S.N. Behrman's BIOGRAPHY To Be Produced By Orso At Theater 3 at The Mint, Previews 11/20

S. N. Behrman's sophisticated comedy "Biography" is being produced Off Broadway this Fall by staff members of the famed Broadway restaurant and regular celebrity haunt - Orso, including General Manager Kevin Albert.

Biography, many say is Behrman's finest work. A sophisticated comedy, the play, much celebrate in its time, centers around the heroine and feminist prototype Marian Froude, a gorgeous and promiscuous painter whose subjects include the powerbrokers of the time. She has had many lovers all round the world but not one husband. When she is approached to write her biography, her subjects come running and the comedy explodes into a maddening clash of ethics and ideas.

According to Robert Garland of the World Telegram the play "occupies a high position in the history of the modern American theatre. Adult and provocative it's an evening of rare play-going felicity."

S. N. Behrman is a New England playwright and screenwriter best known for his work on Queen Christina with Great Garbo and writing the musical libretto for Fanny. He was a staff writer for both The New York Times and The New Yorker. Behrman worked as book reviewer, play reader, and press agent before he turned to playwriting.

Tracy Shayne (Marion Froude) is classically trained singer and dancer, Ms. Shayne has moved through an eclectic casting range for more than two decades. Hired by Michael Bennett as Bebe In A Chorus Line while still in her teens, Tracy continued in the Broadway Production for more than seven years. She went on to replace the original Cosette in Les Miserables, where she remained for an extended run. Cast by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Hal Prince, she played Christine in Phantom of the Opera in New York until the show reached its celebrated 10th year anniversary. (The New York Times hailed her as "...the backbone of the current production" and that "...it's easy to believe that a fiend who haunts an Opera House would become obsessed with this musically gifted Actress".) Ms. Shayne starred in the pre-Broadway revival of Fosse, and later that year originated Martha in a World Premiere of Missing Footage at The Old Globe Theater. She came back to Broadway as Roxie Hart in Chicago. Her performance as Sunny Jacobs in the Regional Premiere of The Exonerated marked a return to straight plays. Her selected television credits include guest-starring roles on the original Law and Order, and later on Law and Order, Criminal Intent. Additionally, she was featured in Kennedy Center Honors, A Tribute to Hal Prince, and as a Principal Dancer in Baryshnikov on Broadway. Ms. Shayne is a select soloist on the Grammy-winning International symphonic recording of Les Miserables as Cosette, performing with The London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Pamela Moller Kareman (Director) After graduating from The Neighborhood Playhouse, where she studied with Sanford Meisner, Ms. Moller Kareman served as director of the comedy group, Cracked Tokens, starring Mary Steenburgen and Joanna Lipari. They performed throughout the city and spent two seasons as the resident company of the Manhattan Theater Club's cabaret. For five years she served as Artistic Director of New York's Acorn Productions, about which The New York Times raved, "they deserve a welcome!". In 1987 Acorn's production of Alan Ayckbourn's, Bedroom Farce, starring Brooke Palance and Michael Wilding, inaugurated professional theater at The Schoolhouse. During her tenure as Artistic Director of the Schoolhouse, (a professional regional theater of consequence... The NY Times), she has had the good fortune to direct numerous wonderful plays by many of America's best playwrights. Some of her favorites include; Beth Henley's, Abundance and Crimes of The Heart, Albert Innaurato's, Gemini, Tennessee Williams', Kingdom of Earth, William Saroyan's, The Cave Dweller's, Tina Howe's, One Shoe Off, George Kelly's, The Show Off, Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosensweig and Donald Margulies', Dinner With Friends. Off Broadway she directed, Nora, by Ingmar Bergman, produced by TestPilot Productions, and Arthur Miller's, The Crucible. Ms. Moller Kareman serves on the board of The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater and Theater 808 and is a proud member of the professional theater director's union, SDC.

Kevin Albert (Leander Nolan) played the role of Bunny Nolan in the previous production of Biography at The Schoolhouse Theater and is thrilled to be a part of this amazing cast in the city. Last year he played Reverend Hale in The Crucible at The Schoolhouse Theater and Off -Broadway. Other roles include Bobby in North of Providence and Michael in Welded both in New York City as well as the European Tours of West Side Story and My Fair Lady with Richard Chamberlain and the National Tour of West Side Story playing Bernardo. Kevin is on the board of directors for Mare Nostrum Elements (MNE), which he co-founded in 2001 with Nicola Iervasi. With MNE he teaches Movement Theater, produces and directs dance, theater and experimental Theater Productions including Mediterranean Voices at La MaMa ETC

Mare Nostrum Elements is a not-for-profit New York City based performance group and Production Company that, since 2001, has been creating emotionally driven dance, theater and movement and productions normally offered to the community at low cost. The name Mare (the sea) Nostrum (our) is the old Latin term used during the Roman Empire to refer to the Mediterranean Sea. The empire encompassed many nationalities and cultures that stretched around the sea; Mare Nostrum was - and is - The Common element that connects people.

Biography plays at Theatre 3 at the Mint. Previews run from Friday November 20 to Monday November 23 at 7.30pm with a matinee only on Sunday November 22 at 3pm. Biography opens Tuesday November 24 at 7.30pm and runs Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7.30pm, Wednesdays at 2pm and Sundays at 3pm until Saturday December 19 with a special benefit performance on Saturday December 5. Tickets, priced $45 are available by phone on 212-352-3101 or online at www.theatermania.com

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