The Acting Company continues its 2016 John McDonald Salon Series with a reading of Noel Coward's charming comedy PRESENT LAUGHTER tonight, February 22nd at 7 PM at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater at the West Side YMCA, 10 W. 64th Street, New York, NY. The reading, set to star Tony winners Kevin Kline and Nina Arianda, is sold out.
An alumnus of The
Acting Company, Academy Award winner
Kevin Kline will lead an all-star cast including
Nina Arianda (Midnight in Paris, Venus in Fur),
Stephen DeRosa (On the Town, Boardwalk Empire), Carson Elrod (Peter and the Starcatcher),
Francesca Faridany (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time),
Matthew Greer (Cabaret),
Reg Rogers (You Can't Take It With You),
Erika Rolfsrud (The Coast of Utopia), Susanna Stahlmann (Macbeth with The
Acting Company),
Michele Tauber (The Charity That Begins at Home for Mint Theater).
Kevin Kline will co-direct the evening with
Acting Company Artistic Director
Ian Belknap.
Noel Coward's 1939 comic play follows a few days in the life of the successful, self-obsessed light comedy actor Garry Essendine as he prepares to travel for a touring commitment in Africa. Amid a series of events bordering on farce, Garry has to deal with women who want to seduce him, placate both his long-suffering secretary and his estranged wife, cope with a crazed young playwright, and overcome his impending mid-life crisis.
The Salon Reading Series continues on April 18th with
Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, directed by Tony nominee
Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Hand to God) and featuring
Michael Urie (Buyer and Cellar) and Tony Award winner
Gabriel Ebert (Matilda The Musical), also to be held at The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater. The series will conclude on May 16th with The House That Will Not Stand by award-winning playwright
Marcus Gardley, to be held at
Culture Project,
2016 marks the 20th anniversary of The
Acting Company's
John McDonald Salon Reading Series. The Salon Series offers New York audiences a range of works that are thematically linked to the company's repertory season and first opportunities to see works that are being considered for future production.
Founded by
John Houseman and
Margot Harley in 1972, The
Acting Company has toured to 48 states and 10 foreign countries, presenting more than 140 classic and new works while garnering a Tony Award for Excellence in Theater, among other honors.
Kevin Kline,
Rainn Wilson,
Patti LuPone,
Frances Conroy,
Jeffrey Wright,
Harriet Harris,
David Ogden Stiers,
Keith David,
Hamish Linklater and
Jesse L. Martin are among the more than 400 performers who began their careers on tour with The
Acting Company. The
Acting Company serves a mission of providing opportunities for gifted early-career theatre artists; strengthening the ties between the academic theatre and the professional theatre; and fostering a discerning audience for theatre across the country, often in communities that would otherwise lack access to high-quality professional arts programming.
