Frog & Peach Theater Presents AS YOU LIKE IT With Camryn Grimes 4/16-5/10

Frog & Peach Theatre Company (now in its fourteenth season), will present William Shakespeare's comedy"AS YOU LIKE IT," directed by Lynnea Benson, and featuring Emmy Award-winner Camryn Grimes as Rosalind. It will be presented at The West End Theatre (the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew), 263 West 86th Street (between West End Avenue and Broadway). Performances will begin on Thursday, April 16 and the official opening performance will be on Sunday, April 19 at 3:00 PM. Performances will run thru May 10.

"AS YOU LIKE IT" is the Bard's romantic comedy set mainly in an idyllic forest-the Forest of Arden-where a handsome young man (Orlando) and a beautiful witty young lady (Rosalind)-deeply in love-are united, and where villains are reformed. The forest emerges as the environment in which honest responses engendered by love can grow within the individual. Shakespeare also explores the nature of appearance and reality in "AS YOU LIKE IT." Murderous treachery, sexual politics, and seizure of assets are the family values in this, Shakespeare's most beloved comedy.

Director Lynnea Benson has directed over two-dozen Shakespeare productions for Frog Peach including:Richard III; Hamlet (with Austin Pendleton as Claudius and The Ghost); Richard II (with Mr. Pendleton as Richard); Much Ado About Nothing (with Earle Hyman as Leonato); Macbeth (with Ted Zurkowski as Macbeth);King Lear (with Jaime Sanchez as Lear); and King John (with Oscar nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno as Blanche). Ms. Benson is also Artistic Producer and co-founder of Frog & Peach.

The cast for "AS YOU LIKE IT" will include Camryn Grimes (Rosalind), Lenny Ciotti (Touchstone), Joe Corey (Duke Frederick/Duke Senior), Eric Doss (Le Beau/Amiens), Sam Encarnacion (Sylvius), Larry Greenbush (Adam), Monica Jones (Celia), Bruce Nicholls (Charles/Corin), Harry Oram (Orlando), Robert Pass (Hugo), Amy Frances Quint (Audrey), Joseph W. Rodriguez (Oliver), Melinda Stewart (Phebe),William Slater Welles (Martext/Hymen/William), and Sidney Williams (Jacques). Ms. Grimes won a Daytime Emmy for her role as Cassie Newman on The Young and Restless which she appeared on from 1997 to 2005. Camryn also received two additional Emmy nominations for the role. Other television credits include: ER, Medium, and JAG. Her film credits include Swordfish and Paper Bags. Mr. Ciotti, an Italian actor from Rome, has played leading and supporting roles in Shakespearian plays throughout Italy in additional to contemporary plays and musicals. Mr. Doss has appeared with the Houston Shakespeare Festival in Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, As You Like It, and Measure for Measure. Ms. Jones has been seen with the Hudson Shakespeare Company (Julius Caesar), Love Creek Productions (Richard III), and Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park (Love's Labour's Lost). Mr. Nicholls recent New York credits include: Barefoot in Athens, If Peanuts Were Emeralds(Shetler Theater), and King Lear (Pulse Ensemble Theatre). Mr. Oram studied in London and has performed theater at the Tara Studios (Prints of Denmark; The Girl, The Oil Pipe, and the Murder in the Forum; on the BBC; and other television and film there as well. Ms. Quint has appeared with Frog & Peach in Richard III; at The Ohio in The Increased Difficulty of Concentration (Havel Fest); and in Much Ado About Nothing andMacbeth at Stella Adler Theatre. Ms. Stewart has performed in Shakespearian roles at the New England Shakespeare Festival, Pulse Ensemble Theatre and at Walker Space. Mr. Williams' New York theater credits include Michael Puzzo's The Dirty Talk; Richard Foreman's Nothing; Stephen Adly Guirgis' Little Flower of East Orange; and Robert Glaudini's The Identical Same Temptation.

Frog & Peach Theatre Company, co-founded by Ted Zurkowski and Lynnea Benson-both Actors Studio alumni, is dedicated to staging Shakespeare's plays in shorter format (under two and a half hours) and in keeping with this approach enjoyable for audiences of all ages. The sets for "AS YOU LIKE IT" will be designed by Precious Costello Caldwell, and the lighting by Jak Prince. Jenna Lazar is Associate Producer on this production.

The complete performance schedule for "AS YOU LIKE IT" will be: Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. beginning April 16 and running through May 10. All tickets will be $18.00. The box office number for tickets is 212-868-4444 or www.smarttix.com.

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