ARMS AND THE MAN Begins Tonight at The Old Globe

The Old Globe presents George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man, helmed by celebrated director Jessica Stone, who recently made her Globe debut with Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Shaw's romantic comedy, which continues the Globe's 80th Anniversary festivities as part of the Balboa Park Centennial Celebration, will run tonight, May 9 - June 14, 2015 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run tonight, May 9 through May 13. Opening night is Thursday, May 14 at 8:00 p.m. Single tickets are currently on sale. Tickets 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.

The beautiful Raina Petkoff is about to marry the heroic soldier Sergius. But the battlefield sweeps into her boudoir when an enemy soldier takes refuge under her bed. Soon she will have to decide between her romantic ideals and the surprising sensations of new love. Arms and the Man, utterly romantic and one of the wittiest and most charming plays of the English stage, mixes smarts and silliness in a wonderfully entertaining tale of love and war.

The central love triangle will be portrayed by Wrenn Schmidt as Raina Petkoff (Come Back, Little Sheba on Broadway, "Boardwalk Empire," "The Americans"), with Enver Gjokaj as her fiancé Major Sergius Saranoff ("Agent Carter," "Dollhouse," The Avengers) and Zach Appelman as chocolate cream soldier Captain Bluntschli (War Horse, "Beauty and the Beast"). Four-time Academy Award nominee Marsha Mason plays Catherine Petkoff (The Goodbye Girl, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, "The Middle"), and Conrad John Schuck plays Major Paul Petkoff (Nice Work If You Can Get It, "The Munsters Today," "McMillan & Wife"). The cast also includes Sofiya Akilova as Louka ("TURN: Washington's Spies"), Greg Hildreth as Nicola (Broadway's Cinderella, Peter and the Starcatcher, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Old Globe/USD M.F.A. actor Jake Millgard as a Russian Soldier (Pericles, Prince of Tyre), and Ernest Sauceda as Village Musician.

The actors in this illustrious company, with innumerable Broadway, film, and television credits, are all making their Globe debuts, except Ms. Mason, previously who graced our stages in a luminous Twelfth Night directed by Jack O'Brien.

The design team includes Ralph Funicello (Scenic Design), David Israel Reynoso (Costume Design), Austin R. Smith (Lighting Design), Mark Bennett (Original Music and Sound Design), Caparelliotis Casting (Casting), and Annette Yé (Production Stage Manager).

"After Shakespeare, the Globe has produced more plays by Shaw than any other author, and that's as it should be," said Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. "Shaw's plays have everything we want a great night in the theatre to have: striking and original characters, memorable turns of phrase, tremendous wit, and ideas of substance, and Arms and the Man is Shaw at his greatest. Director Jessica Stone, who is becoming a Globe regular, has exactly the right sensibility for this play, and she has assembled a cast of crackerjack American stage actors who will be a delight to watch."

George Bernard Shaw (Playwright, 1856-1950) is the second-most produced playwright in Globe history, following only William Shakespeare. Shaw was born in Dublin on July 26, 1856 and immigrated to London in 1878. His first significant attempt at literature was as a novelist; he produced five novels between 1879 and 1888. Eventually he turned to criticism: first art and music (enough to fill volumes) and later theatre. Shaw's theatre criticism was particularly significant for pointing the way to a theatre he himself would soon create: a theatre of paradox and wit, one that sought engagement with the world and contemporary issues rather than escape from them. As a playwright, Shaw turned out an impressive body of work including more than 50 plays. Some of his better known plays include Man and Superman (1903), Major Barbara (1905), Pygmalion (1912) -- which would later be turned into the musical My Fair Lady -- and Saint Joan (1923). By the time of his death in 1950, Shaw had received world fame unprecedented for a literary figure and was hailed by worshipers as one of the greatest playwrights in the English language, second only to Shakespeare.

Jessica Stone (Director) recently made her Globe debut directing Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. She has worked as an actress on and Off Broadway, and in television and film, for the last 20 years. Her Broadway credits include Anything Goes with Sutton Foster, Butley with Nathan Lane, The Odd Couple with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, The Smell of the Kill with Claudia Shear, Design for Living with Alan Cumming and Dominic West, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with John Stamos, and Grease with Rosie O'Donnell. Her Off Broadway credits include Crimes of the Heart, Krisit, The Country Club, June Moon, Tenderloin, and Babes in Arms. She has performed in regional theatres across the country including Huntington Theatre Company, Mark Taper Forum, Geva Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, and six seasons at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Her favorite productions include She Stoops to Conquer, She Loves Me, Springtime for Henry, Betty's Summer Vacation, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Cherry Orchard. Concurrently, she was an assistant/associate director on and Off Broadway to Nicholas Martin, Joe Mantello, David Warren, and Christopher Ashley. Stone's directing career began in earnest with her 2010 production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for the Williamstown Theater Festival's Main Stage, which was met with critical acclaim. Her directing credits now include Neil Simon's Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Williamstown) and Charlotte's Web (TheatreworksUSA). Her workshops and readings include Huntington Theatre Company's Breaking Ground Festival, Hourglass Group Ltd.'s Hot Buttons: A Political Vaudeville, and collaborations with artists such as Joy Behar and Claudia Shear. Stone's upcoming productions include Kaufman and Lardner's June Moon for Williamstown (2014) and Absurd Person Singular for Two River Theater Company.

Tickets to Arms and the Man were initially available only as part of a Season Package, which offers substantial savings with special subscriber benefits. Subscription prices for the 2014-2015 Season range from $68 to $463. Subscription packages may 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. Single tickets on sale now, starting at $29. Performances begin on May 9 and continue through June 14. Performance times: Previews: Saturday, May 9 at 8:00 p.m., Sunday, May 10 at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, May 12 at 7:00 p.m., and Wednesday, May 13 at 7:00 p.m. Opening night is Thursday, May 14 at 8:00 p.m. Regular Performances: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m., and Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m. There will be a Wednesday matinee performance on June 3 at 2:00 p.m. and no matinee performance on Saturday, June 6. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and under, seniors, and groups of 10 or more.

Additional events taking place during the run of Arms and the Man include:

INSIGHTS SEMINAR: Monday, May 11 at 7:00 p.m.

The seminar series features a panel selected from the current show. Reception at 6:30 p.m. FREE

POST-SHOW FORUMS: Tuesdays, May 19 and May 26, and Wednesday, June 3.

Discuss the play with members of the cast and crew following the performance. FREE

SUBJECT MATTERS: Saturday, May 30

Following the 2:00 p.m. performance, explore the ideas and issues raised by the production through brief, illuminating post-show discussions with local experts. FREE

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. Guests may also be dropped off in front of the Mingei International Museum. The Balboa Park valet is also available during performances ($12), located in front of the Japanese Friendship Garden. For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org. For directions and up-to-date information, visit www.TheOldGlobe.org/Directions.

PLEASE NOTE: To look up online or GPS directions to The Old Globe, do not use the Delivery Address above. There is only a 10-minute zone at that physical address. For GPS users, click here for the map coordinates, and here for written directions to The Old Globe and nearby parking in Balboa Park.

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 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, 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.

CAST & CREATIVE TEAM BIOGRAPHIES:

Sofiya Akilova (Louka) recently appeared in The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (Yale Repertory Theatre), A Bicycle Country, Tripolitania, and Becoming Sylvia (Williamstown Theatre Festival), and The Cherry Orchard and Edward Bond's Restoration (NYU Grad Acting). Her recent film and television credits include Listen Up Philip, "TURN: Washington's Spies" (AMC), "Alpha House" (Amazon), and "Allegiance" (NBC).

Zach Appelman (Captain Bluntschli) is particularly thrilled to be making his Globe debut, as it is where he saw his first Shakespeare play at the age of nine. Appelman recently starred in the title roles in Hamlet (Hartford Stage) and Henry V (Folger Theatre), as well as Demetrius in Julie Taymor's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (Theatre for a New Audience). His other stage credits include War Horse (Broadway), Romeo and Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Arcadia, Death of a Salesman, and The Winter's Tale (Chautauqua Theater Company), and King Lear and As You Like It (Shakespeare Santa Cruz). Appelman can be seen in the current season of "Beauty and the Beast" and will be seen in an upcoming untitled feature film from director Joshua Marston. His television and film credits include "Homeland," "Sleepy Hollow," "Black Box," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and Kill Your Darlings.

Enver Gjokaj (Major Sergius Saranoff) just completed the first season of the Marvel series "Agent Carter" for ABC. He is also known for his transformational work as Victor on Joss Whedon's science fiction fantasy series "Dollhouse." His recent films include Would You Rather with Brittany Snow and Marvel's The Avengers. Gjokaj studied at UC Berkeley before earning an M.F.A. in Acting from New York University. Shortly after graduating, he appeared on stage in Mark Lamos's production of As You Like It (New York Shakespeare Festival) and in The Cherry Orchard with Kate Burton. His early roles also included Taking Chance with Kevin Bacon (HBO), Overture Films' Stone with Robert De Niro, and the Showtime pilot "Filthy Gorgeous" opposite Isabella Rosselini.

Greg Hildreth (Nicola) has appeared on Broadway in Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella, Peter and the Starcatcher, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. His Off Broadway credits include Peter and the Starcatcher (New York Theatre Workshop) and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at (The Public Theater). Hildreth has worked regionally at Paper Mill Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Huntington Theatre Company. His film and television credits include Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, "The Good Wife," "Royal Pains," "Kings," and "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver."

Marsha Mason (Catherine Petkoff) returns to The Old Globe, where she was previously seen in Twelfth Night, directed by Jack O'Brien. She received Academy Award nominations for The Goodbye Girl, Cinderella Liberty, Only When I Laugh, and Chapter Two, and two Golden Globe Awards. Her television credits include "Frasier" (Emmy Award nomination), Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, a featured role on ABC's hit "The Middle," and a recent guest starring role on "Madam Secretary." Mason's numerous Broadway starring roles include Impressionism with Jeremy Irons, Steel Magnolias, The Night of the Iguana, The Good Doctor, King Richard III, and Cactus Flower, and her Off Broadway roles include I Never Sang for My Father, A Feminine Ending, Wintertime, Amazing Grace, and Old Times. Regionally, Mason starred in All's Well That Ends Well, A Doll's House, You Can't Take It with You, The Crucible, Cyrano de Bergerac, Hecuba, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, and Deathtrap. She directed Neil Simon's Chapter Two at Bucks County Playhouse last year. She has performed in The Prisoner of Second Avenue in London, and written her memoir, Journey: A Personal Odyssey. For 20 years she was a biodynamic farmer in New Mexico and has a line of organic herbal body products, Resting in the River.

Jake Millgard (Russian Soldier) recently appeared in the Old Globe/University of San Diego Graduate Theatre Program productions of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Trelawny of the 'Wells', and, most recently, Clybourne Park. His New York credits include Sex and Violence, On Campus, and Remembering Kimberly. His regional credits include Dracula and A Christmas Carol (Actors Theatre of Louisville), The Full Monty (Northern Stage), and Art, The Odd Couple, and Lips Together, Teeth Apart (Mount Baker Theatre's Summer Repertory Theatre), and he went on tour with From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. He also appeared in the premiere of The Open Road Anthology (Humana Festival of New American Plays). Some of his television and film credits include "Grimm," Pudding Face, Placebo, and Frank and Barry.

Ernest Sauceda (Village Musician) has performed at venues such as the White House, Hollywood Bowl, and The Kennedy Center. His most recent roles include Indio in West Side Story, Universal Studios Japan, Dollywood, the Fiddler in Fiddler on the Roof, Ritchie Valens in The Buddy Holly Story, and the premiere of Jonah at Sight & Sound Theatres. His violin training includes study with Dr. Michael Twomey and Angela Caporale. He has been a semifinalist in the Kingsville International Strings Competition and was a featured violin young artist at the Cactus Pear Music Festival at age 17. Sauceda has also been a Top 5 Finalist for the Best Male Performer Award through the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions.

Wrenn Schmidt (Raina Petkoff) began her acting career under Tony Award-winning director Anthony Page in the Broadway national tour of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin. Her New York theatre credits include The Master Builder opposite John Turturro (Brooklyn Academy of Music), the world premieres of Be a Good Little Widow (Ars Nova) and Jailbait (Cherry Lane Theatre's Cherry Pit), Eugene O'Neill's Beyond the Horizon (Irish Repertory Theatre), and the Broadway production of Come Back, Little Sheba (Manhattan Theatre Club). Schmidt has worked extensively in television on HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" as Julia Sagorsky, CBS's "Person of Interest" as Dr. Iris Campbell, and FX's "The Americans" as KGB handler Kate, among others. Her film work includes Preservation (Tribeca Film Festival), Our Idiot Brother, Client 9, and How to Follow Strangers. Her upcoming work includes Sony Pictures' I Saw the Light opposite Tom Hiddleston and Cinemax's newest series, "Outcast," created by Robert Kirkman of "The Walking Dead".

Conrad John Schuck (Major Paul Petkoff) is best known as Lt. Enright from "McMillan & Wife" starring Rock Hudson. Broadway knows him as Daddy Warbucks in Annie or Buffalo Bill in Annie Get Your Gun starring Reba McEntire. He appeared with Reba again in the Carnegie Hall concert of South Pacific. Most recently he played in Nice Work If You Can Get It with Matthew Broderick. Off Broadway saw him in The Exonerated, The Streets of New York, and, at Playwrights Horizons, We the People. In London he played opposite Charlton Heston in The Caine Mutiny. Moviegoers have enjoyed Schuck in many movies from MASH, as Painless, to Woody Allen's The Curse of the Jade Scorpion. His recent television appearances include "Law & Order," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and "NYPD Blue."

Ralph Funicello (Scenic Design) is an Associate Artist of The Old Globe and has designed the sets for over 80 productions for the company including the recent productions of Quartet, Water by the Spoonful, and the Summer Shakespeare Festivals 2004-2013. Elsewhere, Funicello has designed scenery on and Off Broadway and for many theatres across the country and abroad, including Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, American Conservatory Theater, A Contemporary Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Arizona Theatre Company, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Denver Center Theatre Company, The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Guthrie Theater, South Coast Repertory, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Huntington Theatre Company, Intiman Theatre, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Royal Shakespeare Company, Theatre Royal Bath, New York City Opera, LA Opera, and San Diego Opera. He currently holds the position of Powell Chair in Set Design at San Diego State University.

David Israel Reynoso (Costume Design) recently designed the Globe's productions of Water by the Spoonful, Time and the Conways, Double Indemnity, and Be a Good Little Widow. Reynoso is the Obie Award-winning costume designer of the Off Broadway hit Sleep No More (Punchdrunk/
Emursive), and he is also a Helen Hayes Award nominee for Healing Wars (Arena Stage). He is also recognized locally for his designs of The Darrell Hammond Project, Kingdom City, and the DNA New Work Series presentation of Chasing the Song (La Jolla Playhouse). His other work includes Futurity, Cabaret, The Snow Queen, Alice vs. Wonderland, Trojan Barbie, Copenhagen, No Man's Land, Hamletmachine, Ajax in Iraq, and Abigail's Party (American Repertory Theater), The Comedy of Errors and Othello (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), The Woman in Black (Gloucester Stage Company), and Dead Man's Cell Phone (The Lyric Stage Company). Reynoso is the recipient of the Elliot Norton Award, a Craig Noel Award nomination, and multiple IRNE and BroadwayWorld Award nominations.

Austin R. Smith (Lighting Design) previously designed The Old Globe productions of The Royale and Anna Christie. His other selected credits include RoosevElvis (the TEAM), Queen of the Night, When January Feels Like Summer (The Ensemble Studio Theatre), Charles Ives Take Me Home and Massacre (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), Stand-Up Tragedy (site-specific), Jesus in India (Ma-Yi Theater Company), Regina Spektor's What We Saw from the Cheap Seats (world tour), Futurity (American Repertory Theater), Sleep No More (New York City), and Three Pianos (American Repertory Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Ontological-Hysteric Theater; Obie Award). His upcoming projects include Theatre for One with Christine Jones, Anne Washburn's adaptation of Iphigenia in Aulis, and national/international tours for RoosevElvis.

Mark Bennett (Original Music and Sound Design) previously worked on the Globe productions of Twelfth Night directed by Jack O'Brien, Golda's Balcony directed by Scott Schwartz, and Pygmalion and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike directed by Nicholas Martin. His recent Broadway scores include Macbeth, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Driving Miss Daisy, The Coast of Utopia (Drama Desk Award), Henry IV, Golda's Balcony, and The Goat, among others. His Off Broadway credits include An Iliad (Obie Award), Mad Forest, and My Children! My Africa! (New York Theatre Workshop) and eight scores for The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park. His La Jolla Playhouse scores include A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by Christopher Ashley (Craig Noel Award), An Iliad (Craig Noel Award), and, as composer and co-lyricist, the musical Most Wanted. He was composer for Sam Mendes's The Bridge Project, 2009-2012 (Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Old Vic) and Barry Edelstien's As You Like It (Williamstown Theatre Festival). He received the 1998 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Sound Design, 1998 Bessie Award, Ovation Award, American Theatre Wing Award, and 14 Drama Desk Award nominations.

Caparelliotis Casting (Casting) recently cast the Globe productions of Rich Girl, Buyer & Cellar, The White Snake, The Twenty-seventh Man, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, The Royale, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Water by the Spoonful, Time and the Conways, Bethany, The Winter's Tale, The Few, Double Indemnity, The Rainmaker, Other Desert Cities, Be a Good Little Widow, A Doll's House, The Brothers Size, Pygmalion, and Good People. Their Broadway casting credits include Fish in the Dark, It's Only a Play, Disgraced, Holler If Ya Hear Me, Casa Valentina, The Snow Geese, Lyle Kessler's Orphans, The Trip to Bountiful, Grace, Dead Accounts, The Other Place, Seminar, The Columnist, Stick Fly, Good People, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The House of Blue Leaves, Fences, Lend Me a Tenor, and The Royal Family. They also cast for Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company, LCT3, Ars Nova, Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Ford's Theatre, and three seasons with Williamstown Theatre Festival. Their recent film and television credits include HairBrained with Brendan Fraser, "Odyssey" (upcoming, NBC series), "How to Get Away with Murder" (ABC pilot), "Ironside" (NBC), and Steel Magnolias (Sony for Lifetime).

Annette Yé (Production Stage Manager) served as stage manager for The Old Globe's The Royale, Quartet, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, The Few, Pygmalion, God of Carnage, Anna Christie, Groundswell, and the 2010 production of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Her other Globe credits include A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2011-2014), Boeing-Boeing, The First Wives Club, Opus, Dancing in the Dark, Hay Fever, and the Summer Shakespeare Festivals 2008 and 2010-2013.

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