Goldie Zwiebel, Michael Wikes & More to Star in Empirical Rogue's SUICIDE!?, Begin. Jan 2014

Empirical Rogue has announced casting for Nikolai Erdman's Suicide!?, in a new adaptation written and directed by Empirical Rogue Artistic Director Tim Eliot. Performances begin January 4 at the InterArt Theatre (500 West 52nd Street between 10th and 11th Avenues).

The cast features Goldie Zwiebel as Sarah, Michael Wikes (Old Business, "Law & Order") as Ari, Jonathan West as Alexander, Liba Vaynberg as Maria, Rikke Lylloff as Marguerite, Lindsey Liberatore (Futurity) as Reesa, Sam Kinsman (Julius Caesar with the Irondale Ensemble) as Iggy, Michael Kane (Futurity) as Simon Posednik, Amy Jo Jackson (The Great Recession, Dani Girl) as Victoria, and Gardiner Comfort (You're Not Tough) as Nick. The design team includes Dante Olivia Smith (Scenic Design), Summer Lee Jack (Costume Design), and Jimmy Lawlor (Lighting Design).

Adapted from the Stalin-censored 1928 Nikolai Erdman play of the same name, Suicide!?, now updated and restaged in 2013 New York, pulls back the curtain on the desperate times and desperate measures that accompany a flailing economy. Alternating between gritty humor and painful insight, Suicide!? pushes us to ask: what is our true cost of living, and what is the price we are willing to pay?

Finding himself without a job, without hope, and without escape, Simon Podsednik stands on the brink between losing everything and ending it all. Concerned friends and family stage an intervention, but their frantic attempts to fix things might do more harm than good. Can Simon turn his life around or will he die... a hero?!

Empirical Rogue fosters unity and understanding through theater while creating and performing theater that arises from the aesthetic demands and potentials of new and classical texts. With audiences in New York and the larger world, Empirical Rogue explore the extremes of human behavior through stories of lasting relevance. We form innovative arts education and arts outreach partnerships and collaborations with members of the communities where we produce our work.

Founded by graduates of the American Repertory Theater/ Moscow Art Theater School Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University, Empirical Rogue's first production was a workshop of Hamlet, directed by Shakespeare scholar David Hammond at the cell theater in Chelsea. In the spring of 2012, Empirical Rogue teamed up with chashama to produce Romeo and Juliet in the 26-15 Jackson Avenue space, formerly Moe's Taxi, with a four person-cast starring Sarah Baskin, Doug Chapman, Susannah Hoffmann, and Jacob Martin. In January 2013, the company once again teamed up with the cell theater to produce a reading of Macbeth to benefit Occupy SAndy Ongoing relief efforts.