All-Female MAC BETH Announces One-Week Extension

Red Bull Theater today announced a one-week extension for Mac Beth, the second of its two Off-Broadway productions this season. Performances begin tonight, Tuesday May 7th, at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street between Bleecker & Hudson Streets). Tickets are now on sale through June 9th! Opening Night set for May 19th.

Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan, The Hunger Games, All The Fine Boys), Ismenia Mendes(CSC's The Liar, Cressida in NYSF's Troilus & Cressida), AnnaSophia Robb ("The Carrie Diaries," "The Act," "Mercy Street," Down A Dark Hall), Sharlene Cruz (Den of Thieves at Harlem Rep), Sophie Kelly-Hedrick (Off-Broadway debut), Lily Santiago(New York Shakespeare Festival's Othello), and Ayana Workman (The Price of Thomas Scott - Mint, Juliet in NYSF's Romeo & Juliet) star in Mac Beth, adapted and directed byErica Schmidt from Shakespeare.

In Schmidt's production seven girls meet up to do a play in an empty lot outside the city on an autumn afternoon. School uniform tartan transforms in this American urban wasteland. The girls are witches, ghosts, and kings. Using only Shakespeare's text, they hurl headlong into the unchecked passions of Macbeth as the line between real life and blood fantasy quickly blurs. Through prophecies and smartphones, unexpected resonances emerge from Shakespeare's dark nightmare of ambition gone awry.

Erica Schmidt's numerous credits include Richard II with Robert Sean Leonard; All the Fine Boys (The New Group, wrote and directed); Turgenev's A Month in the Country with Peter Dinklage and Taylor Schilling (CSC); Taking Care of Baby (MTC); Trust (The Play Company, Callaway Award nomination); As You Like It (Public Theater/NYSF); Debbie Does Dallas (wrote and directed Off-Broadway).

Mac Beth will have set design by Catherine Cornell, costume design by Jessica Pabst, lighting design by Jeff Croiter, and sound design by Erin Bednarz. This adaptation was given its premiere by Seattle Repertory Theater. The running time is 90 minutes with no intermission.

Red Bull Theater, hailed as as "the city's gutsiest classical theater" by Time Out New York, brings rarely seen classic plays to dynamic new life for contemporary audiences, uniting a respect for tradition with a modern sensibility. Named for the rowdy Jacobean playhouse that illegally performed plays in England during the years of Puritan rule, Red Bull Theater is New York City's home for dynamic performances of great plays that stand the test of time. With the Jacobean plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries as its cornerstone, the company also produces new works that are in conversation with the classics. A home for artists, scholars and students, Red Bull Theater delights and engages the intellect and imagination of audiences, and strives to make its work accessible, diverse, and welcoming to all. Red Bull Theater believes in the power of great classic stories and plays of heightened language to deepen our understanding of the human condition, in the special ability of live theater to create unique, collective experiences, and the timeless capacity of classical theater to illuminate the events of our times. Variety agreed, hailing our work as: "Proof that classical theater can still be surprising after hundreds of years."

Since its debut in 2003 with a production of Shakespeare's Pericles starring Daniel Breaker followed by the breakout hit production of The Revenger's Tragedy, Red Bull Theater has served adventurous theatergoers with Off-Broadway productions, Revelation Readings, and the annual Short New Play Festival. The company also offers outreach programs including Shakespeare in Schools bringing professional actors and teaching artists into public school classrooms; Bull Sessions, free post-play discussions with top scholars; and Master Classes in classical acting led by veteran theater professionals.

Acclaimed as "a dynamic producer of classic plays" by The New York Times and "the most exciting classical theater in New York" by Time Out NY, Red Bull Theater has produced 17 Off-Broadway productions including the recent runaway hit The Government Inspector starring Michael Urie, and over 150 Revelation Readings of rarely seen classics, serving a community of more than 5,000 artists and providing quality artistic programming to an audience of over 65,000. The company's unique programming has received ongoing critical acclaim, and has been recognized with Lortel, Drama Desk, Drama League, Callaway, Off Broadway Alliance, and OBIE nominations and Awards.

The productions are made possible through special arrangement with THE Lucille Lortel THEATRE FOUNDATION, created in 1998. Lucille Lortel granted the historic theatre bearing her name to the Foundation to continue her legacy of promoting excellent work long into the future without the economic burdens normally associated with theatre space. The Foundation therefore makes the Lortel Theatre available to not-for-profit organizations at a subsidized cost. The Lucille Lortel Theatre has hosted dozens of theatre companies and is also made available to community groups for meetings and other events. For the calendar of all upcoming activities, a history of the theatre, and more, please visitwww.lortel.org.

For tickets and more information about any of Red Bull Theater's productions and programs, visit RedBullTheater.com.

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