The Old Globe Hosts Conversation with THE TWENTY-SEVENTH MAN Playwright Nathan Englander Tonight

The Old Globe will present a one-night-only event, Barry Edelstein In Conversation with Nathan Englander, tonight, Feb. 18, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. This special discussion will reunite Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and award-winning playwright and novelist Nathan Englander, whose play The Twenty-seventh Man, about a group of writers imprisoned in Soviet Russia under mysterious circumstances, makes its West Coast premiere at The Old Globe in February, directed once again by Edelstein. The event will explore the evolution of the play; its fascinating historical setting; Englander's work in fiction versus theatre; and literature's place in modern American culture.

Co-sponsored by the Judaic Studies Program of UCSD and Congregation Beth El, Barry Edelstein In Conversation with Nathan Englander will take place on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Tickets are will become available to subscribers on Tuesday, October 15 at 12 noon and will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, January 20 at 12 noon. Tickets are $7 for subscribers and full-time students and $10 for general audiences and can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

"Nathan Englander is one of the finest writers of his generation, as well as a profound and provocative thinker about our culture and our times," said Edelstein. "That he has turned his talents to the stage is a great boon to the American theatre, and our continuing collaboration together on The Twenty-seventh Man remains a highlight of my career. I'm honored to produce the play at the Globe and truly delighted to join the Judaic Studies Program of UCSD and Congregation Beth El in sharing Nathan's incisive, witty, and warm perspective with our audience."

In a Soviet prison in 1952, Stalin's secret police have rounded up 26 writers, the giants of Yiddish literature in Russia. As judgment looms, a 27th suddenly appears: a teenager, unpublished and unknown. Baffled by his arrest, he and his cellmates wonder at what has brought them together and wrestle with what it means to write in troubled times. With The Twenty-seventh Man, Artistic Director Barry Edelstein returns to the play he premiered in New York by award-winning novelist Nathan Englander and reimagines it for the Globe's intimate in-the-round space, bringing us larger-than-life personalities and an unforgettable reminder of the transcendent power of storytelling. The Twenty-seventh Man runs February 14 - March 15, 2015 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.

Nathan Englander's theatrical adaptation of his short story The Twenty-seventh Man premiered at The Public Theater in New York in November 2012. He has been commissioned by Lincoln Center Theater to adapt his short story What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank for the stage. Englander was selected as one of 20 Writers for the 21st Century by The New Yorker, and he has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, PEN/Malamud Award, and Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the author of The Ministry of Special Cases and the story collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges. He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and won the prestigious Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award in 2012. His fiction and essays have been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker. Englander translated the text for the New American Haggadah (editor Jonathan Safran Foer) from Hebrew to English, and he is translating some short stories by the renowned Israeli writer Etgar Keret.

Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein is a stage director, producer, author, and educator. Widely recognized as one of the leading American authorities on the works of Shakespeare, he has directed nearly half of the Bard's plays. His directing credits include his Globe directorial debut with The Winter's Tale starring Billy Campbell, the first Shakespeare to be staged in the Globe's indoor theatre in over a decade, and his 2014 Summer Shakespeare Festival production of Othello starring Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas, and Kristen Connolly in the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. As Director of the Shakespeare Initiative at The Public Theater (2008-2012), Edelstein oversaw all of the company's Shakespearean productions, as well as its extensive educational, community outreach, and artist-training programs. At The Public, he staged Julius Caesar starring Jeffrey Wright for Shakespeare in the Park and The Merchant of Venice featuring Ron Leibman's Obie Award-winning portrayal of Shylock. He was also Associate Producer of The Public's Broadway production of The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino. From 1998-2003 he was Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company, where he produced and directed some of New York's most memorable classical productions. Edelstein's Shakespearean directorial credits include The Winter's Tale with David Strathairn, Timon of Athens with Richard Thomas, As You Like It with Gwyneth Paltrow, and Richard III with John Turturro. His additional credits include the Lucille Lortel Award-winning revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons; the world premiere of Steve Martin's The Underpants, which he commissioned; Molière's The Misanthrope starring Uma Thurman in her stage debut; and the world premiere of novelist Nathan Englander's play The Twenty-seventh Man. Edelstein has taught Shakespearean acting at The Juilliard School, NYU's Graduate Acting Program, and the University of Southern California. His book Thinking Shakespeare (called by New York Magazine "a must-read for actors") was published in 2007 and is now the standard text on American Shakespearean acting. He is also the author of Bardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions.

The Judaic Studies Program of the University of California, San Diego is dedicated to researching and teaching all facets of Jewish culture and history, from Iron Age Israel and the Levant through the 21st-century Diaspora. Each year, experts in Jewish languages, history, literature, archaeology, and anthropology offer instruction to hundreds of graduate and undergraduate students. Their aims are to foster knowledge and understanding of Jews and Judaism in all students, irrespective of background, and to train future scholars of Judaic Studies.

Congregation Beth El is a Conservative synagogue whose mission is to create a home for every soul by offering a variety of Jewish experiences to nourish the mind, heart, and spirit, while being a caring Jewish community. Since being founded in 1957, Beth El has grown from 25 families to now over 500 families, led by Rabbis Philip Graubart and Avi Libman. Beth El offers education programs for both children and adults, and numerous internationally known Jewish leaders and Rabbis have lectured and held services for the congregation. Today, Congregation Beth El leads San Diego's Jewish community toward the future while remembering the beautiful memories of their past.

To accommodate this special one-night-only event, the Globe's performances of both The Twenty-seventh Man and Murder for Two will begin at 8:00 p.m. on the night of the event, Wednesday, Feb. 18.

The Old Globe is located in San Diego's Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Valet parking is also available during performances ($12). For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country's leading professional regional theatres and has stood as San Diego's flagship arts institution for over 75 years. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Managing Director Michael G. Murphy, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 14 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of The Old Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theatre's education and community programs. Numerous world premieres such as 2014's Best Musical Tony Award winner A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, A Catered Affair, and the annual holiday musical Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theatres across the country.

Photo Credit: Michael Lionstar

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