Marin Theatre Company Extends ANNE BOLEYN Through May 15

Marin Theatre Company continues its 49th Season with Howard Brenton's ANNE BOLEYN.

The play was originally commissioned by Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and World Premiered in 2010. It later toured across the UK and Scotland with the Globe before receiving its US Premiere at the GAMM Theatre in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 2013, and MTC is thrilled to have its West Coast Premiere, opening on its mainstage April 19.

In this brilliant twist on the story of King Henry VIII (played by Craig Marker) and his ambitious second wife, ANNE BOLEYN herself (played by Liz Sklar) shares the story of her rise into the household of the King of England during the reformation of the Catholic Church, and her epic, infamous and tragic demise. The story is spliced with that of King James I (also played by Craig Marker), some 70 years later. James has found copies of two banned books that belonged to Anne, and goes on a ghost hunt to learn about her motivations...leading to his own attempts to settle the "religious question" in England and leading to the creation of the King James Bible.

Marin Theatre Company's own Jasson Minadakis is directing this poignant and provocative play in this his tenth season as artistic director of MTC. His directing credits here include The Convert, The Whale, Failure: A Love Story, the world premiere of Lasso of Truth,The Whipping Man (San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle Awards for best production and best acting ensemble), Waiting for Godot, Othello, the Moor of Venice, The Glass Menagerie, Edward Albee's Tiny Alice, the world premiere of Seagull, Happy Now, Equivocation, (SFBATCC Award for best director), the world premiere of Sunlight, Lydia, The Seafarer, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, A Streetcar Named Desire, said Saïd, Love Song and The Subject Tonight is Love.

On April 16th and April 24th, NPR commentator and historian, and Mill Valley local, Peter Robinson, will be engaging audiences with a pre-show talk. He will explore the background to Henry VIII's relations with ANNE BOLEYN; the affair, the execution and the consequences. He will then fast forward to the reign of James I to ask dramatic questions about how the story unfolded 70 years later. Mr. Robinson, like playwright Howard Brenton, is a graduate of Cambridge University (UK). He is now the editor of San Francisco Books & Travel magazine and President of the San Francisco Literary Society. His voice will be familiar to listeners of KALW 91.7fm.

MTC is pleased to continue to partner with UrbanSitter, a website and app that helps busy parents find trusted babysitters and nannies, to enable the numerous young families in the Bay Area to attend live theater more easily. For the fourth time this season UrbanSitter will provide babysitters for MTC's Sitter Saturday event on Saturday, April 23, at 2:00 pm. Read David Templeton's feature about this partnership in the North Bay Stage and Screen here.

Howard Brenton, the English playwright and screenwriter is originally from Portsmouth, Hampshire, is a graduate of Cambridge University (UK), currently living in Brooklyn. He is a two-time recipient of the Evening Standard Award for Weapons of Happiness and Pravda. His many plays include Christie in Love (Portable Theatre, 1969); Revenge (Theatre Upstairs, 1969); Magnificence (Royal Court Theatre, 1973); The Churchill Play (Nottingham Playhouse, 1974 twice revived by the RSC 1978 and 1988); Bloody Poetry (Foco Novo 1984 and The Royal Court Theatre, 1987); Weapons of Happiness (National Theatre, winner of the Evening Standard Award 1976); Epsom Downs (Joint Stock Theatre, 1977); Sore Throats (RSC, 1978); The Romans in Britain (National Theatre, 1980, revived Sheffield Crucible Theatre 2006); Thirteenth Night (RSC, 1981); The Genius (1983), Greenland (1988) and Berlin Bertie (1992) all presented by the Royal Court; Kit's Play (RADA Jerwood Theatre, 2000); Paul (National Theatre 2005, nominated for the Olivier Award, 2006); In Extremis (Shakespeare's Globe, 2006); THE Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Chichester Festival Theatre/ Liverpool Everyman, 2010) and ANNE BOLEYN (Shakespeare's Globe and UK Tour 2010/2011 - winner of Best New Play at the 2011 Whatsonstage Awards). He is also an accomplished TV play and screenwrighter.

IF YOU GO:

ANNE BOLEYN | West Coast Premiere

By Howard Brenton

Directed by Jasson Minadakis

FEATURING

Arwen Anderson, Carrie Brandon, Dan Hiatt, Craig Marker, Charles Shaw Robinson, Liz Sklar, Lauren Spencer, Howard Swain, Ryan Tasker, and David Ari Wachtel with understudy Robert Parsons

April 17- May 15, 2016

OPENING NIGHT: Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Evenings: Tue - Sun 7:30pm

Matinees: Sun (Preview) Apr 17, 4:00pm; Thu (Perspectives) Apr 28, 1:00pm; Sat, Apr 23, May 7 & 14, 2:00pm; Sun Apr 24, May 1, 8 & 15 2:00pm

At Marin Theatre Company | 397 Miller Ave | Mill Valley, CA 94941

TICKETS: $10-$58

Discounts tickets for groups of 15 or more available.

Call MTC's Box Office, 415.388.5208, for details and to purchase.

To purchase tickets, contact: marintheatre.org | (415) 388-5208 | boxoffice@marintheatre.org

Discounts for seniors, youth, groups, military families and Marin County teachers are available. Contact the Box Office for more details.

MTC ENGAGED SPECIAL EVENTS:

• Grace Cathedral Performance: On Saturday April 30 at 12:00pm, Grace Cathedral is presenting a performance of Marin Theatre Company's ANNE BOLEYN. Tickets will be available for purchase online through Grace Cathedral's website soon.

• Pre-Show Discussions: Join members of MTC's artistic staff and cast of the show to discuss the play, playwright and play's themes on Wednesdays before the 7:30pm performances. We will also be hosting special pre-show lectures with historian Peter Robinson on Saturday April 16 at 7:00pm and Thursday April 28 at 12:30pm.

• Window on the Work: Join members of MTC's artistic staff and cast of the show to discuss artistic and production elements of MTC's production of the play, Tuesday March 29 at 7:30pm at the Mill Valley Public Library.

• After Words: Join a member of MTC's artistic staff (often with one or more members of the cast) for a Q&A talkback after every performance, except Saturday evenings and Opening and Closing Nights.

• Sitter Saturday: MTC is pleased to continue to partner with UrbanSitter, a website and app that helps busy parents find trusted babysitters and nannies, to enable the numerous young families in the Bay Area to attend live theater more easily. For the fourth time this season UrbanSitter will provide babysitters for the matinee performance of ANNE BOLEYN on Saturday, April 23, at 2:00 pm.

• Perspectives: The third Thursday of each show is the Perspectives matinee performance which includes a pre-show topical lecture. For ANNE BOLEYN, Thursday, April 28, the pre-show lecture will begin at 12:30pm, and the performance will being at 1:00pm.

• MTC After Hours: Following the Saturday 4/30, 7:30pm performance, join members of the audience and cast in the lobby to continue the conversation. Featuring the musical stylings of jazz trio Mood Swing and drink specials.

ACCESS:

Marin Theatre Company is proud to partner with the Theatre Development Fund's Open Captioning Initiative to provide open captioned performances of each of the plays in our mainstage series on the Thursday matinee. The open captioned performance for ANNE BOLEYN will be Thursday, 4/28, at 1:00pm.

For visually impaired patrons, Large Print playbills are available with one week's advance notice. To request a Large Print playbill, call MTC's Box Office, (415) 388-5208, or use the California Telecommunications Relay Service by dialing "711." For hearing impaired patrons, amplified sound

Assistive Listening Devices are available.

Marin Theatre Company is the Bay Area's premier mid-sized theater and the leading professional theater in the North Bay. We produce a six-show season focused on new American plays, and a four-show Family Series. We are committed to the development and production of new plays, with a comprehensive New Play Program that includes productions of world premieres, two nationally recognized annual playwriting awards and readings and workshops by the nation's best emerging and established playwrights. Our numerous education programs serve more than 8,500 students from over 40 Bay Area schools each year. MTC strives to create intimate, powerful and emotional experiences that engage audiences to discuss new ideas and adopt a broader point of view. We believe in taking risks and inspiring people to participate in live theater, regardless of personal means. MTC celebrates the intellectual curiosity of our community, and we believe that theater is an important tool to help build empathy. MTC was founded in 1966 and is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

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