REMEMBERING MR. MAUGHAM Celebrates Garson Kanin at the Clurman Theatre

Producers Philip Margaman, Emily Miller and Frankie J. Grande announce the continuation of the yearlong celebration of prolific playwright and director, Garson Kanin with Remembering Mr. Maugham.

This graceful memoir by Garson Kanin is a treasure trove of private conversations, amusing anecdotes and candid recollections of his beloved friend and confidant W Somerset Maugham. Through decades of personal notes and journal entries, Kanin and Maugham poignantly reminisce about life, art and the unconquerable human spirit.

Remembering Mr. Maugham is one writer's journey through the twilight years of another, whose personal life was as intriguing and creative as the work he left behind.

Robert Emmet Lunney will be Garson Kanin and Sam Tsoutsouvas will be Somerset Maugham. Directed by Tony Speciale, Remembering Mr. Maugham will have scenic and costume design by Daniel Zimmerman and lighting by Natalie Robin.

Remember Mr. Maugham by Garson Kanin is a stage adaptation of his own memoir of the same name. The play was performed by Mr.Kanin (as himself) with Dennis King as Somerset Maugham in various venues including The Players in New York (1967), the Library of Congress (1969) and Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum.

Garson Kanin (1912-1999) was an esteemed theater and film director as well as a prolific writer. Kanin was trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and made his debut in theater as an actor. He quickly adapted to the role of stage director with help from his mentor George Abbott, and soon became a director for RKO. His early films include A Man to Remember and My Favorite Wife. While serving in the military during World War II, he co-directed with Carol Reed the documentary The True Glory which won an Academy Award in 1945. He followed this success by writing and directing Born Yesterday. Over the next four decades he wrote 20 plays, including Peccadillo, Remembering Mr. Maugham, The Rat Race, and The Smile of the World. He also wrote the English libretto of Fledermaus, for the Metropolitan Opera. With Ruth Gordon, whom he married in 1942, he wrote the Academy-Award nominated screenplays "A Double Life," "Adam's Rib" and "Pat and Mike". He continued to write and direct for stage and screen, notably directing the premiere of Frances and Albert Hackett's adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank. Kanin was also a novelist and memoirist. His books include Smash, Hollywood, and Tracy and Hepburn. Ruth Gordon died in 1985, and Kanin married Marian Seldes in 1990. He died at his home in New York in 1999. www.garsonkanin.com

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) was a prolific British writer of plays, novels, short stories and essays. Born in Paris to the solicitor to the British Embassy, Maugham was orphaned at age ten, when he went to live with his uncle, the Vicar of Whitstable. He attended medical school in London for six years, but abandoned medicine after the success of his novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897). The novel Of Human Bondage (1915), draws largely from Maugham's personal experience as a struggling medical student and writer in London and Paris. Maugham volunteered for the Red Cross and worked for British Secret Intelligence during World War 1, serving in France and Russia. Maugham's work reflects his extensive travels: Moon and Sixpence (1919) examines Gaugin's life in Tahiti; Ashenden is about a British spy in Europe; and The Razor's Edge (1944) follows an American veteran's international search for truth. He was the highest-paid author of the 1930's, and many of Maugham's works, including the short stories Rain and The Letter, were made into successful films. He married interior decorator Syrie Wellcome in 1917, and they had one child, Elizabeth (Liza). They divorced in 1928, the same year Maugham returned to France, where he lived and wrote prodigiously for the rest of his life.

Robert Emmet Lunney (Garson Kanin) is an actor/writer/director living in NYC. Broadway: Mauritius, Deuce, Democracy, The Graduate, A Doll's House, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Devil's Disciple, and The Night of the Iguana. Off-Broadway: The Europeans, Grace, The Breadwinner, The Dying Gaul, Two Small Bodies, Chopin in Space. He is a proud collaborator with the Potomac Theatre Project (PTP/NYC) most recently playing Starhemberg in Howard Barker's The Europeans. Past PTP/NYC productions include Harold Pinter's The Homecoming, Mountain Language, and The New World Order; Barker's No End of Blame and The Castle; Good, and Camille. Film and television: Julie & Julia, "Gossip Girl," "Lipstick Jungle," and guest-starring roles on "Law & Order." His play For Nina was a semi-finalist for the 2009 O'Neill Playwrights Conference. His An Occurrence at Yankee Stadium was featured in The New Yorker and The New York Times as part of Coyote Rep's Sound-Play series.

Sam Tsoutsouvas (Somerset Maugham) Broadway: By Jeeves, Dracula, Our Country's Good. Off-Broadway: The New York Shakespeare Festival: The Two Noble Kinsmen, Timon of Athens, Anthony and Cleopatra (Dir. Vanessa Redgrave). Theatre for a New Audience: Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew (Dir. Julie Taymor). Playwrights Horizons: Gus and Al. American Jewish Reperatory: title role in The Puppetmaster of Lodz. Irish Rep: Crofts in Mrs. Warren's Profession. Metropolitan Palyhouse: Chris Christopherson in Bob Kalfin's production of Anna Christie. Manhattan Theatre Source: Alfred Stieglitz in Joan Tewkesbury's Retrospective. National Tour: Salieri in Amadeus (Dir. Peter Hall); Inspector Goole in An Inspector Calls (Dir. Stephen Dildry). He has done a fair amount of television, appeared in Ghost, and is frequently on recorded books.

Tony Speciale (Director) is currently in his second season as Associate Artistic Director at Classic Stage Company (CSC), where he directs and teaches for THE YOUNG COMPANY, CSC's award-winning Education and Outreach Initiative. Directing Credits: Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew (CSC), Criminal Genius, Mildred Is... (Actors Theatre of Louisville), The Children (New York Musical Theatre Festival- NYMF), pierced! (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), The Ex (Samuel French Short Play Festival), Minor Gods (Dublin Gay Theatre Festival), Slut-The Musical (American Theatre of Actors- Original Workshop), My Martha Moment (H.E.R.E.), Raw Impressions (The Club at La MaMa E.T.C.) and Camino Real (Riverside Theatre). Mr. Speciale is a graduate of The Boston Conservatory and holds an MFA in Directing from Columbia University. He is also the proud recipient of a 2009 Princess Grace Theatre Honorarium. www.tonyspeciale.com

Remember Mr. Maugham plays at the Clurman Theatre on Theatre Row 140 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenue.

The performance schedule is as follows: Thursday, March 4 at 8pm, Friday, March 5 at 8pm, Saturday, March 6 at 3pm & 8pm, Sunday, March 7 at 3pm, Wednesday, March 10 at 3pm, Thursday March 11 at 8pm, Friday, March 12 at 8pm and Saturday, March 13 at 3pm & 8pm

Tickets are $18 and may be purchased online at www.ticketcentral.com, 24 hours a day, seven days a week or by phoning Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200.

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