Jennifer Ehle, Kristine Nielsen, Peter Bartlett, Reed Birney and More to Star in SALUTE TO THE BRAVE at TACT

TACT, The Actors Company Theatre has announced that Jennifer Ehle (Oslo -Tony nomination, The Coast of Utopia - Tony Award, Design for Living, The Real Thing - Tony, Theatre World awards), Kristine Nielsen (Present Laughter; You Can't Take It With You; Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike -Tony Outer Critics Circle Award), Peter Bartlett (She Loves Me; Something's Rotten!; Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella), Reed Birney (1984; The Humans - Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award nomination; Gemini; Picnic; Casa Valentina - Drama Desk, Tony nomination), Cynthia Harris ("Mad About You;" The Tribute Artist; Bad Habits; Company; Any Wednesday), Lorenzo Pisoni (Equus, Humor Abuse, Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Last Dance), and Simon Jones (The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy; Party Monster; The Thomas Crown Affair; 12 Monkeys, Waiting in the Wings; Private Lives; The Real Inspector Hound/Hamlet; Benefactors; The Real Thing) will star along with Hanna Cheek, Nora Chester, Todd Gearhart, James Prendergast, Tony Roach, Rocco Sisto, and Lynn Wright, in a concert-style reading of Noel Coward's Salute to the Brave, the World Premiere of the play lost since 1941. Mr. Evans will direct.

Salute to the Brave will have projection design by Steve Channon, sound design by Patrick John Kiernan and costume supervision by Martha Hally.

Performance will be at The Scholastic Theatre (557 Broadway, between Prince and Spring Streets) for one night only Monday, November 13th (7pm). To purchase tickets, go to tactnyc.org or call 212-645-8228.

Written by Coward in 1941 on behalf of the British government to encourage the United States to enter World War II, Salute to the Brave languished in a drawer after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor as it was deemed no longer necessary.

Set among the moneyed-set of Connecticut, Salute to the Brave offers a blistering look at the dangers of complacency and isolationism, when a privileged British woman married to a Naval Commander escapes the bombing of London to the safety of wealth and comfort in the US. What she discovers there and the realizations she makes are at the center of this riveting and timely comedy.

Given TACT's history of presenting lost or forgotten scripts as well as its long standing relationship with the Coward Estate (Hay Fever, 1995 season; Long Island Sound, 2002; Semi-Monde, 2012; I'll Leave it to You, 2014), the World Premiere of Coward's Salute to the Brave is a fitting and perfect way to kick off the 2017 - '18 season -- the company's 25th Anniversary Season!

Founding Executive Artistic Director Scott Alan Evans comments, "Salute to the Brave is a play that was written during a time of extraordinary global tension and is a passionate call to action for all who believe in democracy and humanity. Could it be more relevant now? And because it's penned by The Master, it's remarkably cunning and subtle, full of sly humor and piercing insight. We are honored to be presenting the World Premiere of Salute to the Brave and thank the Noel Coward Estate for entrusting this remarkable discovery to us."

Coming up next, in February, TACT will present the World Premiere of Three Wise Guys, a new comedy based on the stories of Damon Runyon. It's Christmas Eve 1932. Three New York guys, each preoccupied with his own particular problems and not especially fond of the season, find themselves in Good Time Charley's speakeasy. As the bootleg liquor flows, the guys agree to band together and take to the road to avoid the holiday hubbub. Besides, a notorious racketeer is after them and they have to get out of town. Over one long life-changing night, they make some big decisions while inadvertently spreading good cheer to one and all. Based on the Runyon stories "Dancing Dan's Christmas" and "The Three Wise Guys," Three Wise Guys was created especially for TACT by Scott Alan Evans and Jeffrey Couchman. Performances begin on Tuesday, February 27th with an opening on Sunday, March 11th for a strictly limited run through April 14th. Cast and creative team will be announced at a later date.

TACT, now celebrating its 25th anniversary season, is a company of theatre artists that reveals, reclaims, and re-imagines great plays of literary merit, creating an intimate theatre experience for its audience by focusing on the text and the actor's ability to bring it to life. From the beginning, TACT made its reputation with its Concert Performance productions: fully rehearsed presentations stripped down to their essence. Staged in TACT's intimate studio space, these performances (currently known as the Salon Series) feature simple staging, costuming, and lighting, refocusing the emphasis of the drama away from spectacle and production and back to the words and the actor - creating theatre in its purest form. This style grew out of the belief that the true magic of theatre lies in the special connection between the artist, the work of art, and the fully engaged audience. TACT is a resident company of NYC's famed Theatre Row and produces its Mainstage Off-Broadway productions there in the Beckett Theatre. In addition, TACT presents the Salon Series in its studio space at 900 Broadway. Both spaces allow audiences to enjoy an up-close and personal experience with both the play and the artists.