TACT Presents CHILDREN At Theatre Row Beckett Theatre, Opens 10/27

TACT/The Actors Company Theatre (Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris and Jenn Thompson, Co-Artistic Directors) the critically-acclaimed Off-Broadway company "dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit," announces complete casting for Children, by A.R. Gurney, the first production of the company's 2011/12 season. Directed by TACT Co-Artistic Director Scott Alan Evans, performances begin at Theatre Row's Beckett Theatre (410 West 42nd Street - between 9th & 10th Avenues) on Tuesday, October 18th, 2011. Opening night is Thursday, October 27th at 7:30pm. Performances will continue through Sunday, November 20th.

In the summer of 1970, a wealthy family celebrates the Fourth of July in their ancestral summer home on an island off the coast of New England. When an estranged son unexpectedly arrives, traditions are questioned, secrets revealed and the course of the future changes for them all. Loosely based on a short story by John Cheever, this early work crackles with witty repartee, repressed feelings and everything we've come to expect from this preeminent chronicler of the American WASP.

The cast will include TACT Company Members Darrie Lawrence (The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, You Can't Take it With You), Margaret Nichols (Bedroom Farce, Long Island Sound), Lynn Wright (The Elephant Man, The Memorandum) and Guest Artist Richard Thieriot (Clybourne Park).

The creative team is comprised of Brett J. Banakis (sets), Haley Lieberman (costumes), Bradley King (lights), Stephen Kunken (sound), and Lauren Madden (properties). Jenifer A. Shenker is Production Stage Manager.

First produced in London in 1974, Children gave the first glimpse of Gurney's talent long before he became the well-known playwright he is today. It was also the first work of his to depict the well-healed Northeastern WASP's on which so many of his plays are centered. Although Children has had three different East Coast productions over the years, TACT's staging will be its first major revival since its New York City debut in 1974.

Children will have the following performance schedule: Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday at 7:30pm; Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 2pm & 8pm; Sunday at 2pm. Tickets ($36.25 during previews and $56.25 after opening) are available through TeleCharge - www.telecharge.com/(212) 239-6200. Tickets are also available at the Theatre Row box office (410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues) between 12pm and 6pm daily. To learn about the benefits of TACT membership, please visit www.tactnyc.org or call (212) 645-8228.

TACT/The Actors Company Theatre (Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris & Jenn Thompson, Co-Artistic Directors) 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 company's productions of Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce, Arthur Miller's Incident at Vichy, Sidney Howard's The Late Christopher Bean and last season's production of Three Men on a Horse became instant hits and enjoyed extended runs.

Bios

A.R. Gurney (Playwright) is considered one of America's most prolific and deeply compassionate playwrights. So compassionate that Jason Zinoman of The New York Times once wrote that Gurney "made audiences feel bad for rich men who play golf, and women named Binky." His work, which examines the lives of wealthy White Anglo Saxon Protestants, and their struggle to maintain relevance in a world which is slowly slipping through their fingers, has made him a favorite of American theatre going audiences. A.R. Gurney (known to his friends as Pete) was born on November 1, 1930 in Buffalo, New York. He graduaTEd Williams College in 1952, and later attended The Yale School of Drama, receiving a Master of Arts in playwriting. His stellar career spans over four decades, and boasts numerous productions including The Dining Room, Another Antigone, Love Letters, Labor Day, The Cocktail Hour, Ancestral Voices, and Sylvia - to name a few. Mr. Gurney is the recipient of the Drama Desk Award, The Lucille Lortel Award, and has received grants from The Rockefeller Foundation and The National Endowment of the Arts. He has also been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

Scott Alan Evans (Director) TACT Founding Co-Artistic & Executive Director. Since 1993, TACT has unearthed and Evans has produced and/or directed over 100 forgotten or neglected plays, bringing many back to the cannon of plays produced. Evans' production of T.S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party was among TACT's most successful and was cited as one of the best revival of the season by the Wall Street Journal. For TACT, Evans adapted & directed the US premiere of Nöel Coward's Long Island Sound, and conceived, co-wrote & directed the world premiere of The Triangle Factory Project. The New York Post called Triangle "the theatrical event of the season." The play has been published by Dramatists Play Services and continues to enjoy productions across the country. More recently, Evans has produced ten and directed six of TACT's productions presented at their current home at Theater Row, including Home, The Sea, The Runner Stumbles, Incident at Vichy, The Cocktail Party, and most recently, the critically acclaimed Three Men on a Horse. In addition to his work with TACT, Evans wrote & directed the musical, Goose! Beyond the Nursery (3 Outer Critic Circle Award nominations including Best Off-Broadway Prod.). Other recent NY Theatre: Joseph Hayden's The Seven Last Words... (Chamber Music Society - Lincoln Center); The Constant Wife (NYU Grad. Acting). Mr. Evans served for 10 years as Artistic Director of the American Musicals Project, producing an annual concert series at the New-York Historical Society celebrating great musical theatre writers and featuring Broadway headliners. Education: BFA, Boston Univ., School for the Arts (magna cum laude), and a former student and assistant to Michael Howard at the Michael Howard Studios. He is a member of SDC and the Dramatist Guild.

www.tactnyc.org

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