Kristine Nielsen, Merwin Goldsmith & More Set for STAGE DOOR Benefit Reading, 3/18

The Acting Company will present a benefit staged reading of Stage Door by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman at 7 pm on Monday, March 18 at the Ailey Studios Joan Weill Center for Dance, 405 West 55th Street (Ninth Avenue). The performance, starring Kristine Nielsen (Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Merwin Goldsmith (Grand Hotel, Me and My Gal), Heidi Armbruster (Disgraced, Time Stands Still), Zoe Winters (4,000 Miles, Gossip Girl) will be followed by a reception with the cast and director, Irene Lewis, former Artistic Director of Baltimore's Centerstage. A dozen Acting Company Alumni Members-Beth Bartley, Kaliswa Brewster, Georgia Cohen, Susan Finch, Adam Green, Julie Jesneck, Jonathan Kaplan (Tony nom. Falsettos), Lisa McCormick, Kevin Orton, Kathleen Wise, Bjorn DuPaty, Ray Virta-will also perform. Tickets @ $35 and $60 (Patron) are available from 212-258-3111.

"Stage Door is Ferber and Kaufman's biting comedy of stage-struck single women scrambling to make a living while camped out in a New York City Footlights Club, a boarding house for young women who have come to New York to study acting and find jobs - think the famed Rehearsal Club," said Margot Harley, Producer of The Acting Company.

The Acting Company is in the midst of its 40th national tour with critically acclaimed productions of Shakespeare's As You Like It (just closed at the New Victory) and Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Founded by John Houseman and Margot Harley in 1972, The Acting Company has toured to 49 states and 10 foreign countries earning a TONY for Excellence in Theater, Obies, Audelcos and Los Angeles Critics Circle Awards. Kevin Kline, Rainn Wilson, Patti LuPone, Frances Conroy, Jeffrey Wright Harriet Harris, David Ogden Stiers, Keith David, Hamish Linklater and Jesse L. Martin are but a handful of performers who began their careers on tour with The Acting Company.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos