New Theatre for a New Audience Season To Feature Abraham, Camp, Thompson

Founding Artistic Director Jeffrey Horowitz announced Theatre for a New Audience will dedicate its 31st season to two literary giants. The season is three parts Shakespeare and one part Dostoevsky: an original adaptation of Dostoevsky's novella Notes from Underground, Shakespeare's late romance Cymbeline, the dark comedy The Merchant of Venice and the tragedy Macbeth.

Theatre for a New Audience, in association with Baryshnikov Arts Center, presents the New York premiere of Yale Repertory Theatre's production of Notes from Underground, the revolutionary novella by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is adapted for the stage by OBIE Award-winning actor Bill Camp and RoBert Woodruff (Artistic Director, American Repertory Theatre 2003-08) and stars Mr. Camp and is directed by Mr. Woodruff. It is translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.

When it premiered at Yale Repertory Theatre last season, The Boston Globe said the production is "brutal, funny, agonizing and profound...It is at once a faithful adaptation of Dostoevsky's strangely modern novel and a brilliantly original and theatrical work of art." Notes from Underground plays at the Baryshnikov Arts Center's Jerome Robbins Theater, 450 West 37th Street. Running two hours, previews begin November 7 for an opening November 11. It runs through November 20.

Theatre for a New Audience next presents the Off Broadway debut of Fiasco Theater and its production of Cymbeline. When it played Off-Off Broadway last season, the production was hailed by The New York Times as "lovable... spunky ...dazzling." As dizzyingly eventful a drama as Shakespeare ever conceived, Cymbeline tells of a beautiful princess separated from her beloved, the cruel step-mother who tries to kill her, a credulous husband duped by an adversary, an exiled nobleman who kidnaps a king's sons and a Roman invasion of Britain.

Co-directed by Noah Brody and Ben Steinfeld, six actors of Fiasco Theater play 14 roles. Their theatrical transformations playfully deepen the drama's themes of error, deception and redemption. Cymbeline will play at The New Victory Theater, 209 West 42nd Street. It begins previews January 13 for an opening January 16 and runs through January 30.

F. Murray Abraham as Shylock 

Theatre for a New Audience's 2007 production of The Merchant of Venice, directed by Darko Tresnjak and starring Academy Award-winner (Amadeus) F. Murray Abraham, sold out Off Broadway and at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Complete Works Festival. Now, it returns to New York before embarking on the company's first national tour to Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles.

Charles Isherwood, New York Times, wrote that F. Murray Abraham's performance was "haunting...in a performance as daring as it is powerful." When it played at the RSC, Michael Billington, The Guardian, gave the production four stars and said "in its visible modernity, Tresnjak presents a money-driven world where wealth can never resolve inbuilt racial and religious tensions."

The Merchant of Venice will play at Pace University's Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts, 3 Spruce Street. It previews February 27, opens March 5, and runs through March 13.

Theatre for a New Audience's new production of Macbeth re-unites Arin Arbus with John Douglas Thompson who won OBIE and Lucille Lortel Awards for his performance in Ms. Arbus's staging of Othello two seasons ago for Theatre for a New Audience. The New York Times calls John Douglas Thompson "one of the most compelling classical stage actors of his generation" and in 2009, recognized Arin Arbus as "the most gifted new director to emerge this year." Julian Crouch (co-artistic director, Improbable Theatre) will do set design and puppetry. Macbeth will be at The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 West 42nd Street. It previews March 12 and opens March 20 for a run through April 22.

A four-play subscription will be available beginning mid July 2010 and may be ordered from Theatre for a New Audience at www.tfana.org. Single tickets will be available in the fall of 2010. Visit www.tfana.org for ticketing information.

For ages 25 and under, $10.00 New Deal tickets may be purchased in advance for any performance. New Deal tickets are sold on a first come, first served basis along with all other tickets. There are no restrictions on the number of New Deal tickets available for each performance, but there is a limit of 2 that can be purchased via the phone or online. Valid ID listing proof of age must be shown for each New Deal ticket purchased; failure to show proof of age will result in a surcharge for a full-price ticket.

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