Sarandon and Rush Will 'EXIT THE KING' at the Barrymore Starting in March

Academy® Award-winners Geoffrey Rush (Shine) and Susan Sarandon (Dead Man Walking) will star in Eugene Ionesco's EXIT THE KING. This production marks Rush's Broadway debut. Translated by Neil Armfield and Geoffrey Rush and directed by Neil Armfield, EXIT THE KING will begin performances Saturday, March 7, 2009 at the Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street) and open on Thursday, March 26, 2009. This limited engagement will run for 14 weeks only, through Sunday, June 14, 2009.

Additional casting will be announced soon.

EXIT THE KING is a hilarious and poignant comedy about a megalomaniacal ruler, King Berenger (Rush) whose incompetence has left his country in near ruin. Despite the efforts of Queen Marguerite (Sarandon) and the other members of the court to convince the King he has only 90 minutes left to live, he refuses to relinquish any control.

EXIT THE KING will be produced by Stuart Thompson, Robert Fox, Howard Panter, Tulchin/Bartner, Scott Rudin and The Shubert Organization.

The design team for EXIT THE KING includes Dale Ferguson (Set & Costume), Damien Cooper (Lighting), Russell Goldsmith (Sound). John Rodgers is the Composer.

Geoffrey Rush led a critically-acclaimed production of EXIT THE KING, directed by Neil Armfield and produced by The Company B and Malthouse Theatre at the CUB Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne, Australia on March 28, 2007 and at Belvoir Street Theatre in Sydney, Australia on June 13, 2007.

Geoffrey Rush (King Berenger and Co-Translator) started his career in Australian theatre and has appeared in over 70 theatrical productions and more than 20 feature films. Rush was catapulted to fame with his starring role in director Scott Hicks' feature Shine, for which he received worldwide accolades: an Academy Award® for Best Actor, a Golden Globe®, SAG, BAFTA, Film Critics' Circle of Australia Award, Broadcast Film Critics, AFI and New York and Los Angeles Film Critics' Awards. In addition, Rush garnered an Emmy®, a Golden Globe® and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance as the title character in HBO Films' "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers." He also earned an Academy Award® nomination for his performance in Quills and an Academy Award® nomination and Golden Globe® nomination for his role in Shakespeare in Love. He starred in all three Pirates of the Caribbean films. Most recently, he lent his voice to $9.99, an animated feature based on the existential short stories of Israeli author-filmmaker Etgar Keret. Other film credits include Munich, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Candy, Intolerable Cruelty, Finding Nemo, Ned Kelly, Lantana, Frida, The Tailor of Panama, Les Miserables, Oscar and Lucinda and Starstruck. His work on stage was honored with the Sydney Critics Circle Award for Most Outstanding Performance, the Variety Club Award for Best Actor and the 1990 Victorian Green Room Award for his performance in Neil Armfield's The Diary of a Madman. He also received Best Actor nominations from the Sydney Critics' Circle Awards for his starring roles in The Government Inspector, Uncle Vanya and Oleanna. In 1994 he received the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award for his work in theatre. Rush lives in Melbourne with his wife, Jane, and their two children. Geoffrey Rush is appearing with the permission of Actors' Equity Association.

Susan Sarandon (Queen Marguerite) won an Academy Award® for her performance in Dead Man Walking. She received a 2008 Golden Globe® nomination and a 2008 Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her performance as Doris Duke in the HBO film "Bernard and Doris." She received Academy Award® nominations for her roles in Atlantic City, Thelma and Louise, Lorenzo's Oil and The Client. Her other films include The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Bull Durham, The Witches of Eastwick, The Hunger, Stepmom, Anywhere but Here, Cradle Will Rock, The Banger Sisters, Shall We Dance, Alfie, Romance & Cigarettes and Elizabethtown. Her upcoming films include The Lovely Bones, Peacock, Leaves of Grass and The Greatest. She has appeared in many TV films and mini-series and has made special guest appearances on "The Simpsons," "Friends," "Malcolm in the Middle," "Mad TV," "Chappelle's Show" and "Rescue Me." She received Drama Desk nominations for her roles in the Off-Broadway productions of Extremities and A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking and also starred in The Exonerated Off-Broadway and The Guys Off-Off Broadway. She appeared on Broadway in Gore Vidal's controversial ensemble piece, An Evening with Richard Nixon, in 1972.

Neil Armfield (Director and Co-Translator) was involved in the formation of Sydney's Company B and served as its first Artistic Director. He has worked extensively in Australia and around the world, winning such accolades as the Sydney Theatre Critics' Circle Awards for both Best Director and Best production, the Major Award for Significant Contribution to Sydney Theatre, many Green Room Awards, Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Director for mini-series "Edens Lost" 1989, and for Best Adapted Screenplay with Luke Davies for Candy, 2006 (which starred Geoffrey Rush, Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish); Helpmann Awards and the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Performing Arts in Australia. International awards include Best Production, Dublin Festival for Cloudstreet; Best Director and Best Musical, Dora Mavor Moore Awards, Canada for Billy Budd; and Best Opera Production, Barclays Award for Billy Budd. In 2007, Neil was awarded Officer of the Order of Australia for his service to the arts.

EUGENE IONESCO (Playwright). EXIT THE KING is being presented on the 100th anniversary of Eugene Ionesco's birth. Born in Slatina, Romania on November 26, 1909, Ionesco, grew up in France but returned to Romania after his parents divorced in 1925. Known as one of the founders of the Theatre of the Absurd, his plays include The Bald Soprano (1950), The Lesson (1951), The Chairs (1952), The New Tenant (1955) and Rhinoceros (1959).