VIDEO: Red Bull Theater's Lust For The Past

Beginning with its 2003 production of Shakespeare's PERICLES, Red Bull Theater has become one of Off-Broadway's most noted not-profit companies, specializing in plays of heightened language. With the Jacobean plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries as its cornerstone, it's Red Bull's mission to embrace the imagination of theatergoers through intimate, imaginative productions of great classic stories from all eras and cultures.

Their 2016-17 season will include another one of Shakespeare's lesser performed works, CORIOLANUS and a new version of Nikolai Gogol's THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR. The new installment of the company's acclaimed Revelation Readings series will feature Kristine Nielsen, Matthew Rauch, Derek Smith, Christian DeMarais, Gretchen Hall, Ryan Garbayo, Ben Mehl, Amelia Pedlow and Carson Elrod, among others.

In the video, artistic director Jesse Berger, along with veteran actors of Red Bull productions such as Michael Urie, Jay O. Saunders, Matthew Rauch, Jennifer Ikeda and Stephen Spinella, talk about the company's lust for the past; finding the dark and dangerous plays that have been mostly forgotten and presenting them in a way that values the classic language while revealing a contemporary edge.

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Red Bull Theater's work has been recognized with multiple Drama Desk, Drama League, Lucille Lortel, Callaway and OBIE Award nominations and awards, including the Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Revival in the 2015-'16 season (SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL). The company has staged nearly 150 Revelation Readings, named by the Village Voice "Best Play Reading Series," and has developed new plays of heightened language and classical adaptations through its Cockpit and In-the-Raw workshop series. Red Bull Theater reaches out to NYC students of all ages through Direct Address education programs teaching Shakespeare in middle schools and offering student matinees. Post-play Bull Session discussions with scholars following select Sunday matinees and Readings are free and open to the public.