a 30-year arc of history in nineteenth century Russia, is now set for its US premiere at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre.

Voyage will begin previews on October 17th and open November 5th, Shipwreck will begin previews on December 5th and open on December 21st and Salvage will begin performances on January 30th, 2007, and open on February 15th. In addition to the separate runs of the plays, The Coast of Utopia will be performed successively in all three parts on Saturday, February 24th, March 3rd and March 10th. On each day, Voyage, Shipwreck and Salvage will be presented in marathon form beginning at 11 AM.

Tony Award-winner Jack O'Brien (Hairspray, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Henry IV) is set to direct the play, which is by the acclaimed author of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Arcadia, The Real Thing, Jumpers and more. Casting has yet to be announced for The Coast of Utopia, which will feature more than 30 actors in over 70 roles.
   
"Beginning in mid-19th century Russia during the repressive reign of Tsar Nicholas I, Tom Stoppard's sweeping epic spans a period of thirty years as it tells the  panoramic story of a group of Russian intellectuals, headed by the radical theorist and editor Alexander Herzen, the novelist Ivan Turgenev, the literary critic Vissarion Belinsky and the aristocrat-turned-anarchist Michael Bakunin,  who lead a band of like-minded countrymen in a revolutionary movement in which they strive to change and fix a political system by using their minds as their only weapon," state press notes.

The action of The Coast of Utopia, which premiered at London's National Theatre in 2002, begins in 1833 with Part One – Voyage, set in the Russian countryside as well as in Moscow and St. Petersburg.  Part Two - Shipwreck, begins thirteen years later outside Moscow and follows the characters' exile to Paris, Dresden and Nice.  Part Three - Salvage, takes place over a period of twelve years in London and Geneva.

The Coast of Utupia will have sets by Bob Crowley and Scott Pask, costumes by Catherine Zuber, lighting by Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner and Natasha Katz and original music and sound design by Mark Bennett.  Casting is currently underway and will be announced at a later date.

Lincoln Center Theater is currently presenting the Tony Award winning production of the Craig Lucas-Adam Guettel musical The Light in the Piazza, directed by Bartlett Sher, in the Vivian Beaumont Theater; Richard Greenberg's new play The House In Town, directed by Doug Hughes, currently in previews and opening Monday, June 19 in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater; and the critically acclaimed, award winning production of Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing!, directed by Bartlett Sher on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre.  This fall, in addition to The Coast of Utopia, LCT will present Sarah Ruhl's new play The Clean House, directed by Bill Rauch in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater beginning Thursday, October 5.

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