Lage, Lewis et al. Lead RACE at Philadelphia Theatre Company

How do you discuss the undiscussable? Philadelphia Theatre Company presents the Philadelphia premiere of David Mamet's provocative play Race, running January 21 through February 13, 2011 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets). Directed by long-time Mamet collaborator, Scott Zigler, the production features the ensemble cast of Jordan Lage, Nicole Lewis, John Preston, and Ray Anthony Thomas.

Previews begin Friday, January 21 with opening night on Wednesday, January 26. Performances run Tuesday through Sunday until February 13. Tickets are $25 -$59, with discounts for students, seniors and groups. Tickets are available by calling the PTC Box Office at 215-985-0420 or visiting PhiladelphiaTheatreCompany.org.

Pulitzer Prize Award-winning playwright and Tony nominee David Mamet tackles the biggest four-letter word of all... race! Two lawyers, one black one white, are offered the chance to defend a wealthy executive charged with a shocking crime against a young black woman. When a new legal assistant gets involved, emotions bubbling just beneath the surface explode!

Race premiered on Broadway in November, 2009 directed by Mamet. PTC also produced the Philadelphia premieres of Glengarry Glen Ross (1989); Speed-the-Plow (1991) and The Woods (1995).

"We are very proud that our production of Race is the first since its Broadway run," said PTC's Producing Artistic Director Sara Garonzik. "In this City of Brotherly Love, where President Obama gave his famous "race" speech at the National Constitution Center, Mamet's fascinating and provocative play speaks directly to issues of trust and betrayal across the potentially polarizing continuum of race."

On Monday, January 31 at 7:00 PM, Philadelphia Theatre Company, in co-sponsorship with WHYY, The Penn Project for Civic Engagement and New CORE, will host a moderated discussion about the play and its relevance to individuals and to Philadelphia.

David Mamet (Playwright), winner of the Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Glengarry Glen Ross, has also written, among his many plays, Speed-the-Plow, American Buffalo, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, The Duck Variations, and the recent adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance. A two-time Academy Award nominee for The Verdict and Wag the Dog, Mamet's additional film credits include The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Untouchables, Hoffa, and House of Games. He is a member of New York's Atlantic Theater Company, which he founded in 1985 with William H. Macy and Scott Zigler.

Scott Zigler (Director) is closely associated with David Mamet, having directed Mamet's The Old Neighborhood on Broadway, after directing the world premiere production at The American Repertory Theatre. Other plays by David Mamet that he has directed include The Cryptogram at both Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Alley Theatre, Oleanna at Actors Theatre of Louisville as well as the national tour, The Woods at Atlantic Theater Company, Sexual Perversity in Chicago for Common Ground Stage and Film and numerous shorter pieces. Most recently he directed Jon Robin Baitz's play, A Fair Country, at Steppenwolf. Zigler, along with David Mamet and William H. Macy, is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company, where he also served as Artistic Director and directed Suburban News by William Wrubel; Sure Thing by David Ives; As You Like It by William Shakespeare; and Happy Endings by Shel Silverstein. Currently he is Associate Director and Head of Actor Training at The American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University, and Artistic Coordinator of A.R.T. New Stages.

Jordan Lage (Jack) returns to PTC where he was in the Barrymore Award-winning production of Love! Valour! Compassion! He appeared in the Broadway productions of Race, Glengarry Glen Ross, which won a Drama Desk Award for Best Ensemble and Tony Award for Best Revival and Speed-The-Plow. He also appeared on Broadway in Inherit The Wind and Our Town, which both won Tony nominations for Best Revival, and in Gore Vidal's The Best Man, which received a Drama Desk Award for Best Revival. He has received Drama Desk nominations for Boys' Life, Soldier's Wife and Missing Persons and an Audelco Award nomination for Distant Fires. He has appeared in more than a dozen productions at Atlantic Theatre Company, of which he is a founding member.

Nicole Lewis (Susan) appeared on Broadway in Hair, Rent and Lennon. Off-Broadway she has performed at Manhattan Theatre Club in Boy Gets Girl and at The Public Theatre in Measure for Measure. She is a frequent performer at A.C.T. San Francisco where she appeared in Tartuffe and Three Penny Opera and at Weathervane Theatre in The Wiz, The Tempest, Once on This Island, and Ain't Misbehavin'.

John Preston (Charles) makes his Philadelphia debut following frequent appearances at Yale Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Denver Theatre Center, Florida Stage, Shakespeare Santa Cruz and Caldwell Theatre Company. He has performed in sixteen productions at Alabama Shakespeare Festival spanning the Shakespeare canon.

Ray Anthony Thomas (Henry) recreates the role of Henry Brown which he performed in the Broadway production of Race. As a member of Atlantic Theatre Company he has starred in Human Error, Beginning of August and Distant Fires. In addition to Fences at Arden Theatre Company which earned him an Outstanding Supporting Actor Barrymore Award nomination, he has performed in several productions at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Milwaukee Repertory, Syracuse Stage and Lincoln Center.

Race brings together the creative design team of Set and Lighting Designer Kevin Rigdon and Costume Designer Teresa Squires. The resident designer of Steppenwolf Theatre Company from 1976-1997, Kevin Rigdon is currently Associate Director/Design at Alley Theatre. His many awards include two Tony Award nominations (Grapes of Wrath for both Best Scenic and Best Lighting Design), four Drama Desk Award nominations, seven Joseph Jefferson Awards, two American Theatre Wing Design Awards, and a Drama-Logue Award (Best Scenic Design for Arcadia). Teresa Squires has designed costumes for the Broadway production of High Fidelity and Atlantic Theatre Company's The Lieutenant of Inishmore. In addition to other productions for Atlantic Theatre Company, her designs have been seen at Soho Rep, Playwrights Horizons, Long Wharf Theatre, The Keen Company and Barrow Street Theatre, as well as regionally at Dorset Theatre Festival, Chautauqua Theatre Company and Virginia Opera.

CBS3 is the season media sponsor for Philadelphia Theatre Company; U.S. Airways is the Official Airline and PNC Arts Alive is the 35th Anniversary Ticket Sponsor. PECO is the Production Sponsor and Blank Rome LLP is the Outreach Sponsor for Race.

PTC's 35th Anniversary Season continues with the Philadelphia premiere of Anna Deavere Smith in her one-woman, award-winning show Let Me Down Easy (March 18 - April 10, 2011), and the 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined by Lynn Nottage (May 20 - June 12, 2011).

Founded in 1974, Philadelphia Theatre Company is a leading regional theater company whose mission is to produce, develop and present entertaining and imaginative contemporary theater focused on the American experience that both ignites the intellect and touches the soul. By developing new work through commissions, readings and workshops PTC generates projects that have a national impact and reach broad regional audiences. Under the leadership of Sara Garonzik as PTC's Producing Artistic Director since 1982, PTC supports the work of a growing body of diverse dramatists and takes pride in being a home to scores of nationally recognized artists who have participated in more than 130 world and Philadelphia premieres. PTC has received 45 Barrymore Awards and 147 nominations. In October 2007, PTC moved into a home of its own, the Suzanne Roberts Theatre on Center City Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts, solidifying the Company's status as a major player on the American theater scene. In October 2010, Kathleen Nolan joined PTC as its Interim Managing Director.

TICKET PRICES:
Tuesday and Friday previews, Tuesday evenings, Wednesday matinees and evenings:
All seats $46
Sunday preview, Thursday and Friday evenings, Saturday and Sunday matinees:
All seats $52
Saturday preview and Saturday evenings: All seats $59
Student, Senior Citizen and Group Discounts available

PARKING/TRANSPORTATION:
Onsite parking is available at the Symphony House InterPark lot, as well as many other parking facilities on Broad Street.
The theater is also accessible by taxi, SEPTA buses and trains, and the PATCO Highspeed line.

ACCESSIBILITY:
PTC provides large print, Braille and audio cassette programs upon request.
Open-captioned performance on Saturday, February 12 at 2:00 PM

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT:
PTC's Suzanne Roberts Theatre, Broad & Lombard Streets
Monday-Friday 10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
215/985-0420 or online at PhiladelphiaTheatreCompany.org

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