Gripping Drama About Struggle for Moral Choices Felix Mitterer's JAGERSTATTER

A gripping struggle to hold on to morality during the hardest of times. Experience Felix Mitterer's enthralling drama based on the life and death of Franz Jägerstätter (1907-1943), an Austrian farmer who refused to fight on behalf of Hitler because of his faith, morals and ideals. Mitterer depicts Franz, who was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007, as a courageous but insecure human being - and not at all as a saint.

This Staged Reading features award-winning actors Rocco Sisto*, Gordana Rashovich*, Kate MacCluggage*, Nigel Gore* alongside up-and-coming Matt Dellapina* and Melissa Miller*.

Austrian Stage is an initiative supported by Austrian Cultural Forum New York to introduce Austrian Contemporary Theatre to American audiences.

Dec 1, 2016 at 7:30PM
Austrian Cultural Forum NY | 11 East 52nd Street, New York, NY
Free Admission | bit.ly/jageracfny

Felix Mitterer (Playwright): Thomas Bernhard (1931 - 1989) was an Austrian playwright, author & novelist. Bernhard, whose body of work has been called "the most significant literary achievement since World War II," is widely considered to be one of the most important German-speaking authors of the postwar era.

Matt Dellapina* (Franz Jägerstätter) On stage in New York, Matt has appeared in recent hits at some of the city's leading theaters, including A Delicate Ship (Playwrights Realm); Nicky Silver's Too Much Sun (Vineyard Theatre); The Tutors (Second Stage); Outside People (Vineyard Theatre); and The Dream Of The Burning Boy (Roundabout Theatre Company); Currently, Matt stars in the new Lionsgate comedy, Dirty 30, and down the pike are two new features - the upcoming Fits And Starts from Laura Terruso (Hello, My Name Is Doris) and the new thriller, Ruin Me. Austrian Stage: Debut.

Nigel Gore* (Head Teacher, Mayor, Officer) OFF BROADWAY: Dr Rank; Dolls House, Dr Ostermark, The Father. TFANA. Sense & Sensibility, Seagull. BEDLAM. Women of Will. Regional credits include: Women of Will, Prague, Netherlands, Mexico, UK, USA. Richard, Richard III, Colorado Shakespeare Festival (Best actor, WestWord Denver). George, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Public Theatre, Boston (Eliot Norton Award Outstanding Actor). Henry, Lion in Winter. Oldcastle Theatre. Jacques, Mother of the Maid, S&CO. Caesar Julius Caesar, Orlando Shakes, S&Co. Brutus, Julius Caesar, Claudius, Hamlet, Prague Shakes. FILM. The Last Knights. Austrian Stage: Debut.

Kate MacCluggage* (Franziska, his wife) Selected Theatre: NY: The Farnsworth Invention (B'way); The 39 Steps (off-b'way); Much Ado About Nothing (TFANA); In Quietness (Dutch Kills);Primal Play (New Georges); Three Sisters (The Assembly). Regional: Hartford Stage, Westport Country Playhouse, Long Wharf, Syracuse Stage, Virginia Stage Company, Portland Center Stage, Denver Center, Chautauqua. Tour: Merchant of Venice opposite F. Murray Abraham (Elliot Norton Award, IRNE nomination). TV: The Knick, Red Oaks, TURN, Law and Order: SVU. Film: Ambition's Debt, Butterflies of Bill Baker, Hedda Gabler. MFA: NYU Grad Acting. Austrian Stage: Debut.

Melissa Miller* (Theresia, mother of Franz's child) made her Broadway debut in Tartuffe with the Roundabout Theater Co. She played Jessica opposite F. Murray Abraham in TFANA's Merchant of Venice. Other favorite theaters include: Keen Company, Clubbed Thumb, McCarter, Shakespeare Theater of NJ, Pittsburgh Public, Long Wharf, Alley Theater, Hartford Stage, Williamstown. She recently did work on the new Hulu series "The Path." www.melissamiller.org Austrian Stage: the unmarried woman.

Gordana Rashovich* (Rosalia, Franz's mother) Broadway: The Anarchist (Golden Theatre), Cymbeline (Lincoln Center), The Road to Mecca and Old Acquaintance (Roundabout), Conversations with my Father (Royale Theatre). Off Broadway: The How and the Why (Penquin Rep), The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore and The Crucible (Roundabout), A Shayna Maidel (Westside Arts Theatre), Not I (EST). Film: Sudden Manhattan, Dead Again and Heaven's Gate. TV: Mad Men, Whoopi, The Wire, All My Children, Law & Order, Grace & Glorie, Loving. Gordana is the recipient of an Obie Award. Austrian Stage: Debut.

Rocco Sisto* (Bishop, Priest, Dr. Feldmann) is an actor based in New York City. On television, Sisto played young Junior Soprano in the HBO series The Sopranos. He has also appeared in Law & Order, Star Trek: The Next Generation and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In film he has been seen in After Hours, The American Astronaut, Illuminata, Donnie Brasco and Carlito's Way. In theatre, he has worked on Broadway, off-Broadway, and regionally. Most recently he was in the Broadway production of The King and I. He is the recipient of three Obie Awards including the Obie Award for Sustained Excellent. Austrian Stage: Debut.

Guy Ben-Aharon (Director): is a Boston-based director specializing in plays in translation. After founding Israeli Stage (IsraeliStage.com), Guy was asked to develop German Stage (Goethe-Institut), Swiss Stage (swissnex), French Stage (Alliance Française), Scandinavian Stage (SCC) and Austrian Stage (ACFNY). A proud Emerson alum, his dedication to international theatre has resulted in tours up and down the East Coast and profiles in The Boston Globe, The Jerusalem Post, The Washington Post, WBUR and WGBH. Austrian Stage: The World Fixer and the unmarried woman.