Classic Stage Company Presents The Return Of The First Look Festival 11/16

Classic Stage Company (CSC), under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, will present the return of its popular First Look Festival - a program of one-night only staged readings. This season, the First Look Festival turns its gaze to the groundbreaking works of Nobel Prize winner Luigi Pirandello, whose plays brought the first stirrings of modernity to the stage. Acclaimed actor John Turturro will perform the title role in Pirandello's Henry IV on two evenings.

The schedule for this year's festival is:

Monday, November 16 at 8 pm
Six Characters in Search of An Author
Directed by Tony Speciale

Monday, November 23 at 8 pm
Right You Are if You Think So
Directed by Craig Baldwin

Sunday, November 29 at 8 pm and
Monday, November 30 at 8 pm
John Turturro in
Henry IV
Directed by Brian Kulick

For tickets to the First Look Festival, call (212) 352-3101 or toll free at 866-811-4111, on-line at www.classicstage.org, or in person at the box-office at 136 East 13th Street. Box Office Hours: 12-6pm Mon-Fri and one hour prior to show time. Tickets are $30 for the general public.

CSC's new season kicks off this week with THE AGE OF IRON, an epic retelling of the Trojan War, drawn from Shakespeare's Troilus & Cressida and Thomas Heywood's Iron Age, adapted and directed by Brian Kulick. Previews for THE AGE OF IRON begin Friday, November 6, with an official opening Sunday, November 22 at 7pm at Classic Stage Company (136 East 13th Street). THE AGE OF IRON will play a limited engagement through December 13 only.

At the center of THE AGE OF IRON is Shakespeare's majestic Troilus & Cressida, a play that, in the wake of our own turbulent 20th century, has emerged as Shakespeare's most modern masterpiece. This remarkable work is bookended by Thomas Heywood's Iron Age, expanding the play's reach to encompass the full breadth of the Trojan War. Taken together, these two authors create a grand Elizabethan Iliad that brings Homer's long lost world vividly to life.

The company recently announced a new Audience Development Initiative furthering their mission to make classical theatre accessible to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Through generous underwriting by the Angelson Family Foundation, all tickets during preview performances of THE AGE OF IRON will be offered at $10 per ticket. This offer will only be available from November 6 - November 22 inclusive, after which time regular ticket prices ($60/65) will resume.

Now in its 42nd year as one of New York's most exciting theatres, CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY is the award-winning Off-Broadway theatre committed to re-imagining the classical repertory for a contemporary American audience. Led by Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, last season the company presented three sold-out acclaimed productions: Shakespeare's The Tempest, starring Mandy Patinkin; Chekhov's Uncle Vanya starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Denis O'Hare and Peter Sarsgaard; and Anne Carson's An Oresteia. Recent productions: critically acclaimed sold out runs of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, starring Dianne Wiest and Alan Cumming, the world premiere of David Ives' New Jerusalem, directed by Walter Bobbie, Richard III starring Michael Cumpsty, and Zoe Caldwell in Yasmina Reza's A Spanish Play, directed by John Turturro.

CSC presents plays from the past that speak directly to the issues of today. As we return to works of the past, we endeavor to keep a clear eye on the future, particularly in terms of the next generation of artists and audiences. Classic Stage's artists are the best established and emerging theater practitioners working in this country. Highly respected and widely regarded as a major force in New York and American theatre, Classic Stage has been cited repeatedly by all the major Off-Broadway theater awards: Obies, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and 1999 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work. Memberships to Classic Stage Company productions are available at various price levels, including the flexible Masterpass membership, which in addition to prime seats, entitles members to participate in CSC special series, including their sold out Open Rehearsal events. For more information on Classic Stage Company visit the theatre's website at www.classicstage.org.

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