TACT to Kick Off Post-Show Discussions for HAPPY BIRTHDAY, 3/29

TACT/The Actors Company Theatre will hold post performance talk-backs following select performances of Happy Birthday, the final production of the company's 20th Anniversary Season. TACT Co-Artistic Director Scott Alan Evans directs.

In Happy Birthday, the Jersey Mecca cocktail lounge in Newark, NJ really starts jumping one rainy evening when Addie Bemis, a soft-spoken librarian, decides its time to live it up.

In addition to regularly scheduled talk-backs with the director and cast following every Sunday 2pm matinee performance of Happy Birthday, the company will present unique discussions with experts who will speak to the various themes addressed in the play. The series is as follows:

Friday, March 29 (Following the 8pm performance)
Tales of the City: Newark's Past, Present and Future

Noted historian and distinguished professor of history at Rutgers University in Newark, Dr. Clement A. Price, reflects on the proud heritage and bright future of Newark, the city that serves as the vibrant setting of Anita Loos' "Happy Birthday." A recipient of numerous awards and honors, Dr. Price chaired President Obama's transition team for the National Endowment for the Humanities and currently is vice chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The award-winning PBS documentary, "The Once and Future Newark," features Dr. Price's tour of the historic and contemporary Newark.

Friday, April 12 (Following the 8pm performance)
Mixing it up: The History of the Classic Cocktail

The owner of South Williamsburg's hottest new lounge Donna (Winner of Paper Magazine's Best New Bar of 2012),
and celebrated mixologist Lief Huckman, waxes poetic about the history and returning popularity of the retro cocktail, while supplying samples of his dreamy concoctions. One lucky audience member will receive a custom designed intoxicant featured in the play Happy Birthday.

Every Sunday Afternoon (Following the 2pm performance)
Talk to TACT

Plays always have some kind of agenda - and playwrights weave these agendas deep inside the text and conversation of their characters. Why? So that TACT can help you decode the hidden messages. Please join us for an informal discussion with the cast and the director immediately following every Sunday matinee performance.

The talk-backs are free with the purchase of a ticket to Happy Birthday. For those who have already seen the show but would like to attend one of these events, call the TACT office at (212) 645-8228 to make a reservation. Seating is limited and subject to availability. Programs and dates subject to change without notice. All speakers appearing are subject to availability.

Performances of Happy Birthday began at The Beckett Theatre (410 West 42nd Street - between 9th & 10th Avenues) on Tuesday, March 12th, 2013. Opening night was Thursday, March 21st at 8:00 pm. Performances will continue through Saturday, April 13th.

Happy Birthday plays the following performance schedule: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 & 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. There will be a special matinee performance on Wednesday, April 10th at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 - $58.00 and are available by visiting www.telecharge.com or calling (212) 239-6200. Tickets are also available at the Theatre Row box office (410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues) between 12:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. daily.

To learn about the benefits of TACT membership, 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, John Cecil Holm and George Abbott's Three Men on a Horse and last season's Drama Desk nominated production of Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers became instant hits and enjoyed extended runs.