Antaeus Company Announces 2011 Line-Up

The Antaeus Company will offer double-cast productions of The Malcontent by John Marston and Peace in Our Time by Noël Coward in 2011, as well as a new installment of ClassicsFest, Antaeus' signature, six-week festival of classical work. Presenting classical plays in Los Angeles since 1991, the company known as L.A.'s classical theater ensemble offered an inaugural season in 2010 that garnered the Los Angeles Drama Critics' Circle's (LADCC) Polly Warfield Award for Outstanding Season at last Monday's awards ceremony.

"This year, once again, we chose productions based on ongoing work we've been developing over the past year or two," explains Antaeus artistic director Jeanie Hackett. The Malcontent was the hit of last summer's ClassicsFest; and we've been working on Peace in our Time for over two years. Both plays use a wide range of actors, and are great vehicles for our ensemble company. And this summer's ClassicsFest is full of gems-in-process."

The Malcontent is John Marston's viciously funny, filthy and surprising Jacobean masterpiece. The usurped Duke of Genoa takes the disguise of the outrageous Malevole (the titular Malcontent) to spy on the corrupt foibles of the new Duke and his unctuous cronies. Disguises, false deaths, seductions, deceptions, and adulteries all drive the plot of this enormously entertaining play. Elizabeth Swain will direct. Performances will take place May 5 through June 19, with previews beginning April 28.

Until now a biennial event, Antaeus' popular festival of the classics, the vehicle through which the company develops much of its work, is going annual. Classicsfest 2011 marks Antaeus' sixth, six-week "smorgasbord" of actor-initiated workshops, readings, and special events: a different project will take place almost every night of each week, July 12 through August 19.

Peace in Our Time is Noël Coward's one and only anti-war propaganda play. Directed by Casey Stangl and choreographed by Harry Groener (recipient of the LADCC award for Performance for the title role in last season's production of King Lear), Antaeus presents a new adaptation by company member Barry Creyton of this rare Coward work that has never before been produced in the U.S. What might life in England have been like if the Nazis had won the Battle of Britain? Performances are set for October 20 through December 11, with previews beginning October 13.

The Antaeus Company strives to keep classical theater vibrantly alive by presenting professional productions with a top-flight ensemble company of actors. Taking their company name from the Titan who gained strength by touching the Earth, Antaeus members - many of whom are familiar to movie and television audiences - regain creative strength by returning to the wellspring of their craft: live theater performances of great classical plays. All Antaeus productions are fully double cast, with two equally talented actors sharing every role. This means that audiences rarely see an understudy and frequently come back to see each show a second time in order to see the same play in the hands of an equally good but very different set of actors. Members of the company and its board span a wide range of age, ethnicity and experience; they have performed on Broadway, at major regional theaters across the country, in film and television, and on local stages, and are the recipients of multiple accolades including Tony, Los Angeles and New York Drama Critics Circle, Ovation, LA Weekly, and Back Stage Garland nominations and awards.

For more information about The Antaeus Company and the 2011 Season, call 818-506-5436 or visit online at www.antaeus.org.

 

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