Red Bull Theater Sets 12th Season with THE CHANGELING, SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL, Star-Packed Readings and More

Red Bull Theater today announced that their 12th Season will include revivals of Thomas Middleton and William Rowley's THE CHANGELING and Richard Brinsley Sheridan's THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL, along with an all new season of their acclaimed 'Revelation Readings.'

Among them will be George Etherege's THE MAN OF MODE, John Marston's THE MALCONTENT, Cyril Tourneur's THE ATHEIST'S TRAGEDY, Ben Jonson's EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR, Thomas Middleton's A TRICK TO CATCH THE OLD ONE, Philip Massinger's THE ROMAN ACTOR, Shakespeare's CORIOLANUS, Frances Burney's THE WOMAN HATER, Shakespeare's HAMLET, William Congreve's THE WAY OF THE WORLD.

Plus, the sixth annual SHORT NEW PLAY FESTIVAL, with casts that include Steven Boyer (Hand to God), Arnie Burton (Irma Vep - Red Bull Theater; Lives of the Saints); Carson Elrod (Peter and the Starcatcher, Reckless, Noises Off), Chukwudi Iwuji (Henry VI Trilogy - Royal Shakespeare Company, Tamburlaine, King Lear); Arian Moayed (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo), Patrick Page (The Duchess of Malfi - Red Bull Theater, Spring Awakening), Matthew Rauch (The Revenger's Tragedy - Red Bull Theater; "Banshee"), Jay O. Sanders (Titus Andronicus, "Person of Interest"), Sam Tsoutsouvas (The Witch of Edmonton - Red Bull Theater; By Jeeves), and Nick Westrate (Loot - Red Bull Theater, Casa Valentina), among others.

"I couldn't be more thrilled about our upcoming 'Season of Scandal!'" said Artistic Director Jesse Berger, "It's a pleasure to bring two great Off-Broadway productions of rarely seen classics to the Lortel - one an incredibly intense Jacobean drama, the other one of the greatest English comedies ever written - both fascinating and entertaining studies of human nature. Alongside these two productions, this year's Revelation Reading Series-with classic rarities, innovative explorations of Shakespeare, and our annual Short New Play Festival-is going to be a great ride. As our 12th season gets underway, I'm especially looking forward to all the wonderful artists joining us!"

Thomas Middleton and William Rowley's THE CHANGELING, directed by Jesse Berger, will begin a limited engagement December 26th, 2015 at The Lucille Lortel Theater (121 Christopher Street). Opening Night is set for January 10th, 2016. How far will you go to follow your heart? Beatrice-Joanna is in love with Alsemero - who is unfortunately not her fiancée. But when she employs her loathsome servant De Flores to bump off her betrothed, the price is her own virgin flesh. Together with a madcap subplot set in an insane asylum, this brilliant and rarely performed Jacobean tragedy explores the follies of love and the nature of madness. Member tickets available now. Single tickets for The Changeling go on sale November 1st, 2015.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan's THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL, directed by Marc Vietor, will begin its limited engagement April 8th at the Lortel Theater. Opening Night is set for April 24th, 2016. In this comic masterpiece, Sheridan mercilessly dissects a social network of grotesques, gossips, lustful hypocrites and anonymous assassins of reputation who live in a world without privacy, morality or taste. After seventeen years abroad Oliver Surface returns home incognito to test the true characters of his nephews, Charles (a prodigal, apparently), and Joseph (a paragon, supposedly). Meanwhile he discovers his old friend Peter Teazle has wed a young country wife and is in marital purgatory, being victimized in print and society by a spiteful team of imbeciles and rumor-mongers - Fun for the whole family. Member tickets available now. Single tickets for The School For Scandal will go on sale November 1st, 2015.

Red Bull will offer a special benefit reading and party to kick off the Twelfth Season on Monday October 26th (7:30pm): George Etherege's THE MAN OF MODE, or, Sir Fopling Flutter, directed by Jesse Berger with Marsha Mason, Michael Urie, Matthew Amendt, Suzanne Bertish, Kathryn Meisle, Amelia Pedlow, Everett Quinton, Reg RogeLiv Rooth, Mary Testa, and more... Libertine or liberator? London's leading rake wreaks hilarious havoc on high society in this - the original Restoration Comedy - with help from Sir Fopling Flutter, the first and greatest of the Restoration fops. An exclusive party with cast and special guests follows the benefit reading. Tickets are $150 for Reading & Post-performance Party; $300 for Premium Benefit Seating as well as the Party & VIP Pre-show Cocktails. A limited number of Reading Only tickets will be available for $75. Purchase tickets at www.redbulltheater.com or by phone at (212) 352-3101. Tickets On Sale Now. NOTE: This event takes place at Playwrights Horizons, 416 West 42nd Street.

Red Bull Theater's OBIE Award-winning Revelation Readings (Monday evenings at 7:30pm) present staged readings of new and rarely performed classic plays from all eras and cultures. With the Jacobean plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries as the cornerstone of our mission, Red Bull Theater is dedicated to the rediscovery and re-investigation of classics from all eras and cultures, and to the development of new plays of heightened language and classical themes. Revelation Readings provides a unique opportunity to hear these plays performed by many of the finest actors in New York.

Revelation Readings begin November 16th (Monday evenings at 7:30 PM, at the Lucille Lortel Theatre) with John Marston's THE MALCONTENT, directed by Derek Smith, featuring Matthew Rauch ("Banshee"); this savage satire follows Malevole, the sarcastic court jester as he lambastes Renaissance Genoa with his caustic wit. But in a tale of false deaths, seductions, and adulteries, is this jester truly what he seems to be? Subsequent Readings include:

Monday December 7: Cyril Tourneur's THE ATHEIST'S TRAGEDY, directed by Ben Prusiner, Featuring Matthew Amendt, Sam Tsoutsouvas, and more; will God punish him? This spine-tingling tale of murder, revenge and deceit by "one of the most shadowy figures of Jacobean drama" follows a ruthless atheist in his uncompromising pursuit of wealth and power.

Monday December 28: Ben Jonson's EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR, Directed by Christopher Bayes, featuring Carson Elrod, Jay O. Sanders, and more; a wacky wedding comedy from the '90s? The 1590's that is... Jonson's famous light-hearted romp follows the classic story of an aristocratic man and his blue-collar bride-to-be. The parents are bound to disapprove!

Monday January 18: Thomas Middleton's A TRICK TO CATCH THE OLD ONE, directed by Craig Baldwin, featuring Steven Boyer (Hand to God); how far would you go to get out of debt? This twisted comedy follows the appropriately named Witgood in his uproarious quest to lie, cheat and hustle his way back into the black.

Monday February 15: Philip Massinger's THE ROMAN ACTOR, featuring Patrick Page (Spring Awakening); how far should a role be taken? This entertaining tragedy puts an actor at the center of a dramatic and dangerous love triangle in a noble condemnation of tyranny and defense of the theater.

Monday March 7: William Shakespeare's CORIOLANUS, directed by Michael Sexton, featuring Chukwudi Iwuji (Olivier Award-winning Henry VI Trilogy at the Royal Shakespeare Company, TFANA's Tamburlaine, NYSF's King Lear); a co-presentation with The Shakespeare Society; what was Shakespeare's take on politics? Between the competing claims of democracy and aristocracy, amidst the din of ravished citizens and rageful soldiers, blooms a personal tragedy of one man's emotional blindness.

Monday April 18: Frances Burney's THE WOMAN HATER, directed by Everett Quinton, featuring Nick Westrate ("Ricki and the Flash," Casa Valentina) and Arnie Burton (39 Steps); a co-presentation with NYU Department of English; the missing link between Sheridan and Wilde, Fanny Burney's rarely seen proto-feminist satire is a hilarious story of broken engagements, excessive romanticism - and one massively misguided misogynist.

Monday May 2: Shakespeare's HAMLET, Directed by Tom Ridgely, featuring Arian Moayed (Tony Award nomination, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo); a co-presentation with Waterwell; this provocative dual-language adaptation of Hamlet, featuring Tony Award-nominated actor Arian Moayed, is set in Arabia circa 1916, on the eve of the first World War and the arrival of the British.

Monday June 27: William Congreve's THE WAY OF THE WORLD; do money and marriage mix? The pinnacle of riotous Restoration Comedies, Congreve's play is an unexpectedly moving tale of the trials and tribulations of true love and true riches.

Tickets for Revelation Readings are $42, with Premium Seats available at $64. Become a Member and get them for as little as $25! (For complete list of Readings and updated cast information, visit www.redbulltheater.com. All artists subject to change.)

Monday July 25th brings Red Bull's Sixth Annual SHORT NEW PLAY FESTIVAL, directed by May Adrales and Evan Yionoulis. Each year, the company selects new works of heightened language and classical themes from today's top established and emerging playwrights. Inspired this year by the theme of scandal, these scribes will conjure wildly diverse tales, catapulting classical theater into the future. At the Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher Street. Tickets will be only $20!

Red Bull Theater, hailed as "the city's gutsiest classical theater" by Time Out New York, is the not-profit Off-Broadway theater company specializing in plays of heightened language. With the Jacobean plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries as its cornerstone, Red Bull Theater embraces the imagination of theatergoers through intimate, imaginative productions of great classic stories from all eras and cultures.

Acclaimed as "a dynamic producer of classic plays" by The New York Times, Red Bull Theater has previously staged productions of Pericles, The Revenger's Tragedy, Edward the Second, Women Beware Women, The Duchess of Malfi, The Witch of Edmonton, The Maids, The Dance of Death, Loot, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Volpone, and last season's hit production of 'Tis Pity She's A Whore. The company's work has been hailed as "the most exciting classical theater in New York" (Time Out New York), "Dynamite!" (The New York Times), "Triumphant" (Associated Press), and "Proof that classical theater can still be surprising after hundreds of years" (Variety).

Red Bull Theater's work has been recognized with multiple Callaway, Drama League, Lucille Lortel, and OBIE Award nominations and Awards. The company has staged over 125 readings through its ongoing OBIE Award-winning Revelation Readings, named by the Village Voice "Best Play Reading Series," and has developed new plays of heightened language and classical adaptations through its Cockpit and In-the-Raw workshop series. Red Bull Theater reaches out to NYC students of all ages through Direct Address education programs teaching Shakespeare in middle schools and offering student matinees. Post-play Bull Session discussions with scholars following selected Sunday matinees and Readings are free and open to the public.

Red Bull Theater offers Master Classes, Classical Acting Intensives and Workshops throughout the year. Taught by top working professionals including Kathleen Chalfant, John Douglas Thompson, Olympia Dukakis, Heidi Griffiths, and Patrick Page, Red Bull Theater's intensives and workshops cover a variety of disciplines, including auditioning, text, voice, movement, clowning, stage combat, and acting Shakespeare. Classes are open to adults at all levels of training or experience. They range from one to six days with limited class sizes to allow one-on-one attention. You can enroll in any combination of classes, or take the whole series for a year-long training experience.

Memberships and member tickets are on sale now, offering up to 40% off regular prices. Single tickets for The School For Scandal and for The Changeling will go on sale November 1st, 2015. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.redbulltheater.com or call (212) 352-3101.

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