RICHARD III, NOISES OFF And AWAKE AND SING! Among ANW's Fall/Spring 2010 Season

A Noise Within (ANW) -- the acclaimed classical repertory theatre company hailed by critics as "adventurous," "compelling and current," "ingenuity at work," "a bona fide class act," and "what great theatre is all about" -- continues its trajectory in the 2009-10 season with a slate of six masterworks about individuals who forge their own destinies, much like ANW itself, which takes a momentous step on its journey to a permanent home with a Fall '09 groundbreaking for its Pasadena theatre.  The 18th Season, titled "On the Wings of Fate!", marks The company's last in its current Glendale location before the move in Fall '10 to its spacious new venue.  The Fall
2009 line-up opens October 3 with Shakespeare's Richard III, followed by a new adaptation of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment and Michael Frayn's Noises Off.  The Spring 2010 offerings are Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing! and John Millington Synge's The Playboy of the Western World.  The company also reprises for the third consecutive year its critically acclaimed and popular production of Beckett's Waiting for Godot for 10 performances in January 2010.

A mix of comedy, drama and tragedy, these extraordinary trailblazing works of world literature were selected by ANW Co-Founders and Co-Artistic Directors Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott in part, Rodriguez-Elliot notes, "because they are unified by characters who shape their own reality, shattering boundaries regardless of the outcome and tenaciously refusing to be defined by others or to adhere to preconceived notions."  Adds Elliott, "They follow their spirits' steady wing-beat, knowing that fate partners with individual choice."

The plays subliminally reflect the path of A Noise Within, which has stayed its own steady artistic and financial course for the last 18 years.  Founded in 1991 with $3,000 from Julia and Geoff Elliott's savings, ANW quickly established itself and today maintains its celebrated status as the only classical repertory company in Southern California.  ANW has attracted fiercely loyal audiences and high praise from the media for its productions of great works of world drama and also as a leading regional force in arts education.  It is one of only a handful of organizations in the entire country dedicated solely to producing classical dramatic literature year-round and working in the repertory tradition of rotating productions using a resident company of professional artists.  The company's long history of fiscal stability is reflected not only by its 18 years "in the
black" but also by its ability -- in a challenging economic climate -- to raise $9.2 million toward its $13.3 million goal for the new venue.

ANW's next chapter provides the long-awaited opportunity to sink deep and lasting roots when it moves from its long-time leased base in Glendale to a spectacular, permanent home in a Pasadena mixed-use development at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Sierra Madre Villa Avenue.  The facility is designed to expand A Noise Within's artistic possibilities, offer a greater scope of educational opportunities, meet ticket demand and allow The company to expand its role as a leader in the presentation and preservation of classical theatre.

ANW's 35,000 square-foot venue will be located in a part of the historic, mid-century modern Stuart Pharmaceutical building designed by renowned architect Edward Durell Stone, constructed in the mid-1950s and listed on the National Register in 1998.  The new theatre is a 350-seat state-of-the-art performance space with a thrust stage, offering the same intimacy that audience members enjoy in ANW's current location and allowing increased audience capacity to 55,000 people annually.  For ANW's highly regarded education program, there will be an education resource center for teachers and students with a library of audio-visual resources as well as a
wealth of study guides, reference and curricula all designed to bring the classics to life.  The venue also offers ample backstage and support facilities, offices, classrooms, storage, plentiful convenient parking, and a striking landscape garden designed by Thomas Church.  Since planning
began, building costs, initially slated at $16 million, have decreased substantially, to $13.3 million, due primarily to a decline in construction costs.

"We are extremely grateful to the visionary individuals, corporations and foundations that have supported A Noise Within in this endeavor," says Rodriguez-Elliott.  "As we climb toward our goal of raising $13.3 million, we will continue to carefully monitor project costs in order to maximize
these gifts in the most prudent fashion possible so they have the greatest possible reach."

William Shakespeare's spellbinding historic drama Richard III, which opens October 3 and closes December 12, 2009 (previews begin September 26), is one of three productions directed this season by ANW's Co-Founder/Co-Artistic Director Geoff Elliott.  With an eye to the crown and a heart of flint, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, gleefully murders his way to the top.  Fueled by unquenchable bloodlust and endowed with an uncanny ability to charm his victims, this "bottled spider" weaves a tangled web and inadvertently snares his own soul.  Shakespeare blends ruthless ambition and a wicked sense of humor to create one of literature's most memorable villains.  The production is part of Shakespeare for a New Generation, a national initiative sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest.

A new adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's seminal Crime and Punishment created by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus opens October 17 and closes December 17, 2009 (previews begin October 10).  Craig Belknap directs this thrilling new adaptation of a towering masterpiece, undertaken by three actors in a breathless 90 minutes, which explores the exquisite fragility of the mind.  In a desperate quest to be redeemed for the perpetration of an unspeakable crime, brilliant Raskolnikov embodies humankind's eternal struggle between enlightened genius and the temptation of evil.

The joyfully out-of control British farce Noises Off by Michael Frayn, directed by Geoff Elliott, opens November 14 and closes December 19, 2009 (previews begin November 7).  Chaos reigns both onstage and off as a bumbling troupe of veteran thespians, under-rehearsed and over-worked, with a penchant for drama more personal than professional, ready themselves for the world premiere of a new play and in the process bring the house down, quite literally.  Elliott, chuckling at the similarity between The company's and the play's names, notes, "Almost since A Noise Within's inception, the public has confused our name with Noises Off.  It's about time we really wreak havoc by finally producing the show!"

Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, back by popular demand, has been one of ANW's most Popular Productions.  Performed over the past two seasons and hailed as a "a top-notch production" (Los Angeles Times), it returns for 10 performances opening January 16 and closing January 26, 2010.  Directed by Andrew Traister, this wickedly witty treatise on the nature of human existence is considered one of the greatest plays of the 20th century.  Atop a blasted landscape, two men cling to the flickering faith that Godot will come, Godot will bring answers, Godot will bring meaning, Godot will bring happiness.  When will Godot come?

Spring 2010

The second half of A Noise Within's 2009-10 season begins with William Shakespeare's classic comedy Much Ado About Nothing, opening March 6 and closing May 21, 2010 (previews begin February 27) and directed by Michael Murray.  Beatrice and Benedict, two formidable combatants in love, create fireworks armed with razor-edged wit and struggling with the gravitational pull of mutual attraction.  These battle-hardened veterans of Cupid's little game discover how disarming true love can be in Shakespeare's effervescent comedy of the heart.  The production is part of Shakespeare for a New Generation, a national initiative sponsored by the National Endowment for
the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest.

Andrew Traister directs Awake and Sing!, the American classic by Clifford Odets, opening March 20 and closing May 23, 2010 (previews begin March 13). The economic ravages of 1930s New York threaten to destroy the tenuous ties that bind the Berger family.  Matriarch Besse Berger is willing to crush her children's dreams in order to keep the struggling clan in tact.  But the irrepressible spirit of youth refuses to be extinguished in gifted social dramatist Odets' soaring ode to what is good and true in the American character.

The season concludes with Geoff Elliott directing celebrated Irish playwright John Millington Synge's The Playboy of Western World, which opens April 17 and closes May 22, 2010 (previews begin April 10).  William Butler Yeats called the play "picturesque, poetical, fantastical, a masterpiece of style and of music, the supreme work of our dialect theatre." Synge skillfully weaves a multi-colored, prism-like romantic comedy set in the remote bogs of Ireland's wild Mayo Coast.  Simultaneously haunting and hilarious, Playboy is considered his greatest achievement.

Since its founding in 1991, A Noise Within has presented more than 120 plays from the classics of world literature, each season producing a minimum of six plays from authors ranging from Shakespeare and Molière, to Ibsen, O'Neill and Shaw, to Miller and Williams.  The theatre's consistent dedication to quality has been rewarded with 26 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards, including the Polly Warfield Award for Excellence and the Margaret Harford Award for Distinguished Achievement.  The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle named A Noise Within's production of O'Neill's A Touch of the Poet Best Revival of 2006, and the LA Stage Alliance nominated Jarry's Ubu Roi for six Ovation Awards.  In 2004, the theatre collaborated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen in a performance of Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Hollywood Bowl.

Educational programming at A Noise Within has always been a priority as The company takes seriously its commitment to augment middle and high school students' classroom discovery of classic texts.  The company's educational initiatives have introduced over 180,000 students (approximately 10,000 per year) to the magic of live classical theatre; 245 schools (middle and high school through college) have participated in A Noise Within programs; and 200 serious young actors have graduated from the Professional Internship Program.  Educational programs at A Noise Within are designed to complement classroom studies and enable teachers to promote literacy and cultural awareness.  Conforming to California's educational content standards, the theatre's programs primarily attract English and Literature classes but have also proven to be valuable for ESL students and those studying foreign languages.  A Noise Within's educational programming serves a diverse population of students from public, private and parochial schools, from the inner city to the suburbs.  Approximately 30% of ANW's budget is dedicated to educational programs.

Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, co-founders and co-artistic directors of A Noise Within, have produced more than 120 productions and have directed/co-directed more than 40 including the performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.  Other directorial credits include The Winter's Tale, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, The Tempest, Coriolanus, Macbeth, Ubu Roi, Loot, A Flea in Her Ear, Mourning Becomes Electra, Great Expectations, Buried Child, Another Part of the Forest, Life is A Dream, Master Builder, The Price, Oliver Twist, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Rehearsal.  For four consecutive years, Elliott and Rodriguez-Elliott have conducted a workshop for the National Endowment for the Arts Journalism Institute in Theatre and Musical Theatre at the
University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication.

Julia Rodriguez-Elliott has extensive experience teaching theatre arts to students from middle school to college and regularly conducts student workshops as part of A Noise Within's educational programming.  She has served on theatre panels for organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the LA Stage Alliance. In addition, she regularly conducts lectures for CalArts, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and schools throughout the California State and University of California school systems, to name a few.

Geoff Elliott has performed major roles for some of the leading regional theatres in America, including The American Conservatory Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Arizona Theatre Company, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and California Shakespeare Festival.  He has received three Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle awards and more than a dozen other awards for acting.  His
Shakespearean roles include Iago in Othello, Theseus/Oberon in a Midsummer Night's Dream, Coriolanus, Richard in King Richard III and Hamlet.  He has also performed leading roles in classic plays by such authors as O'Neill, Miller, Ibsen, Rostand, Wilde and Williams.

Elliott and Rodriguez-Elliott each hold a BFA from the University of Florida and an MFA from The American Conservatory Theatre.

A Noise Within is located at 234 South Brand Boulevard, Glendale, CA  91204.

To purchase tickets or for a full season brochure, call 818-240-0910 x1 or visit www.ANoiseWithin.org.  To support A Noise Within's capital campaign and for more information about A Noise Within's new home in Pasadena, call 818-265-7964 or visit www.ANoiseWithin.org.

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