Columbia Stages Presents EURIPIDES' PHOENICIAN WOMEN 11/18-11/21

Columbia Stages presents the Acting class of 2010 in Euripides' Phoenician Women, adapted and directed by Karin Coonrod. War is imminent. The city is held hostage by a conflict in its royal family. The overarching grasp of the individual has triumphed over the community. None of this is lost on the chorus, visitors from the East called Phoenicians. Civilization rests on the virtues of family and city.

The cast includes:

Erin Alexis Grant Boyd Paul Caccamise
Christian T. Chan Stacy Davidowitz Justin Gillman
Jabari Amir Jones Meera Rohit Kumbhani Jon Luke
Elizabeth Lee Malone* Jason Martin Kelly McCrann
Amira Nader Anjili J. Pal Bari Robinson
Monica Santana Brent Yoshikami

In addition to Karin Coonrod, the creative team includes Riccardo Hernandez (Scenic Designer), Peter Ksander (Lighting Designer), Oana Botez Ban (Costume Designer), La Conja (Choreographer), Kyle Sanna (Composer), Henning Hegland (Assistant Director), Ilana Lucas (Dramaturgy), Regina Vorria (Company Manager), and Tom Taylor* (Production Stage Manager).

* Member of Actors' Equity Association

Karin Coonrod (Director) is a national and international theater artist, whose work has been hailed by the New York Times as "prodigiously inventive" and "galvanic," and by The New York Observer for "clear-eyed imaginative intelligence." She is perhaps best known for her epic Henry VI, created at the Joseph Papp Public Theater where she was Artist-in-Residence. Founding Director of critically acclaimed Arden Party Theatre Company (1987-1997) in downtown New York City, she produced, directed and designed texts by many classical greats including Shakespeare, Beckett, Wilde, Brecht, and Sophocles. During this time, her direction of Victor or Children Take Over won Encore's Outstanding Director Award. Also Founding Director of Compagnia de' Colombari, an international theater company based in Orvieto, Italy, she and the company established a new tradition of theater at the city's annual spring Corpus Christi celebration. Ms. Coonrod has also prepared new translations: The House of Bernarda Alba with Nilo Cruz, Christmas at the Ivanovs' with Julia Listengarten, and Victor or Children Take Over with Frederic Maurin, all of which she directed in acclaimed productions. Creating her own adaptation of three of Flannery O'Connor's short stories titled Everything That Rises Must Converge in workshops at the University of Iowa and Sundance Theatre Lab, she directed the world premiere at New York Theatre Workshop in 2001. She also created her own cabaret adaptation of Lorca's Poet in New York with flamenco dancer La Conja. Among her other noteworthy productions: King John, Julius Caesar and Coriolanus at Theatre for a New Audience, Enrico IV at American Repertory Theatre, and Othello at Hartford Stage. With the Columbia University MFA Acting class of 2005, she directed The House of Bernarda Alba which traveled to Bologna, Italy and received the PREMIO DAMS foreign entry award. Most recently she directed Phoenician Women with ART students at the Moscow Art Theater. With Harold Bloom she created the text of The Falstaffiad. Ms. Coonrod has also directed for the operatic stage, most recently in the creation of Blackamoor Angel at Bard College. Born in Chicago, she was educated at Columbia University, where her mentor was Liviu Ciulei.

Performance Schedule:

(performances are at The Riverside Theatre, 91 Claremont Avenue between 120th and 122nd Sts.)

Wednesday, November 18 at 8PM

Thursday, November 19 at 8PM

Friday, November 20 at 8PM

Saturday, November 21 at 2PM & 8PM

Tickets for events at The Riverside Theatre can be purchased online (www.ColumbiaStages.org) or by visiting the box office of The Riverside Theatre. Box Office hours are Thursday-Saturday, 4-8pm; Sunday 12-4pm and 1 hour prior to all performances.

Columbia Stages is the producing arm of the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies of Columbia University's School of the Arts. Columbia Stages presents a season of graduate actor and director productions as well as an annual festival of new plays by emerging playwrights. The theatre program offers MFA degrees in acting, directing, playwriting, dramaturgy, stage management, and theatre management and producing. The goal of the program is to provide each student with the foundation for a career in professional theatre as well as the tools to embrace an ever-changing theatrical landscape and shape the future of the theatre.

For more information, visit www.ColumbiaStages.org

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