Peter Sarsgaard Leads CSC's HAMLET, Opening Tonight

Classic Stage Company presents William Shakespeare's HAMLET, starring acclaimed actor Peter Sarsgaard as Hamlet, and directed by Austin Pendleton. HAMLET marks the third collaboration between Sarsgaard and Pendleton at CSC; they teamed previously on Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters.

Joining Sarsgaard in the cast are Penelope Allen (Gertrude), Jim Broaddus (Player King/others), Glenn Fitzgerald (Laertes), Austin Jones (Horatio), Lisa Joyce (Ophelia), Scott Parkinson (Rosencrantz/others), Daniel Morgan Shelley (Guildenstern/others), Stephen Spinella (Polonius) and Harris Yulin (Claudius).

Previews for HAMLET began on March 27 at CSC (136 East 13th Street) for a limited engagement through May 10. The official press opening is tonight, April 15.

Scenic design for HAMLET is by Walt Spangler, costume design by Constance Hoffman, lighting design by Justin Townsend and original music and sound design by Ryan Rumery.

Tickets are available beginning Thursday, February 26 at 12 pm. Tickets start at $65 and are available at www.classicstage.org or by calling (212) 352-3101 / 866-811-4111 or at the box-office at 136 East 13th Street (between Third and Fourth Avenues).

CSC is the award-winning Off-Broadway theatre committed to re-imagining the classical repertory for contemporary audiences. For more than 45 years, CSC has been a home for New York's finest established and emerging artists to grapple with the great works of the world's repertory that speak directly to the issues of today. CSC serves an average of 35,000 audience members annually, including more than 4,000 students through its nationally-recognized education programs. Recent productions include: Turgenev's A Month in the Country with Peter Dinklage and Taylor Schilling; Rodgers & Hammerstein's Allegro; Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle with Christopher Lloyd, and Galileo with F. Murray Abraham; Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Passion with Melissa Errico, Judy Kuhn and Ryan Silverman; Chekhov's Ivanov with Ethan Hawke, The Cherry Orchard with Dianne Wiest and John Turturro, Three Sisters with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessica Hecht, Juliet Rylance and Peter Sarsgaard, Uncle Vanya with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Denis O'Hare and Peter Sarsgaard, and The Seagull with Dianne Wiest and Alan Cumming; David Ives' The Heir Apparent, Venus in Fur with Nina Arianda (Broadway transfer 2011/2012, Tony Award nom., Best Play), The School for Lies with Hamish Linklater, and New Jerusalem with Richard Easton; Unnatural Acts, conceived by Tony Speciale; Anne Carson's An Oresteia; and Shakespeare's The Tempest with Mandy Patinkin, A Midsummer Night's Dream with Bebe Neuwirth, and Richard III, Richard II and Hamlet with Michael Cumpsty. CSC productions have been cited repeatedly by all the major Off-Broadway theatre awards: Obie, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work.

PENELOPE ALLEN (Gertrude) is thrilled to be returning to the theatre, and working for the first time with Classic Stage Company. Broadway credits include: Richard III, A Streetcar Named Desire, Enemies, The Moon Besieged. Film credits include: Passenger Side, Three Days of Rain, A Visit from the Sergeant Major with Unintended Consequences, Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her, The Thin Red Line, Hurlyburly, The War at Home, The Crossing Guard, Schemes, Bad Lieutenant, The Bedroom Window, Inmates: A Love Story, A Time for Miracles, Resurrection, On the Nickel, Dog Day Afternoon, Scarecrow, It Ain't Easy, and Oh! What a Lovely War.

JIM BROADDUS (Player King/others). Jim Broaddus has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally and in film, and has appeared in numerous commercials, both on-camera and voice-over. Broadway: Romeo & Juliet, Saint Joan, Tartuffe, 13 Rue de L'Amour. Off-Broadway: Twelfth Night, Richard II, Look Homeward Angel, Ghosts. Regional: She Stoops to Conquer, The Contrast.

GLENN FITZGERALD (Laertes). Theatre: Ivanov (CSC), The Importance of Being Earnest (Williamstown Theatre Festival), The Realistic Joneses (Yale Rep), This (Playwrights Horizons/CTG), Lobby Hero (Playwrights Horizons/Lucille Lortel nom.), Hedda Gabler (NYTW), Blue/Orange (Atlantic Theater Company), Mizlansky/Zilinsky (MTC). Film: Flirting with Disaster, The Ice Storm, A Price Above Rubies, The Sixth Sense, Finding Forrester, Manny & Lo, Series 7, The Believer, Tully, 40 Days and 40 Nights, Buffalo Soldiers, Trust the Man. TV: "Dirty Sexy Money," "Madame Secretary," "Elementary," " Six Feet Under," "Law & Order," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "CSI: Miami," "Homicide: Life on the Street."

AUSTIN JONES (Horatio). New York credits: Someone Who'll Watch Over Me (Next In Line Productions); A Skull in Connemara (understudy, Roundabout); Reason for Leaving (The Public); Unbound and Man Is Man (Prospect Theatre Company); The Train Play and Down Winders (Clubbed Thumb). Regionally: Gin-Jazz-Love-Drama at Stamford Center for the Arts; Measure for Measure and Revizor at Yale Rep and The Dumbwaiter and Seven Blowjobs at Yale Cabaret. Film/TV: "Louie," "Boardwalk Empire," "The Sopranos," "Law & Order," "Law & Order: SVU," "Lipstick Jungle." Austin has an MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama.

LISA JOYCE (Ophelia). CSC: The Forest. Broadway/West End: La Bete. Off-Broadway: Our New Girl (Atlantic), The Mound Builders (Signature), House For Sale (Transport Group), The Ugly One (SoHo Rep, Drama Desk nom.), Thinner than Water (LABrynth), Love, Loss and What I Wore (Daryl Roth Prod.), Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson (The Public), That Pretty Pretty; or, The Rape Play (Rattlestick), Beast (NYTW), U.S. Drag & Vengeance (StageFARM), Red Light Winter (Barrow Street, original cast). Regional: Touched (Williamstown), Blackbird (Helen Hayes Award). National Tour: Doubt (Helen Hayes nom.). Film: Ricki & The Flash, A Master Builder, Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight (HBO), The Brave One, The Messenger. TV: "Billy + Billie" (Neil LaBute, DirectTV), "The Following" (recurring), "The Good Wife," "Boardwalk Empire" (recurring), "Fringe," "Law & Order," "Law & Order: SVU."

SCOTT PARKINSON (Rosencrantz/others). Broadway: The Coast of Utopia (Lincoln Center). National tour: The 39 Steps. Off-Broadway: Our Town; Orson's Shadow (Barrow Street); The Third Story (MCC); Rose Rage (Drama League nom., ensemble; Jefferson award, Chicago); Crime & Punishment (59E59). Regional: Hartford Stage; Old Globe; Mark Taper Forum; La Jolla Playhouse; Shakespeare Theatre; An Iliad and c*ck(Helen Hayes nom.) at Studio Theatre. Chicago: Chicago Shakespeare, Writer's Theatre, Goodman, the Court. Roles include Hamlet, Richard II, Richard III, Iago, Mercutio, Puck, Treplev, Cassius, Angelo, Judge Brack, Octavius Caesar, Tom Wingfield, Prior Walter, and the Fool. TV: "Forever," "Law & Order: SVU." Featured interview, "North American Players of Shakespeare."

PETER SARSGAARD (Hamlet). This is Peter's third production with Austin Pendleton at CSC. Their previous collaborations were Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters. Selected Credits - Stage: The Seagull, Burn This, Kingdom of Earth. Film: Blue Jasmine, Night Moves, An Education, The Dying Gaul, Shattered Glass, Center of the World, Boys Don't Cry, Green Lantern, etc. TV: "The Killing," "The Slap." Upcoming Films: Lady Grey, Experimenter, Pawn Sacrifice, Black Mass.

DANIEL MORGAN SHELLEY (Guildenstern/others). Theatre credits include: Othello in Othello with Oberon Theatre Ensemble; Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet, Oswald in King Lear, Athos in The Three Muskateers at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival; Addison in Safe House at Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; Albert/Kevin in Clybourne Park at the Geva & Cleveland Playhouse; Nat Turner in The Insurgents at Contemporary American Theatre Festival; George in A Raisin in the Sun at Playmakers Rep; The Man Who Ate Michael Rockefeller at The ArcLight; Clinton in Hater at the Ohio Theatre/SoHo Think Tank; Paul in Saturnalia at Music Theatre Group. TV: "Law & Order," "Blue Bloods," "Law & Order: SVU."

STEPHEN SPINELLA (Polonius). Broadway: Angels in America: Millenium Approaches (Tony, Drama Desk awards), Angel in America: Perestroika (Tony and Drama Desk awards), James Joyce's The Dead (Outer-Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards, Tony Nomination), Electra, A View From the Bridge, Our Town (with Paul Newman), Spring Awakening, The Velocity of Autumn (with Estelle Parsons). Off-Broadway: The Seagull (with Meryl Streep), Troilus and Cressida (Bayfield Award), A Question of Mercy, Love! Valour! Compassion! (Obie Award), The Intelligent Homosexual, Volpone, A Man's a Man, An Iliad (Obie and Lucille Lortel Awards) and As You Like It. TV: "The Education of Max Bickford," "Alias," "Frasier," "Will and Grace," "The Mentalist," "Law and Order," "24," "Desperate Housewives," currently on "Royal Pains" and "The Knick." Film: Virtuosity, Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Jackel, Great Expectations, Cradle Will Rock, Rubber, Milk, Lincoln.

HARRIS YULIN (Claudius). Harris Yulin's last New York stage appearance was in Frank's Home (Obie Award) at Playwrights Horizons. He subsequently played Willy Loman at The Gate Theatre, Dublin and Big Daddy at The Cattauqua Festival. His Shakespeare roles have included Prospero, Cassius, Henry V, Oberon, King John, King Lear, etc. His production of Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful played an extended engagement at The Signature Theatre, winning four Lortel Awards (production, actress, featured actress, direction) and travelled to The Goodman Theatre in Chicago. He has appeared in a good number of movies, done a considerable amount of radio and recorded Norman Mailer's last novel, The Castle in the Forest.

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