Theatre for a New Audience announces that as part of its 2016-2017 season at Polonsky Shakespeare Center, Golden Globe Award winner Oscar Isaac will play the title role in Hamlet staged by Sam Gold. Oscar Isaac and Sam Gold last worked together on Zoe Kazan's We Live Here in 2011. Hamlet is their first collaboration on Shakespeare and their first production with Theatre for a New Audience. Hamlet will begin previews on June 4, 2017 for an opening June 22 and run through July 30.
Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director, explains, "Hamlet's famous remark that 'the purpose of playing' is 'to hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature' describes
Oscar Isaac's and
Sam Gold's work. Oscar is celebrated for the honesty, authenticity, and intensity of his performances, and Hamlet marks his long-desired return to theatre after an impressive series of starring film and television roles. Sam is renowned for the transparent subtlety and nuance of the theatrical worlds he creates, Together
Oscar Isaac and
Sam Gold will explore the 'undiscovered country' of Hamlet's world which begins, of course, with the first words of the play, 'Who's there?'"
Oscar Isaac gained critical acclaim, a Golden Globe Award nomination, and an Independent Spirit Award for "Best Male Lead" for his portrayal of the title character in the Coen Brothers' film Inside Llewyn Davis. His talents extend into television as he starred in the HBO miniseries Show Me A Hero for which he won a Golden Globe Award for "Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film" and a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination for "Best Actor in a Movie or Miniseries." In 2014, Mr. Isaac led
J.C. Chandor's action-packed drama A Most Violent Year for which he earned the National Board of Review Award for "Best Actor." Most recently, Mr. Isaac starred as the Resistance pilot, Poe Dameron, in the record-shattering Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and he is currently filming the eighth installment in the main Star Wars film series. Mr. Isaac can next be seen as the villain in the highly anticipated blockbuster,X-Men: Apocalypse due for release in May 2016.
Sam Gold is one of today's finest directors. Some of his recent projects include
Annie Baker's The Flick;
Will Eno's The Realistic Joneses; and the musical Fun Home (Tony Award, Best Direction).
Tickets to Hamlet are currently only available for purchase through subscription packages that include Theatre for a New Audience's 2015-2016 productions of Pericles, A Doll's House, and The Father.
Currently on stage at Polonsky Shakespeare Center is Pericles by
William Shakespeare, music composed by
Shaun Davey, featuring
Christian Camargo, directed by
Trevor Nunn. This New York Times and Time Out Critics' Pick has been extended through April 10, 2016.
Following Pericles, Theatre for a New Audience's current season continues with A Doll's House by
Henrik Ibsen adapted by
Thornton Wilder, performed in rotating repertory with The Father by
August Strindberg in a new version by
David Greig. Both productions will be performed by a single company led by
Maggie Lacey and
John Douglas Thompson and directed by Theatre for a New Audience's Associate Artistic Director
Arin Arbus fromApril 30 through June 12, 2016.
The remaining productions in Theatre for a New Audience's 2016-2017 season will be announced shortly.
Endowment support for Hamlet is provided by The Howard Gilman Foundation Fund for Classic Drama.
Subscription packages including Pericles, A Doll's House, The Father, and Hamlet are currently on sale. For more information and to subscribe, visit www.tfana.org/season; call (212) 229-2819, ext. 10; or visit our box office in person at Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place, Brooklyn,Tuesday through Saturday, 1:00pm to 6:00pm.
Single tickets for Pericles, A Doll's House, and The Father, $75-$85 for each production, are on sale now online at
www.tfana.org, by phone at 866-811-4111, or in person at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center box office, 262 Ashland Place, Brooklyn. A limited number of premium seats are also available for $100 each for Pericles, A Doll's House and The Father.
New Deal tickets for ages 30 and under or full-time students of any age are only $20 each and can be purchased at
www.tfana.org, by phone at 866-811-4111, or in person at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center box office, in advance for any performance. Theatre for a New Audience's New Deal Ticket Program is supported by Macy's.
Principal support for Theatre for a New Audience's season and programs is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Booth Ferris Foundation, The
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The SHS Foundation, and The Winston Foundation.
Theatre for a New Audience's season and programs are also made possible, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities; the National Endowment for the Arts; Shakespeare in American Communities, a national initiative sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor
Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; and from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Public support for Theatre for a New Audience's Capital Campaign was provided by the City of New York through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York City Council, and the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President. Leadership private support for Polonsky Shakespeare Center and Theatre for a New Audience's endowed programs has been provided by a naming gift from The Polonsky Foundation. Additional major support has been provided by Cleary, Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, The Irving Harris Foundation,
Theodore C. Rogers, and the SHS Foundation. Major endowment gifts have been provided by the Elayne P. Bernstein Education Fund and The Howard Gilman Foundation.
Founded in 1979 by Jeffrey Horowitz, Theatre for a New Audience is a modern classic theatre. It produces Shakespeare alongside other major authors from the world repertoire, such as Harley Granville Barker, Edward Bond, Adrienne Kennedy, Wallace Shawn, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Theatre for a New Audience has played Off- and on Broadway and toured nationally and internationally.
In 2001, Theatre for a New Audience became the first American theatre invited to bring a production of Shakespeare to the
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Stratford-upon-Avon. Cymbeline, directed by
Bartlett Sher, premiered at the RSC; in 2007, Theatre for a New Audience was invited to return to the RSC with The Merchant of Venice directed by
Darko Tresnjak starring F.
Murray Abraham. In 2011, Mr. Abraham reprised his role as Shylock for a national tour.
After 35 years of being itinerant and playing mostly in Manhattan, Theatre for a New Audience moved to Brooklyn and opened its first permanent home, Polonsky Shakespeare Center, in October 2013. Built by The City of New York in partnership with Theatre for a New Audience and located in the Brooklyn Cultural District, Polonsky Shakespeare Center was designed by
Hugh Hardy and H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture with theatre consultants Akustiks,
Milton Glaser,
Jean-Guy Lecat, and
Theatre Projects. Housed inside the building are the Samuel H. Scripps Mainstage (299 seats) -- the first stage built for Shakespeare and classical drama in New York City since Lincoln Center's 1965 Vivian Beaumont -- and the
Theodore C. Rogers Studio (50 seats).
The Theatre's productions have been honored with Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, Drama League, Callaway, Lortel and Audelco awards and nominations and reach an audience diverse in age, economics and cultural background.
The Theatre created and runs the largest in-depth program in the New York City Public Schools to introduce students to Shakespeare, and has served more than 128,000 students since the program began in 1984. The Theatre's economically accessible ticket program includes one of the lowest reserved ticket prices for youth in the city: $20 for any show, any time for those 30 years old and under or for full-time students of any age.
