Guthrie Theater & Acting Co. Present ROMEO AND JULIET/COMEDY OF ERRORS, 10/22

Joe Dowling of the Guthrie Theater and Margot Harley of The Acting Company have announced an expanded touring season beginning and ending in New York. This will be the third joint tour for the two TONY-winning theaters and will feature co-productions of Shakespeare's ROMEO AND JULIET directed by Penny Metropulos in repertory with THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, directed by Ian Belknap. Ms. Metropulos has directed at Oregon Shakespeare Festival for 19 years; Mr. Belknap, Associate Artistic Director of The Acting Company, has apprenticed under several master directors including Mark Lamos and Doug Hughes.

The season begins with ROMEO AND JULIET at Pace University's Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts October 22-24, 2010 and returns April 4-17, 2011 with The Comedy of Errors as part of Shakespeare at Pace, which also includes productions by Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (London) and Theatre for a New Audiences.

"The cast of thirteen young actors will include Acting Company alumni as well as graduates of Guthrie's BFA program and Guthrie Experience students," said The Acting Company's Producing Artistic Director, Margot Harley. We will perform in 32 communities in 20 states. I am so pleased with our continuing collaboration with the Guthrie; Joe Dowling and I share a passion for developing young actors and a diverse national audience for the theater. We will play many communities with little or no access to live theater such as Brainerd, MN, Poplar Bluff, MO, Sandusky, OH, Potsdam, NY, Maryville, TN and Statesboro, GA. At least 70% of our audience is attending the theater for the first time."

The Acting Company was founded in 1972 by Ms. Harley and legendary producer and actor, John Houseman with Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone and others in the first graduating class of Juilliard's Drama Division. Since then it has performed 135 productions to audiences in 48 states and 10 foreign countries. In addition to Kline and LuPone, its alumni include Rainn Wilson, Frances Conroy, Jeffrey Wright, Harriet Harris, Jesse L. Martin, David Ogden Stiers and Keith David. The Acting Company was honored in 2003 with a TONY for Excellence in Theater and this will be its 38th national tour.

Founded by Sir Tyrone Guthrie in 1963, the Guthrie is recognized as an American center for theater performance, production and professional training. Mr. Dowling has headed the Guthrie since 1995 following his long association with the Abbey, Ireland's national theater. He has directed extensively in North America, with productions at Arena Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, New York Shakespeare Festival, the Stratford Theatre Festival and The Shakespeare Theater in Washington, D.C. In 1982, the Guthrie received a Tony Award for its outstanding contribution to the American Theater.

Remaining single tickets to The Acting Company's Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare's Globe (London) Merry Wives of Windsor will go on sale mid-September.

Single tickets to Theatre for a New Audience's The Merchant of Venice and The Acting Company's Comedy of Errors will go on sale October 22nd.

Click here to purchase tickets.

Illustration Credit: Scott McKowen