David Hyde Pierce to Play 'Scrooge' in The Acting Company's A CHRISTMAS CAROL Benefit Reading

The Acting Company has announced a one-night-only benefit reading of Crispin Whittell's adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, December 11 at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College (68th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues).

Directed by Joe Dowling, acclaimed former Artistic Director of the Guthrie Theater, the performance stars one of the American stage and small screen's greatest talents, David Hyde Pierce. The Frasier alum will play Ebenezer Scrooge-paragon of miserliness, misanthropy, general holiday buzz-killing, and ultimately, the human potential for change.

Joining him is a cast including stage and TV veterans John Glover, Harriet Harris, Edward Hibbert, and Julie White, as well as Acting Company alumni Matthew Amendt, Matt Bradford Sullivan, and Kaliswa Brewster, plus others to be announced.

Following the reading, the evening will continue with an exclusive cast dinner (jacket and tie required) at The Union Club (101 E. 69th Street).

For this benefit event, The Acting Company celebrates the holiday season with this timeless story of the curmudgeonly Scrooge and his discovery of kindness and compassion. With the help of four persuasive ghosts, Scrooge undergoes a miraculous Christmas Eve transformation as he views with new eyes his past, his present and the possibilities of the future. The adaptation by Whittell was originally commissioned by Dowling for the Guthrie Theater; he directed it many times over during his long tenure at the helm of the revered Minneapolis company, and it continues to be performed there to this day.

The gathering of actors of the caliber of Pierce, Harris (who won a Tony for her performance in Thoroughly Modern Millie), White (Tony winner, The Little Dog Laughed), Glover (Tony winner/Smallville's Lionel Luther), and OBIE Award-winning Hibbert is a signature of The Acting Company, which over the years has helped talents like Jeffrey Wright, Patti LuPone, Kevin Kline, Frances Conroy, and Harris herself hone their craft. The reading also marks something of an incidental Frasier reunion-Pierce famously played the uppity Niles Crane, Harris was dreaded agent Bebe Glazier, and Hibbert appeared as food critic Gil Chesterton.

Performance-only tickets ($75 - $250) are on sale to Acting Company email subscribers and social media followers beginning at noon on November 1, and to the general public on November 2. Premium, benefit-level tickets including the performance and the post-show cast dinner at The Union Club are $1000 ($625 of which is tax-deductible), and premium show-only tickets are $500 ($250 of which is tax-deductible). Dinner space is very limited due to capacity at the Union Club. To purchase benefit-level tickets, call The Acting Company at (212) 258-3111. To purchase performance-only tickets, call (212) 772-4448 or visit www.hunter.cuny.edu/kayeplayhouse.

Joe Dowling was artistic director of The Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis from 1995-2015, where he oversaw the building of a new three theatre complex on the banks of the Mississippi River. He was the youngest ever artistic director of The Abbey Theatre, Ireland's National Theatre and he has directed on Broadway, in The West End, at The Stratford Shakespeare Festival and in many other US theaters. He directed A Midsummer Night's Dream for The Acting Company.

Founded in 1972 by legendary producer/director/actor John Houseman and previous Producing Director Margot Harley with members of the first graduating class of Juilliard's Drama Division, The Acting Company has performed 143 productions for over 4 million people in 48 states and ten foreign countries. The Company has given a generation of actors the opportunity to master their craft. Alumni members include Kevin Kline, Rainn Wilson, Patti LuPone, David Schramm, Jesse L. Martin, David Ogden Stiers, Frances Conroy, Jeffrey Wright, Harriet Harris, Hamish Linklater and Keith David.

Our education programs - Learning Through Theater, Student Matinee Series, Primary Shakespeare and Shakespeare for Teachers - reach students in disadvantaged schools where achievement levels are considerably below average. Response to these programs shows renewed interest in learning and improved grades as well as communication and social skills.

Promoting theater and literacy by bringing a touring repertory of classical productions and exceptional new works, talented young actors and teaching artists into communities across America - particularly those where live performance and theater arts education is limited or non-existent -The Acting Company performs each year in over 20 cities to audiences of 25,000 and reaches more than 15,000 students with its arts education programs. Our work:

- Builds a discerning national audience for the theater by playing exceptional productions on tour nationwide for diverse audiences.

- Educates middle and high school students in under-served and disadvantaged communities, which often have limited access to the arts and have been hardest hit by cuts in arts education.

- Develops the best young American actors by giving them an opportunity to practice their craft in a repertory of classic plays and new works.

The Acting Company has been honored with numerous awards including the Obie, Audelco, Los Angeles Critics Circle Award and a Tony for Excellence in Theater.