Brian Cox & Brian Murphy to Talk Shakespeare at Mirror Repertory Company, 7/26

The Tony-nominated Mirror Repertory Company - whose founders and early supporters include the late actresses Eva Le Gallienne and Geraldine Page along with Paul Newman, Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino - will present its 10th annual summer season with the Greensboro Arts Alliance in Greensboro, Vermont, with a repertory of 4 plays and musicals in alternating repertory July 23-August 24 , it has been announced by Sabra Jones, the company's artistic director.

One of the highlights of the 2015 season in Greensboro (located an hour outside Burlington in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom in the Green Mountains), will be a one-night only event on July 26 with the beloved Obie Award-winning actor Brian Murray, along with renowned Olivier Award-winning British actor Brian Cox, who will discuss their experiences performing Shakespeare in an interactive evening that begins with the Greensboro company's production of HAMLET, which stars Mr. Cox's wife, Nicole Ansari-Cox in the role of Gertrude, along with Charles McAteer (TITANIC on Broadway), in the title role, directed by Sabra Jones. Greensboro's production of HAMLET joins the London Globe Theatre's worldwide HAMLET Festival this summer. Messrs. Murray and Cox's remarkable careers include countless performances in plays by The Bard on stages around the world.

Joining HAMLET on the Greensboro season will be the musicals YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN, with a cast of all young performers directed by Tony nominee Marla Schaffel (JANE EYRE); Cole Porter's KISS ME KATE which stars Ms. Schaffel as Kate, along with Brandy Burre from the HBO series The Wire, and is directed by Chris Bowen of Blue Man Group; and Shakespeare's ROSENKRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, directed by Cordelia Monsey of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Cordelia Monsey of the Royal Shakespeare Company serves as the Greensboro troupe's special advisor this season. Greensboro's season fight direction will be staged by Christian Sordelet; choreography by Bethany Lange McAteer and Antonio Brown (BILL T. JONES), musical direction by Justin Jacobs and casting by Eve Pomerance.

Also this summer, Greensboro Arts Alliance will break ground for its $15 million Elizabethan Theatre, designed by celebrated architect Hugh Hardy (Signature Theater, BAM's The Fisher, Koch and LC3 at Lincoln Center). The ONLY Elizabethan Theatre to be constructed thus far in the 21st century in the U.S., Greensboro's new stage will be completed in 2017.

Greensboro Arts Alliance presently performs in the city's Town Square. The company's advisory board includes Nicholas Hytner, Mark Rylance, Christopher Bowen, Brian Cox, Nicole Ansari-Cox, Jay Sanders, Maryann Plunkett, Chris Sarandon and Joanna Gleason. Michael Redford (Oscar-nominated director for IL POSTINO) and Cordelia Monsey are resident directors.

Also on the Greensboro Arts Alliance's docket this summer will be a Writers Forum: The Joy of Words with a host of distinguished writers on various panels, including the best-selling novelist Chris Bohjalian (MIDWIVES, a New York Times best-seller).

Local arts groups that also perform in the Greensboro Arts Alliance Town Square tent include GREENSBORO SUMMER MUSIC, and the highly-regarded Children's Shakespeare Camp THE FUNNERY. As well, the annual Greensboro July 4th Square Dance is on Greensboro's schedule, and a concert by Godsmack's Sully Erna.

Mirror Repertory Company was founded in 1983 by Sabra Jones, Eva le Gallienne, and Geraldine Page, with many other founding members, as an Actor-Manager alternating repertory company in the classic style. Its seed money came from Dina Merrill, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Paul Newman, Brooke Astor, and Laurance S. Rockefeller. Geraldine Page, its Founding Artist in Residence, thanked the company at the 1987 Academy Awards when she won her Best Actress Oscar. She was wearing her costume, designed by Gail Cooper-Hecht, from Somerset Maugham's THE CIRCLE, in which she was then appearing. She received her award from F. Murray Abraham, also a member of Mirror Rep, who had received the Oscar the year before for AMADEUS and appeared with Geraldine in THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT for Mirror Rep. The company, also known for its celebrated Arts in Education productions of Shakespeare in the city schools, opened its summer wing in Greensboro in 2005. Mirror Rep has also produced in London, most notably presenting the first staging of Lynn Redgrave's NIGHTINGALE, directed by Ms. Redgrave, at the New End Theater, and EDGE, a play about Sylvia Plath.

Previous productions by Greensboro Arts Alliance include THE MUSIC MAN, OUR TOWN, MIRACLE WORKER and CAROUSEL under the theatre's tent in Town Square.

FOR PERFORMANCE AND TICKET INFORMATION VISIT www.mirrorarts.org or call 802 533 7487.

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