Josh Hamilton Joins Cast of Classic Stage Company's CHERRY ORCHARD

Josh Hamilton, who won rave reviews last season in Classic Stage Company's production of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters, has joined the company's upcoming production of Chekhov's tragicomic masterpiece THE CHERRY ORCHARD in the role of Trofimov. Hamilton replaces Christian Carmago, who has withdrawn from the production due to a film role. THE CHERRY ORCHARD, which features John Turturro (Lopakhin), Dianne Wiest (Ranevskaya), , Ken Cheeseman (Pischick), Daniel Davis (Gaev), Alvin Epstein (Fiers), Slate Holmgren (Yasha), Roberta Maxwell (Charlotta), Juliet Rylance (Varya), Michael Urie (Yepikhodov), Elisabeth Waterston (Dunyasha) and Katherine Waterston (Anya), begins performances Wednesday, November 16 at CSC (136 East 13th Street). Directed by Andrei Belgrader, with a translation by John Christopher Jones, THE CHERRY ORCHARD will play a limited engagement through Friday, December 23. The official press opening is scheduled for Sunday, December 4 at 7pm.

First presented in 1904 at the Moscow Art Theatre, THE CHERRY ORCHARD was Chekhov's final play, and with this new production CSC completes its acclaimed Chekhov Cycle, which has included The Seagull (with Wiest and Alan Cumming), Uncle Vanya (with Denis O'Hare, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard), and Three Sisters (with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessica Hecht, Juliet Rylance and Peter Sarsgaard). The latter two productions were directed by Austin Pendleton. With its Chekhov Cycle, CSC mounted these four masterpieces over the past five years, and gathered a dedicated constellation of actors, designers and directors, many of whom continued to return to work together on these remarkable plays.

The creative team for THE CHERRY ORCHARD will include scenic design by three-time Tony Award winner Santo Loquasto, costume design by Marco Piemontese, lighting design by James F. Ingalls, hair design by Paul Huntley and original music by Christian Frederickson and Ryan Rumery.
Josh Hamilton (Andre). Broadway: The Coast of Utopia, Proof, Brighton Beach Memoirs. Off-Broadway: Hurlyburly (Drama Desk, Lortel nominations), Gone Home, Things We Want (New Group), The Waverly Gallery (Promenade), This Is Our Youth (New Group), suburbia (LCT), The Cider House Rules (Atlantic), As Bees in Honey Drown, Music From a Sparkling Planet, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, The Downtown Plays, Evolution, Sons and Fathers, Women and Wallace. Regional: The Violet Hour (Steppenwolf), The Cider House Rules (Mark Taper), Ancestral Voices (Williamstown). TV and film include Sam Mendes' Away We Go; The Last New Yorker; Ten Stories Tall; Tonight at Noon; Alexander the Last; Outsourced; Broken English; Diggers; Alive; Kicking and Screaming; The F Word; Freak Talks About Sex; On Line; With Honors; House of Yes; The Proprietor; "Abby, My Love" (Emmy Award); "Absolutely Fabulous;" "Third Watch;" "Sex and the City;" "Law & Order."

THE CHERRY ORCHARD will perform Tuesdays at 7pm; Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8pm; Saturdays & Sundays at 3pm. Tickets are $70 for weekday performances and $75 for weekends. For tickets and information, visit www.classicstage.org or call (866) 811-4111 , or (212) 352-3101 , or visit the CSC box office at 136 East 13th Street, Monday through Friday 12 pm to 6pm.

Now in its 45th year Classic Stage Company is the award winning theatre committed to re-imagining the classical repertory for a contemporary American audience. This season in addition to The Cherry Orchard, CSC will present Brecht's Galileo with Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham, and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Tony Award-winning actress Bebe Neuwirth as Titania. Past seasons have included critically acclaimed productions of Chekhov's Three Sisters with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessica Hecht, Juliet Rylance and Peter Sarsgaard, directed by Austin Pendleton (Obie Award); David Ives' The School for Lies with Hamish Linklater (Obie Award), directed by Walter Bobbie; Unnatural Acts, conceived and directed by Tony Speciale; Ostrovsky's The Forest with Dianne Wiest and John Douglas Thompson, directed by Brian Kulick; David Ives' Venus In Fur with Nina Arianda and Wes Bentley, directed by Walter Bobbie; Shakespeare's The Tempest with Mandy Patinkin, directed by Brian Kulick; Chekhov's Uncle Vanya with Denis O'Hare, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, directed by Austin Pendleton; Anne Carson's An Oresteia (International PENN Award for Poetry); Chekhov's The Seagull with Dianne Wiest and Alan Cumming; David Ives' New Jerusalem with Richard Easton, directed by Walter Bobbie; Hamlet, Richard II, Richard III with Michael Cumpsty (Obie Award as Hamlet), directed by Brian Kulick; and Yasmina Reza's A Spanish Play with Zoe Caldwell, directed by John Turturro.

CSC presents plays from the past that speak directly to the issues of today. As we return to works of the past, we endeavor to keep a clear eye on the future, particularly in terms of the next generation of artists and audiences. Founded in 1967, CSC has received wide recognition for its significant contributions to theatre as an art form through productions of classic plays, translations and adaptations and a long-standing commitment to the identification and nurturing of leading and emerging artists. Classic Stage's artists are the finest established and emerging theater practitioners working in this country. Highly respected and widely regarded as a major force in New York and American theatre, Classic Stage has been cited repeatedly by all the major Off-Broadway theater awards: Obies, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and the 1999 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work. Memberships to Classic Stage Company productions are available at various price levels, including the flexible MasterPass membership, which in addition to prime seats entitles members to participate in CSC special series, including their sold-out Open Rehearsal events. For more information on Classic Stage Company visit the theatre's website at www.classicstage.org.

 

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos