Mueller's HAMLETmachine at The John Houseman 5/12-15

Why and how we love, what happens when the political becomes the personal and "to be or not to be," are just some of the themes explored in Heiner Müeller's stark, two-character drama HAMLETmachine, the inaugural production of the Blue Rose Theater Company, playing for six performance May 12 – 15 at The John Houseman Theater, 450 West 42nd Street.

Tickets for HAMLETmachine are $10 and may be reserved by calling (212) 967-7079. The performance schedule is Thursday, May 12 at 8 p.m., Friday, May 13 at 8 p.m., Saturday, May 14 at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday, May 15 at 3 and 7 p.m. HAMLETmachine at The John Houseman Theater Center is presented by The Blue Rose Theater Company in association with Jonathan Shulman.

HAMLETmachine was first produced in 1985 at the Gate Theater in Notting Hill, London. This new production is directed by Taibi Ann Magar and stars Evan Lubeck and Jessica Pahly as Shakespeare's famous star-crossed lovers, Hamlet and Ophelia.

Lighting design for the production is designed by Steve Sakowski, and sound design is by Graham Johnson.

Ten years after his death, Heiner Müller is widely regarded as Bertolt Brecht's spiritual heir, and one of the greatest German playwrights of the twentieth century. His plays have been performed worldwide, and his poetry and pRose Translated and published in numerous languages. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner writes in his Forward to "The Heiner Müller Reader: Plays, Poetry & Prose," published by Johns Hopkins Press in 2001: "In [Müller's] writings you will find that which is repellent, unfathomable, false and absurd. You will, in short, find our times, recorded more unflinchingly than anywhere else. You will find truth summoned up out of the ashes and mud, and you will find remarkable wit, intelligence and beauty: the world, in short, as only the greatest dramatists are capable of describing it."

Taibi Ann Magar is making her New York City directing debut with HAMLETmachine. Among her previous directorial credits are productions of "Bread," "Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune," "Medea," "The Laramie Project," "Book of Days," the short play festival, Ten by Ten, and John Yearly's Samuel French Award-winning play, "A Low-Lying Fog."

Evan Lubeck, who appears in HAMLETmachine as Hamlet, was recently featured in "We Three," a new play at the Lincoln Center Institute, and performed in Sondheim's 75th Birthday Celebration at the New Amsterdam Theater.

Native New Yorker Jessica Pohly, who appears as Ophelia, assayed the role of Medea in a production of Heiner Müller's "Medeamaterial," and was Jackie-O in BLT's production of "The House of Yes."

HAMLETmachine, the inaugural production of the Blue Rose Theater Company, plays for six performance May 12 – 15 at The John Houseman Theater, 450 West 42nd Street.

Performances are Thursday, May 12 at 8 p.m., Friday, May 13 at 8 p.m., Saturday, May 14 at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday, May 15 at 3 and 7 p.m. Tickets for HAMLETmachine are $10 and may be reserved by calling (212) 967-7079.