Documentary Honoring Eric Bentley to Have World Premiere at New Plaza Cinema at The Macaulay Honors College

Royal Road Productions is proud to present a new documentary about the life and legacy of Eric Bentley, one of the most respected theater critics, playwrights, editors and translators of our time. Featuring exciting tributes to one of the most unique personalities in the world of theater, and punctuated by theater music of Darius Milhaud and Hanns Eisler, the film will have its world premiere at New Plaza Cinema at The Macaulay Honors College on January 28, at 12:30 pm.

Tickets can be purchased here: www.newplazacinema.org.

Eric Bentley

(1916-2020) was one of the preeminent experts on Bertolt Brecht whom he met in California as a young man and whose work he extensively translated. He wrote numerous books on theater criticism such as The Playwright As Thinker and taught at Harvard and Columbia Universities. Of his many plays, Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been?is still the most performed. In addition, he recorded many albums, including two covering the song repertoire of Bertolt Brecht and Hanns Eisler. In 1998, he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

As Bentley entered his 100th year, Royal Road Productions produced the centennial tribute in his honor at New York's legendary Town Hall. The historic evening featured the participation of Tony Kushner, Austin Pendleton, Harold Bloom, James Shapiro, Edward Mendelson, Phillip Lopate, Louise Kerz Hirschfeld, Michael Paller, Roger Copeland, and Michael Riedel, who was also master of ceremonies.

This feature film captures all the highlights from this one-of-a-kind live tribute to Eric Bentley and his legacy. Singer Karyn Levitt performs the world premiere of songs for Mother Courage by Darius Milhaud and Eric Bentley in the composer's original, unpublished orchestrations for chamber orchestra, conducted by multi-Emmy Award winner Glen Roven. Selections from Eric Bentley's Brecht-Eisler Song Book are also performed by Ms. Levitt and the Hanns Eisler Trio.

Austin Pendleton

is an actor, director, playwright, and, at HB Studio in New York, where he studied with Uta Hagen and Herbert Berghof, a teacher of acting, and where he had the pleasure of meeting Eric Bentley. He has directed in New York, productions, including: The Little Foxes, starring Elizabeth Taylor, for which he (and several others in the production) received Tony nominations; Between Riverside and Crazy, by Stephen Adly Giurgis, a multiple award-winning production; Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, Ivanov, and Hamlet (with Peter Sarsgaard as Hamlet), all at CSC.

KARYN LEVITT

is president of Royal Road Productions. Ms. Levitt produced and performed in Happy Birthday, Eric Bentley at the Town Hall, which she co-conceived with Aryeh Finklestein, and produced the film Honoring Eric Bentley. A distinguished soprano, she conceives, produces, and performs musical programs, such as Will There Still Be Singing? A Hanns Eisler Cabaret and On Hollywood and Weimar: The Songs of European Jewish Composers from the Golden Age of Film, at venues such as Carnegie Hall (Weill), York Theatre, Cafe Sabarsky, Feinstein's/54 Below, Brecht-Haus (Berlin), D.C. Jewish Music Festival, Princeton, and beyond.

NEW PLAZA CINEMA

is a trusted community of film lovers providing thought provoking entertainment, education and conversation through curated film experiences. Its mission is to be a cultural destination that keeps Art Cinema alive in Upper Manhattan and wherever its patrons are reached, through both in-person and virtual programming. (www.newplazacinema.org).