The Public Theater Extends Elevator Repair Service's THE SOUND AND THE FURY

The Public Theater announced a two-week extension today for Elevator Repair Service's acclaimed THE SOUND AND THE FURY. Directed by John Collins, THE SOUND AND THE FURY begins performances in The Public's Martinson Theater on Thursday, May 14 with an official press opening on Thursday, May 21. The show will now run an additional two weeks through Saturday, June 27. THE SOUND AND THE FURY will mark the third collaboration between The Public and Elevator Repair Service, having previously presented Gatz and Arguendo.

THE SOUND AND THE FURY is a staging of the first section-the "Benjy Chapter"- of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, one of the most infamously complex passages in American literature. Like ERS' internationally renowned production of Gatz, the play is not an adaptation; rather, with radical commitment ERS stages Faulkner's language. In usual ERS style, humor, pathos, and high-energy choreography illuminate this Southern Gothic tale. ERS takes on Faulkner's daring experimentation with consciousness, perception, memory and language - and honors the author's words to the letter. With innovative casting, split-screen staging in an eerily timeless living room set, video-projected text and a lush sound score, the production brings to life the tragic demise of Faulkner's Compson Family. The intrepid ERS ensemble rises to the challenge of Faulkner's famous experiment and narrative leaps off the page.

Tickets, starting at $60, are available now and can be accessed by calling (212) 967-7555, www.publictheater.org, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street. The Library at The Public is open nightly for food and drinks, beginning at 5:30 p.m., and Joe's Pub at The Public continues to offer some of the best music in the city.

The ensemble cast features Daphne Gaines, Rosie Goldensohn, Mike Iveson, Vin Knight, Aaron Landsman, Randolph Curtis Rand, Greig Sargeant, Kaneza Schaal, Pete Simpson, Susie Sokol, Lucy Taylor, Tory Vazquez and Ben Williams.

THE SOUND AND THE FURY marked the company's Off-Broadway debut in 2008 at New York Theatre Workshop, and received Lucille Lortel Nominations for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Sound Design. The first of ERS' trilogy of modernist American novels to premiere in New York, it brought the company exposure and acclaim it had yet to see in an already lauded New York career. Since then Gatz, Arguendo and The Select (The Sun Also Rises) have established ERS as a critical darling of the Off-Broadway scene. The return of The Sound and the Fury will bring this pioneering work of the company to the large and diverse audience the ensemble has cultivated in the ensuing years. Originally presented in New York by New York Theatre Workshop, the production has since toured the U.S., Europe and Australia.

The production features scenic design by David Zinn; costume design by Colleen Werthmann; lighting design by Mark Barton; sound design by Matt Tierney; and additional costumes by Jacob A. Climer.

Produced by Elevator Repair Service, John Collins, artistic director; Ariana Smart Truman, producing director; in partnership with The Public Theater, Oskar Eustis, artistic director; Patrick Willingham, executive director; the Lehoczky Escobar Family; and Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz; in association with Shawn M. Donnelley and David Gilbert. The Sound and the Fury is generously supported by the Howard Gilman Foundation and the Edward T. Cone foundation. Originally presented by New York Theatre Workshop with the support of Dartmouth College.

JOHN COLLINS (Director) founded Elevator Repair Service in 1991. Since then, he has directed or co-directed all of the company's productions. John is the recipient of a 2014 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship in Drama and Performance Art and a 2011 United States Artists Donnelley Fellowship. In 2010 John received the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Director and the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director for ERS' production of Gatz. Recent ERS projects include Arguendo at The Public Theater, The Select (The Sun Also Rises) at New York Theatre Workshop and Fondly, Collette Richland preview performances at the Walker Art Center. His writing about theater and sound design can be found in two recently published books, Theatre Noise: The Sound of Performance (Cambridge Scholars, 2011) and Encountering Ensemble (Methuen Drama, 2013). John was born in North Carolina and raised in Georgia. He holds a combined degree in English Literature and Theater Studies from Yale.

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