TACT Presents Arthur Miller's INCIDENT AT VICHY, Opens 3/16

The Actors Company Theatre/TACT (Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris and Simon Jones, C0-Artistic Directors), the critically-acclaimed company dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit, will present Arthur Miller's 1964 drama, Incident at Vichy, the playwright's searing examination of the Holocaust. Presented in New York for the very first time since its original production (the play was commissioned for the new Lincoln Center Theatre Company, directed by Harold Clurman and starring Joseph Wiseman, David Wayne and HAl Holbrook), performances of Incident at Vichy begin Sunday, March 8th, 2009. Opening night is Monday, March 16th at 7:30 pm. Performances will continue through Sunday, April 11th.

A detention room in France during the German occupation is the setting for America's preeminent playwright to explore the themes of guilt and complicity with the forces of authority. In Incident at Vichy, ten men have been picked up for ‘questioning.' As the men grapple with the fears, uncertainty and self-denial about the unspeakable fate that awaits them, Miller uniquely examines an historical period whose consequences continue to reverberate today.

Featuring an ensemble of 16, the cast of Incident at Vichy includes TACT company members: Jamie Bennett, Richard Ferrone, Todd Gearhart, Jack Koenig, Ron McClary, James Prendergast and Gregory Salata. The remaining cast of guest artists will be announced shortly.

The creative team is comprised of Scott Bradley (sets), David Toser (costumes), Mary Louise Geiger (lights), Jill BC Du Boff (sound), Joseph Trapanesse (Original Music). Meredith Dixon is Production Stage Manager.

Incident at Vichy will have the following performance schedule: Monday and Wednesday - Friday at 7:30pm; Saturday at 2pm & 8pm; Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $26.25 - $56.25 and are available 24/7 through Ticket Central www.ticketcentral.com or from 12 - 8:00pm daily at 212-279-4200.

They may also be obtained at the Theatre Row box office (410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues) between 12pm and 8pm daily.

The Actors Company Theatre is dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit, with a focus on creating theatre from its essence: the text and the actor's ability to bring it to life.

TACT's celebrated company of actors was drawn together in 1992 by a love of the literature of the theatre. Since that time, they have grown to become a true ensemble: a group that has developed a common vocabulary and a technique based on their specific artistic vision and collective body of work. TACT company members, whose cumulative experience includes scores of significant roles on and off Broadway, in the country's finest regional theatres and in many films and television shows, have received Emmy, Obie, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards, in addition to several Tony nominations.

After presenting thirteen seasons of "in-concert" performances, the company took a leap with its 2006-07 season by presenting fully staged productions of David Storey's Home and The Sea by Edward Bond at The Beckett Theatre on Theatre Row. TACT became a resident company on Theatre Row with its 2007-08 season when they presented critically-acclaimed productions of The Runner Stumbles by Milan Stitt and The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, by Tennessee Williams, which The New York Times included in its "Top 10 Theatre Picks for 2008." The first production of the current season, Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce became an instant hit and enjoyed an extended run.

Arthur Miller
"More than any other art, theater asks for relevance." These words, written by Arthur Miller in a 1965 New York Times editorial, were lived as much by Miller as any other 20th century playwright. The remarkable list of his achievements include the canonical Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), A View from the Bridge (1956), and All My Sons (1947), each an incisive glimpse into their time and an indelible statement on the human condition. Though Miller worked for human rights and political causes, championing dissident writers as the President of the PEN organization, above all he wrote poetry into the mouths of timeless characters that continue to endure. Often in the public eye, most famously for refusing to give evidence against others to the House Un-American Activities Committee, Miller is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama among countless other awards. Miller is considered by audiences and scholars as one of America's greatest playwrights and his plays are lauded throughout the world. When Miller passed away in 2005, the theater lost one of its most challenging and innovative voices.

Scott Alan Evans is Co-Artistic and Executive Director of TACT (The Actors Company Theatre). For fifteen years, Mr. Evans has led the company through steady growth, both artistically and financially and has directed over 60 of its productions. Among those the critically-acclaimed Off-Broadway productions of Home by David Storey, The Sea by Edward Bond, and last season's The Runner Stumbles by Milan Stitt. In May 2001, working closely with the Noel Coward Estate, Mr. Evans directed the world premiere Off-Broadway production of Noel Coward's Long Island Sound. Mr. Evans conceived, co-wrote and directed the world premiere production of The Triangle Factory Fire Project at the Clurman Theatre. The New York Post called it "the theatre event of the season." Triangle has been published by the Dramatists Play Service and has gone on to see productions all over the country. He also wrote and directed the Off-Broadway musical of Goose! Beyond the Nursery which received three Outer Critic Circle Award nominations including Best Off-Broadway Production. Outside of TACT, Mr. Evans has worked with many NYC companies, most recently directing a theater version of Handel's Seven Last Words with the Lincoln Center Chamber Society.

For ten years, Mr. Evans was the Artistic Director of the American Musicals Project (AMP) at The New-York Historical Society. AMP, an academic program which Mr. Evans helped devise and craft, uses great American musicals to help NYC public middle school teachers teach social studies and English. Each spring for the past ten years, as part of AMP's public outreach, he created and directed a concert series celebrating great musical theatre writers. This series, presented at the New-York Historical Society, featured some of Broadway's top performers.

He is member of SSDC and the Dramatist Guild.

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