Commonwealth Shakespeare Company Presents BECKETT IN BRIEF

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Founding Artistic Director Steven Maler, presents BECKETT IN BRIEF - Rough for Radio II • The Old Tune • Krapp's Last Tape, directed by James Seymour, featuring Will Lyman, Ken Baltin and Ashley Risteen. The production, presented by BabsonARTS, begins performances on April 27 and runs through May 6 at the Carling-Sorenson Center at Babson College, 19 Babson College Drive, Wellesley, MA.

Performance dates: April 27, 28, 29, May 3, 4, 5, 6 at 7:30PM;

April 30, May 6 and 7 at 3:00PM

Press opening: Friday, April 28 at 7:30PM

Ticket prices: from $40 General Admission. April 27 (only) is PAY WHAT YOU CAN.

Now on sale at www.commshakes.org or by calling 781.239.5660.

Among Samuel Beckett's most autobiographical works, Rough for Radio II, The Old Tune, and Krapp's Last Tape explore universal questions of creativity, memory, aging, sex, friendship, and the proximity of death. These plays from his mid-career are traditionally viewed as individual statements, but the three provide a wealth of impressions when placed in conversation with one another, giving us a better understanding of the legendary playwright's intellect, passion, and temperament.

Krapp's Last Tape and Rough for Radio II is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC.). The Old Tune, written by Robert Pinget and Samuel Beckett (© Editions de Minuit).

Scenic Design is by James Fenton, Costume Design by Chelsea Kerl, Sound Design by Elizabeth Callas, and Lighting Design by Alexander Fetchko.

Ken Baltin (Cream/Fox)'s credits in the Boston area include Death of a Salesman, Glengarry Glen Ross, Lost in Yonkers, Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Lyric Stage); Kite Runner, Eurydice, Waiting for Godot, American Buffalo (New Repertory); Deported-a dream play, King of the Jews, Permanent Whole Life (Boston Playwrights); Operation Epsilon (Nora Theatre); Copenhagen, A Screenwriter's Daughter (Vineyard Playhouse); Oleanna (Merrimack Repertory) Brooklyn Boy (SpeakEasy); Last Night of Ballyhoo, I Ought to be in Pictures, Yom Kippur in Da Nang (Jewish Theatre of New England). He teaches acting and directs at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

Will Lyman (Krapp/Gorman) was recently seen as Junius Brutus Booth in CSC's production of Our American Hamlet at The Carling Sorensen Center at Babson College, is well known to Boston audiences for his work with CSC, of which he is a founding Board Member (King Lear, Prospero, Claudius, Brutus); Israeli Stage (Oh God, Ulysses on Bottles); the Huntington Theatre (All My Sons, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Dead End); New Rep (Long Day's Journey into Night, Exits and Entrances, Clean House, Ice Breaker); SpeakEasy Stage Company (The Dying Gaul); Wheelock Family Theatre (To Kill a Mockingbird); Boston Playwrights' Theatre (The Wrestling Patient in collaboration with SpeakEasy Stage Company, King of the Jews, A Girl's War); and The Nora Theatre Company (Equus, Operation Epsilon). Elsewhere in the US, he has performed with the Denver Center, Hartford Stage, Pennsylvania Stage, American Place, George Street Playhouse, NJ Shakespeare, and several Off-Broadway productions in New York. He has narrated with the National Symphony (Ivan the Terrible,) and acted in conjunction with the BSO (A Midsummer Night's Dream), the Cleveland Symphony (Every Good Boy Deserves Favor) and the Handel and Haydn Society (Medea). He is a multiple recipient of the Norton and IRNE Awards and was honored with the Howard Keel Award for service to the Screen Actors Guild. He was given 2013's Norton Award for Sustained Excellence and 2015's NETC Award. Television credits include "Crossbow," "Threat Matrix," and "Commander in Chief." Movies for television include Meltdown, Our Fathers, Three Sovereigns for Sarah, and George Washington; he appeared in the films A Perfect Murder, The Siege, Welcome to the Dollhouse, Mystic River, Little Children (narrator), What Doesn't Kill You. Mr. Lyman has been the narrator of the PBS public affairs program "Frontline" since its second season and has appeared as himself on The Simpsons.

Ashley Risteen (Stenographer) was last seen by Boston audiences in Gloucester Stage Co.'s Man in Snow, which moved on to a run at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre in Manhattan this past November. Her previous Boston credits include Speakeasy Stage Co.'s Appropriate, Zeitgeist Stage Co.'s Neighborhood Watch, Big Meal, Cakewalk, and Hub Theatre Co.'s 6 Hotels. A native of the North Shore, she has been active in the Newburyport theatre community for many years, notably in the Firehouse Center's The 39 Steps, and the Actor's Studio's Speed-The-Plow.

James Seymour (Director) has appeared in leading roles on Broadway (I Love My Wife), Off-Broadway (Small Craft Warnings, Moonchildren), on television ("Kate and Allie") and at major regional theatres, including The Long Wharf Theatre, Trinity Repertory Company, and Portland Stage. Directed productions include All the Way Home at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, Road at The Marymount Manhattan Theatre, I Love My Wife at Detroit's Birmingham Theatre, The Bacchae at UNC-Chapel Hill, and over twenty-five productions for The Island Theatre at the University of Guam. He has also taught Theatre, English Composition, Film, and Literature at Marymount Manhattan College, Queens College, CUNY, The Colorado College, and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. His play Two Lovers (A Taotaomona Tale and I Domino) was produced in Guam. Currently a lecturer in English and Film at the University of Maine, Jim was raised in New Jersey and spent most of his life in New York City, after receiving his BFA from Boston University's College of Fine Arts and Ph.D. from the Graduate Center at The City University of New York.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC), best known for its annual free performances on Boston Common, is a non-profit theater organization founded in 1996, dedicated to presenting vital and contemporary productions of William Shakespeare and other dramatic works to the people of Greater Boston, and to exploring Shakespeare's work with youth in innovative and creative ways. CSC's Free Shakespeare on the Common has served over one million audience members over its 22-year history, and has become a beloved summer tradition enjoyed by nearly 75,000 people annually. In 2013, CSC became the Theatre-in-Residence at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and has been able to expand its offerings beyond the annual Boston Common production, including Happy Days with Brooke Adams and Tony Shalhoub, and Our American Hamlet with Jacob Fishel and Will Lyman this season. CSC fulfills its educational mission with actor-training programs for pre-professional and professional actors through the summer Apprentice program and CSC2, which is presenting Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, directed by Associate Director Adam Sanders at the Carling-Sorenson Center this May. To learn more about these programs, visit commshakes.org.

BabsonARTS presents visual and performing arts events and exhibitions at the Carling-Sorenson Center for the Arts and other venues on the campus of Babson College in Wellesley, MA. Program offerings include works produced by Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Babson's theater-in-residence; visiting artists, performers, and speakers; and the activities of Babson's faculty-directed student groups. The mission of BabsonARTS is to serve the educational needs of students, to provide cultural avenues to the residents of communities surrounding the campus, and to explore the connections among entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity through the arts.

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