Founded in 1979 by its Artistic Director, Jeffrey Horowitz, Theatre for a New Audience's next act is about to begin with the opening of its Center for Shakespeare and Classical Drama in Brooklyn. The inaugural production is Julie Taymor's staging of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare with original music by Elliot Goldenthal. Previews begin October 19 for an opening on November 2.
The season continues with Arin Arbus, Associate Artistic Director of Theatre for a New Audience, directing acclaimed British actor Michael Pennington in the title role in King Lear, beginning previews March 14.
The season concludes with Eugène Ionesco's The Killer in a new translation by
Michael Feingold, directed by
Darko Tresnjak and featuring
Michael Shannon.
After 34 years of being itinerant, Theatre for a New Audience's Center for Shakespeare and Classical Drama is also its first permanent home. Built by The City of New York in partnership with Theatre for a New Audience; located in the Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District at 262 Ashland Place between Lafayette Avenue and Fulton Street; and designed by
Hugh Hardy and H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture with theatre consultants Akustiks,
Jean-Guy Lecat and
Theatre Projects, it includes the Samuel H. Scripps Mainstage (299 seats) -- the first stage built for Shakespeare and classical drama in New York City since the Vivian Beaumont in 1965 -- and the
Theodore C. Rogers Studio (50 seats).
Mr. Horowitz says, "We invited artists with whom we have ongoing relationships to celebrate the opening of our home.
Julie Taymor and
Elliot Goldenthal first worked at Theatre for a New Audience in 1984. Directors
Arin Arbus and
Darko Tresnjak have staged multiple productions with us. We produce Shakespeare alongside other major authors, so we are presenting a comedy and a tragedy by Shakespeare and a marvelous but rarely performed modern classic from the "Theatre of the Absurd" by Eugène Ionesco. As the staging of Shakespeare and other major plays is always changing, we have dreamt for decades of having a home with a dynamic space. The Scripps, inspired by the
Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe, is uniquely flexible. It combines an intimate Elizabethan courtyard theatre with modern technology. The relationship between the stage and audience can be shaped into different configurations for each production."
Looking toward Theatre for a New Audience's 2014-2015 season, the Theatre will present The Valley of Astonishment, a theatrical research directed by
Peter Brook andMarie-Hélène Estienne. It is a production of C.I.C.T./Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord with co-
Producers Theatre for a New Audience and Les Théâtres de la Ville du Luxembourg and associate producers Théâtre d'Arras, Warwick Arts Center; Attiki Cultural Society, C.I.R.T., and the Young Vic Theatre.
The 2014-2015 season will continue with Tamburlaine Parts I and II by
Christopher Marlowe, featuring
John Douglas Thompson (Theatre for a New Audience's Macbeth andOthello; Obie Award-winner for Othello) and directed by
Michael Boyd, former artistic director of the
Royal Shakespeare Company. Tamburlaine will be followed by
Juliet Rylance in
Thornton Wilder's version of
Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, directed by
Arin Arbus.
Subscriptions for Theatre for a New Audience's inaugural season are $147 for a 3-play inaugural season package and $294 for a 6-play, two-season package, and are available by calling (212) 229-2819, ext. 10. Flex Passes are also available for $208 and include four tickets to be used in any combination over the inaugural season. Single tickets go on sale in September. For more information or to subscribe online, please visit
www.tfana.org.
New Deal tickets for ages 30 and under or full-time students of any age are priced at $20 each and can be purchased when single tickets go on sale.
