Patinkin, Turturro, Wiest & More Featured In CSC's 2009-10 Season; Opens With THE AGE OF IRON 11/4-12/13

Classic Stage Company (CSC), under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, has announced details for their upcoming 2009-10 season.

The esteemed downtown theatre company's 42nd season begins in November with THE AGE OF IRON, an epic retelling of the Trojan War, drawn from the works of two of the most dynamic Elizabethan playwrights, which takes us from the rape of Helen to the sack of Troy. At the center 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. Adapted and directed by Brian Kulick, THE AGE OF IRON will be performed from November 4 through December 13.

In January, from playwright David Ives and director Walter Bobbie, the creative team behind CSC's critically acclaimed production of New Jerusalem, comes VENUS IN FUR, a new play based on one of literature's most infamous erotic novels. VENUS IN FUR goes behind the scenes to an audition for a play in which the lines between fantasy and reality, seduction and power, and love and hate blur. VENUS IN FUR will be performed from January 13 through February 21, 2010.

The third main stage production for the season brings acclaimed Academy Award-winning actress Dianne Wiest back to CSC in Alexander Ostrovsky's THE FOREST, adapted by Kathleen Tolan. Before Chekhov, there was Ostrovsky, Russia's first great theatrical reformer, who forged comedy and drama into a remarkably rich theatrical mix, paving the way for a generation of modern Russian playwrights. Wiest will star in this romantic romp, where the most dangerous creatures in the forest are two vagabond actors who crash a nearby estate posing as gentry. Love, lies and laughter ensue as they turn this otherwise orderly manor upside down. THE FOREST will be performed April 14 through May 23, 2010.

The 2009-2010 season will also include the company's popular First Look Festival. This year First Look turns its gaze to Pirandello, featuring John Turturro in a series of staged readings of Henry IV, among other plays. First Look runs November 16, 23, 30 and December 7.

The new season will also mark the return of CSC's highly popular Open Rehearsal Series, in which audiences experience different acting approaches and directorial interpretations of a classic work. This season CSC will feature Tony Award winner Mandy Patinkin, who starred in CSC's production of Shakespeare's The Tempest last season, as well as a cast of seasoned actors, exploring Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing on successive Monday evenings. Monday Night Much Ado runs January 18 & 25, February 1 & 8, 2010.

CSC will also continue its new Books On Stage Series, which launched last season with their sold out readings in The Proust Project. This season they will tackle Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, and Anna Karenina, on April 26, May 3 & 10, 2010.

CSC will also reunite with the Graduate Acting Program of the Columbia University School of the Arts for the fifth year of The Young Company, CSC'S unique Education and Outreach initiative that has greatly impacted the lives of thousands of young audience members throughout the five boroughs. This season The Young Company will present Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, directed by Tony Speciale, CSC Associate Artistic Director, February 22 through March 5.

Entering 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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