Kate Burton, Lea DeLaria, and More Announced for Red Bull's 2018-19 Season

Red Bull Theater today announced the new season of its OBIE Award-winning Revelation Reading Series, the unique opportunity to hear rarely-produced classic plays, and brand new plays in conversation with the classics, performed by the finest actors in New York.

"The combination of classic material, extraordinary artists and their visionary perspectives are going to make for a delightful and dramatically incendiary 2018-'19 season at Red Bull Theater. I'm particularly pleased to announce more diverse contemporary voices joining our conversation with the classics than ever before. Where else can you hear Shakespeare, George Eliot, Ben Jonson, and Aphra Behn in thrilling theatrical dialogue with contemporary writers and directors like May Adrales, Vivienne Benesch, Amy Freed, Lauren Gunderson, Jeffrey Hatcher, Mike Poulton, and Cathy Tempelsman? With five premieres in the mix (including the first-ever NYC performance of a recently discovered Edith Wharton play), our Revelation Reading series is really hopping with new and neglected voices. And we have two Off-Broadway productions lined up for the spring, as we make a full-throttled return to our work with the Jacobean plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries: Louisa Proske's thrilling new production of Webster's The White Devil, and Erica Schmidt's timely and powerful adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth," said Mr. Berger.

This year's slate of readings is sure to delight audiences all season long. Revelation Readings will take place on Monday evenings (7:30PM) at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street), and will include:

• Monday November 12: The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd, directed by Louisa Proske, with Matthew Amendt, Tina Benko, Emily Swallow, James Udom and Olivier Award Winner Chukwudi Iwuji. Proske is a recipient of 2018 Princess Grace Award.
• Monday December 10: The Book of Will by Lauren Gunderson, directed by Davis McCallum, featuring Marco Barricelli, Jennifer LeBlanc, Triney Sandoval, and more. New York Premiere.
• Monday January 28: The Shadow of a Doubt by Edith Wharton, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt, featuring Emily Brown, Kate Burton, Marin Ireland, and Jay O. Sanders. New York Premiere.
• Monday February 25: Friedrich Schiller's Don Carlos, a new version by Mike Poulton (Wolf Hall Parts One & Two, Fortune's Fool), directed by Jesse Berger, with Patrick Page (Hadestown, Saint Joan, Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark).
• Monday March 25: Sir Patient Fancy by Aphra Behn, directed by Leigh Silverman, starring Lea DeLaria (two-time Screen Actors Guild Award winner for "Orange is the New Black").
• Monday April 15: A Most Dangerous Woman by Cathy Tempelsman, directed by Pamela Berlin (Steel Magnolias). With Nick Choksi, Stephen DeRosa, Ben Mehl, Rachel Pickup, and Derek Smith. New York Premiere.
• Monday May 13: Shrew! by Amy Freed, with Dakin Matthews, Danny Scheie and more, directed by Doug Hughes (Tony Award winner for Doubt). New York Premiere.
• Monday June 24: The Alchemist by Jeffrey Hatcher adapted from Ben Jonson, directed by Jesse Berger, featuring Reg Rogers. World Premiere of a Red Bull Theater commission from the same team that created last season's acclaimed hitThe Government Inspector.
• Monday July 15: 9th Annual Short New Play Festival, directed by May Adrales and Vivienne Benesch.

The 2018-'19 season will kick off with the one night only all-star benefit performance ofNoël Coward's Tonight at 8:30 on Monday October 15th (7:30 PM) at Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space (2537 Broadway, at 95th Street). Rosemary Harris, who received Tony Award nominations for Coward's Hay Fever and the world premiere of his Waiting in the Wings, leads an all-star cast that features Nick Choksi, Joanna Gleason, Judy Kuhn, Mark Linn-Baker, Talene Monahon, Brad Oscar, Chris Sarandon, Jeanine Serralles, Mary Testa, Raphael Nash Thompson, Michael Urie, and more to be announced.

Tonight at 8:30 features the brilliant wit of Noël Coward in three delightful bites, served up by a cast of New York's most delectable actors. After complimentary sparkling spirits, the evening unfolds: Red Peppers, described by Coward as "a vaudeville sketch sandwiched in between two parodies of music hall songs;" Shadow Play: A Musical Fantasy, a surreal love story between a married couple and their younger selves; and Ways and Means, a madcap comedy about a young couple on the make. These are three gems from a cycle of ten one-acts, originally written for Coward himself to perform with the legendary Gertrude Lawrence, after audiences couldn't get enough of them in Private Lives.

Red Bull's first mainstage production of the season will be John Webster's The White Devil,directed by Louisa Proske, which will have its first NY production in over fifty years; it was last seen in 1965 at the Circle in the Square starring Frank Langella. Performances will begin March 19th, with opening night set for March 31st. The limited run will continue through April 14th. The play was first performed at the original Red Bull theatre in North London in the early months of 1612. Morality is torn to shreds as a passionate affair unleashes a murderous revenge plot in this Jacobean thriller-as terrifying as it is entertaining. Cast and design team will be announced shortly.

MAC BETH, adapted and directed by Erica Schmidt, will be the second mainstage production, playing a limited Off-Broadway engagement May 7th through June 2nd only, with Opening Night set for May 19th. In Schmidt's powerful, contemporary production, seven young women gather after school to retell the story of Macbeth using Shakespeare's original text. Running time is 90 minutes with no intermission. 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). Cast and design team will be announced shortly.

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

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos

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