Joel Schumacher to Helm THE PARISIAN WOMAN Reading with Ellen Barkin, 10/22

The Flea Theater commissioned Academy Award nominee Beau Willimon to adapt Henry Becque's La Parisienne for The Flea. Directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Ellen Barkin, The Parisian Woman is now set in contemporary Washington D.C.  To what lengths will a woman go to advance the political career of her husband? The Parisian Woman tears the veil off adultery in this modern retelling of the scandalous affairs of a bored and intelligent wife left to her own devices.

The Flea is offering an exclusive reading at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center. The cost of a ticket will be $250 and will include preshow cocktails.  All premium event tickets are sold out at this time. To reserve a seat please call 212-226-0051 x102 or visit www.theflea.org.

Beau Willimon is playwright, screenwriter and producer. His play Farragut North, became the basis for the film Ides of March, which he co-wrote with George Clooney and Grant Heslov. Ides of March earned Willimon Academy Award^®, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay. Other plays include Lower Ninth (The Flea Theater, 2008; UK premiere, Donmar Warehouse, 2010), and Spirit Control (Manhattan Theatre Club, 2010).  Subsequent productions of his plays have been mounted across the U.S. and overseas.  Willimon was a recipient of the Lila Acheson Wallace Juilliard Playwriting Fellowship, named 2008 Playwright-in-Residence at the Donmar Warehouse, and he is a two-time winner of the Lincoln Center Le Comte du Nouy Award. He is currently an executive producer and show-runner of Netflix's first original series House of Cards starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, directed by David Fincher.

Ellen Barkin,Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, can be currently seen in NBC's The New Normal. Barkin's diverse body of work spans theater, film and television. She has had an illustrious acting career comprised of over 50 films that include Sam Levinson's Sundance winner Another Happy Day, Cam Archer's Shit Year, Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's 13, Todd Solondz' Palindromes, Antoine Fuqua's Brooklyn's Finest, This Boy's Life opposite Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, Spike Lee's She Hate Me, Tony Scott's The Fan opposite Robert De Niro, Walter Hill's Johnny Handsome and Wild Bill opposite Jeff Bridges, Sea of Love opposite Al Pacino, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Mike Newell's Into the West, Bob Rafelson's Man Trouble opposite Jack Nicholson, John Turturro's Mac, Jim McBride's The Big Easy opposite Dennis Quaid, Blake Edwards' Switch, Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law, Bruce Beresford's Tender Mercies opposite Robert Duvall and Sydney Lumet's Daniel. Her first film and breakout performance was in Barry Levinson's iconic film Diner. In 2011, Barkin received the prestigious Tony Award for her performance in George C. Wolfe's Broadway production of Larry Kramer's award-winning play The Normal Heart. Her critically lauded performance also garnered her an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award, among others. Barkin received a Best Actress Emmy Award for her performance in Oprah Winfrey's Before Women Had Wings. She has been twice nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Behind the camera, Barkin is also an accomplished producer whose films include Letters to Juliet, starring Amanda Seyfried and Vanessa Redgrave, as well as Sam Levinson's Another Happy Day, in which she also stars alongside Ellen Burstyn and Demi Moore. Barkin, a Bronx native, currently resides in New York City.

Joel Schumacher is renowned for his versatility, style and ability to move seamlessly between film genres with equal popular success and critical acclaim. He began his film career as a costume designer for such legendary directors as Woody Allen (Sleeper, Interiors) and Herbert Ross (The Last of Sheila), before making his own name as a screenwriter with Sparkle and Car Wash. After cutting his teeth directing two television movies, Joel made his feature film directorial debut on The Incredible Shrinking Woman in 1981. His career soon took off with such iconic fare as St. Elmo's Fire and The Lost Boys, followed by other successes - Cousins, Flatliners, Dying Young and Falling Down. He would go on to direct film versions of two best selling novels by John Grisham (The Client and A Time to Kill) as well as two installments of the blockbuster Batman film series, Batman Forever (the #1 movie of 1995, with Jim Carrey as 'The Riddler') and Batman & Robin. Most recently, Joel brought audiences the films 8MM, Flawless (which he also wrote), Tigerland, Phone Booth, Bad Company and Veronica Guerin. In 2004 he adapted Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical, The Phantom of the Opera, for the screen. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe for Best Musical or Comedy. He followed that up with his second collaboration with Jim Carrey, the intriguing thriller The Number 23. Twelve, based on the groundbreaking novel by Nick McDonell, was honored as the closing night presentation of the 2010 Sundance Film. Joel's twenty-fourth feature film, Trespass, starring Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman, marked his second production with each of the two Academy Award winning actors. Currently, Joel is filming 2 episodes of the Netflix original series House of Cards. The series stars Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright with David Fincher producing. 

The Flea Theater, under Artistic Director Jim Simpson and Producing Director Carol Ostrow, is one of New York's leading off-off-Broadway companies. Winner of a Special Drama Desk Award for outstanding achievement, Obie Awards and an Otto for political theater, The Flea has presented over 100 plays and numerous dance and live music performances since its inception in 1996. Past productions include the premieres of Anne Nelson's The Guys, seven plays by A.R. Gurney (O Jerusalem, Screenplay, Mrs. Farnsworth, Post Mortem, A Light Lunch, Office Hours and Heresy), Cellophane and Two September by Mac Wellman, Ashley Montana Goes Ashore... and The Oldsmobiles by Roger Rosenblatt; JABU and Kaspar Hauser byElizabeth Swados; Return of the Chocolate Smeared Woman by Karen Finley, Bingo with the Indians byAdam Rapp, Oh, The Humanity and other exclamations by Will Eno, Dawn and Job by Thomas Bradshaw, Love/Stories (or But You Will Get Used to it) Itamar Moses, The Great Recession, Girls in Trouble by Jonathan Reynolds, Parents' Evening by Bathsheba Doran, Looking at Christmas by Steven Banks, the Drama Desk nominated She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen, the Drama Desk nominated These Seven Sicknesses by Sean Graney and I Hate f-ing Mexicans by Luis Enrique Gutiérrez Ortiz Monasterio.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / Retna Ltd.