Estelle Parsons Set For 80th Anniv Tribute For ReGroup Theatre

For the first time ever, the 23 plays presented by Group Theatre will be woven together as a fundraiser for the ReGroup Theatre Company. Legends of the stage will join the acclaimed ReGroup ensemble to present these plays along with the history of the Group in a 2 hr event on October 10, 2011 at 7 PM. The tribute will be held at Peter Norton Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre, 2537 Broadway at 95th St. Tickets can be purchased online at www.symphonyspace.org or by calling 212.864.5400.

The first confirmed guests to participate are Estelle Parsons, George Bartenieff and Marsha Warren, Director of the Paul Green Fdtn. For the most up to date list of guest artists, please check out www.regrouptheatre.org

Though The Group turned out some of the top actors, directors and teachers, including Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Elia Kazan, Sanford Meisner to name a very few, they also worked with some of the greatest dramatists. Most remembered for the 6 plays of Clifford Odets, such as Golden Boy and Awake and Sing, The Group presented works by John Howard Lawson, Paul Green, Dawn Powell, Sidney Kingsley, and many more. Though most of them have been forgotten over the years, many due to the blacklist, these Great Depression era stories are once again extremely relevant. Several of the plays that will be represented during the tribute, including Nellise Child's Weep for the Virgins, Robert Ardrey's Casey Jones, and Irwin Shaw's Retreat to Pleasure have never been published, so this is a rare chance to get a glimpse of a piece of American Theatre History.

Regular priced tickets for the fundraiser are available for $55 in advance, tickets will be $75 at the door. In an effort to re-educate the young as to the power of great playwrighting, student tickets are $25. There will also be a limited number of VIP tickets available for $100 that will include a private reception with the artists after the show.

The non-profit ReGroup Theatre Company was founded in January 2010 and has presented 7 gripping staged readings of the Group plays. Peter Filichia has said of the company, "ReGroup is quickly becoming one of the town's most valuable troupes." The ReGroup recently published 3 of the Group's plays for the first time in over 75 years, and it features a foreword by Estelle Parsons. The "Lost" Group Theatre Plays: Volume 1 will be available for sale at the tribute and at www.regrouptheatre.org

Tickets for the fundraiser can be purchased through www.symphonyspace.org

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos