Theatre Press Releases ALAN RICKMAN
STARRING IN
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
SEMINAR
A NEW PLAY BY
THERESA REBECK
DIRECTED BY SAM GOLD
TO ALSO STAR
TONY AWARD NOMINEE LILY RABE
& OBIE AWARD WINNER HAMISH LINKLATER
The new comedy to play Broadway’s Golden Theatre
with previews beginning Thursday, October 27
and Opening Night set for Sunday, November 20
(New York) – Producers Jeffrey Finn, Jill Furman and Smuggler Films announced today that Tony Award nominee and two-time Drama Desk Award nominee Lily Rabe(The Merchant of Venice, Steel Magnolias, this summer’s lauded A Doll’s House at Williamstown) and Obie Award winner and Drama Desk nominee Hamish Linklater (The School for Lies, Twelfth Night, “The New Adventures of Old Christine”) have joined two-time Tony Award nominee, Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner Alan Rickman(Private Lives, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the Harry Potter franchise) in the World Premiere of SEMINAR, a new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Peabody Award winnerTheresa Rebeck (Mauritius, The Understudy, Omnium Gatherum, The Family of Mann, Spike Heels, NBC’s upcoming “Smash”).
Directed by acclaimed Obie Award winner Sam Gold (Circle Mirror Transformation, The Aliens, Tigers Be Still, Kin, The Coward) in his Broadway debut, the production will begin previews on Thursday, October 27 at The Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street). Opening Night is set for Sunday, November 20 at 6:30 PM. The production marks Alan Rickman’s eagerly-anticipated return to the Broadway stage.
In SEMINAR, four aspiring young novelists sign up for private writing classes with Leonard (Mr. Rickman), an international literary figure. Under his recklessly brilliant and unorthodox instruction, some thrive and others flounder, alliances are made and broken, sex is used as a weapon and hearts are unmoored. The wordplay is not the only thing that turns vicious as innocence collides with experience in this biting new comedy.
The producers also announced the design team, which will feature set and costume design by Tony Award nominee and two-time Obie Award winner David Zinn, lighting design by Drama Desk Award nominee Ben Stanton and original music and sound design by two-time Drama Desk Award winner John Gromada.
Final casting and ticketing information will be announced in the coming weeks.
An internationally-renowned actor of stage, screen and television, Alan Rickman returns to the Broadway stage for the first time since being nominated for a Tony Award for his acclaimed starring performance as Elyot in the 2002 production of Noel Coward’s Private Lives. He previously made his Broadway debut and earned his first Tony Award nomination as Valmont in the 1987 U.S. premiere production of Les Liasions Dangereuses. On film, he is perhaps best known for his iconic performances as Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter franchise and Hans Gruber in the 1988 hit Die Hard, as well as award-winning roles in such films as Sense and Sensibility and, more recently,Sweeney Todd and Bottle Shock.
Alan Rickman will be appearing with the permission of Actors’ Equity Association.
Lily Rabe earned a Tony Award nomination for her acclaimed portrayal as Portia in The Merchant of Venice, for which she also won The Joe E. Callaway Award and earned a Drama Desk nomination. She made a memorable Broadway debut in Steel Magnolias (Drama Desk nomination), also appearing in The American Plan and Heartbreak House (Callaway Award, Outer Critics Circle nomination). This summer she earned rave reviews for her starring performance as Nora in A Dolls’ House at Williamstown. Her Film credits include All Good Things and Letters from a Big Man (official Sundance selection).
Hamish Linklater has consistently drawn raves for his performances in such Off-Broadway productions as The School for Lies (Obie Award), Twelfth Night(Drama Desk nomination), The Merchant of Venice, The Winter’s Tale, Good Thing (also in L.A.) and as Laertes opposite Liev Schreiber’s Hamlet. He is known to Television and Film audiences for his five seasons on the hit CBS show “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” as well as the films Fantastic Four, Groove (official Sundance selection), the current The Future and the upcoming Lola Versus and Battleship. SEMINAR marks Mr. Linklater’s Broadway debut.
For nearly a decade, Theresa Rebeck’s more than a dozen plays have been produced in New York, as well as regionally and internationally. SEMINAR marks the first time one of her works will be produced as a commercial Broadway production. (Mauritius, her acclaimed 2007 Broadway debut, was presented by Manhattan Theatre Club.) In addition to her work as a playwright, Ms. Rebeck is also a respected, award-winning television writer and producer (“NYPD Blue,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” the eagerly-awaited NBC series “Smash”), film writer (Harriet the Spy, Seducing Charlie Barker) and novelist (the recent Twelve Rooms with a View and Three Girls and Their Brother). She is creator, head writer and executive producer of the upcoming NBC series “Smash.”
One of the most consistently-praised directors to emerge on the New York theatrical scene in the last several years, Sam Gold has made his mark with an impressive string of critically-embraced Off-Broadway productions. He most notably won a 2010 Obie Award for directing two productions, Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation and Ms. Baker’s The Aliens. His other acclaimed New York productions include Kin, The Coward, Tigers Be Still, Dusk Rings a Bell and Nick Jones’ Jollyship the Whiz-Bang. SEMINAR marks the director’s Broadway debut.
BIOGRAPHIES
ALAN RICKMAN (Leonard). Theater credits include John Gabriel Borkman (Abbey Theatre, Dublin and BAM, New York), Private Lives (West End and Broadway; Variety Club Award, Olivier and Tony nominations, Best Actor); Anthony and Cleopatra (National Theatre); Hamlet (Riverside Studios); Tango at the End of Winter (Edinburgh Festival and Playhouse Theatre; Time Out Award, Best Actor); Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Royal Shakespeare Company, West End and Broadway; Tony nomination, Best Actor); Mephisto, As You Like It, Troilus and Cressida, Love’s Labours Lost, The Tempest, Captain Swing (RSC); The Lucky Chance, The Grass Widow, The Seagull (Royal Court); The Last Elephant, Commitments (Bush Theatre); The Devil Himself (Lyric Studio); Bad Language (Hampstead); The Brothers Karamazov (Edinburgh Festival); and seasons at Glasgow Citizens, Sheffield Crucible, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Haymarket Leicester, and Library Manchester. He directed Creditors (Donmar Warehouse and BAM), My Name is Rachel Corrie (Royal Court, West End, Edinburgh Festival and New York; Theatregoers’ Award, Best Director), Wax Acts (West End) and The Winter Guest (Almeida). Television credits include The Song of Lunch, Something the Lord Made (Emmy nomination, Best Actor), Rasputin (Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Awards, Best Actor), Fallen Angels, Revolutionary Witness, Spirit of Man, Benefactors, Busted, The Barchester Chronicles, and Romeo and Juliet. Films include Alice in Wonderland; the Harry Potter series; Bottle Shock (Best Actor, Seattle Film Festival); Sweeny Todd; Noble Son; Perfume; Snow Cake; Love Actually; Play; Blow Dry:Galaxy Quest; Dogma; Dark Harbor; Judas Kiss; Michael Collins (BAFTA nomination); Sense and Sensibility (BAFTA nomination); An Awfully Big Adventure; Bob Roberts; Mesmer; (Best Actor, Montreal Film Festival); Truly, Madly, Deeply (BAFTA nomination); Close My Eyes (Evening Standard Best Actor Award); Prince of Thieves(BAFTA Award); Quigley Down Under; Closetland; The January Man; and Die Hard. Rickman directed the film of The Winter Guest (CinemaAvvenire Award, OCIC Award Venice Film Festival, and Best Film Chicago Film Festival).
LILY RABE (Kate) was most recently seen opposite Al Pacino in the Broadway production of The Merchant of Venice, reprising her critically-acclaimed Central Park performance of Portia which began in the 2010 Shakespeare in the Park production of the play. Rabe’s performance earned her The Joe A. Callaway Award, as well as nominations for 2011 Tony, Drama Desk and Drama League awards. She also starred as Nora this summer in A Doll’s House at Williamstown under the direction of Sam Gold. Rabe made her Broadway debut in Steel Magnolias, a role for which she earned a Drama Desk Award nomination. She has performed in several other Broadway shows, including The American Plan (Manhattan Theatre Club) and Heartbreak House (Roundabout Theater Company, Callaway Award, Outer Critics Circle nomination). Additionally, she has performed in various Off-Broadway and Regional pieces, including Crimes of the Heart (Roundabout Theater Company); Colder Than Here (MCC);Crimes of the Heart (Williamstown); and Proof, Crazy Girl and Speaking Well of the Dead (all for Gloucester Stage Company). On screen, Rabe was most recently seen opposite Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst in Andrew Jarecki’s crime drama All Good Things. She also starred in Letters from a Big Man, written and directed by Christopher Munch, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Other film credits include Weakness, What Just Happened, Aftermath, The Toe Tactic, No Reservations, A Crime, Mona Lisa Smile and Never Again. Her television credits include “The Good Wife,” “Last of the Ninth,” “Saving Grace,” “Nip/Tuck,” “Medium,” all three “Law & Orders” and, most recently, the pilot “Exit Strategy” opposite Ethan Hawke. Rabe, who was born in New York City and raised on the East Coast, graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Science in Theatre.
HAMISH LINKLATER (Martin) earned an Obie Award last season for his performance in CSC’s production of David Ives’ The School for Lies. He received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Twelfth Night at Shakespeare in the Park, where he also appeared opposite Al Pacino in The Merchant of Venice. His many other Theater credits include starring opposite Jill Clayburgh in The Busy World Is Hushed and opposite Heather Graham in Recent Tragic Events, both at Playwrights Horizons; Good Thing at The New Group (also in Los Angeles); and Laertes opposite Liev Schreiber in Hamlet, The Square and Love’s Fire, all at The Public. Notable Regional credits include Romeo in Romeo & Juliet twice by the age of 21, at Portland Stage and for The Acting Company; the title role in Hamlet twice by the age of 31, at Long Wharf (Connecticut Critics Circle Award) and at South Coast Rep; the world premiere of The Violet Hour at South Coast Rep; The Singing Forest at Long Wharf; and A Midsummer Night’s Dream andMeasure for Measure for director Sir Peter Hall at The Ahmanson (Paul Green Foundation Award). Hamish can currently be seen starring in the feature film The Future, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. His other Film credits include Fantastic Four, Final Draft, Groove (official selection, 2000 Sundance Film Festival), and the upcoming Lola Versus from duo Zoe Lister-Jones and Daryl Wein and Battleship along with Liam Neeson, Rihanna, Brooklyn Decker and Alexander Skarsgaard, directed by Peter Berg. Hamish appeared as Matthew in the CBS hit comedy “The New Adventures of Old Christine” opposite Julia Louis Dreyfus for the series’ five season run. His other Television credits include “Ugly Betty,” “Pushing Daisies,” “American Dreams,” “Gideon’s Crossing” (series regular) and the television movies “5ive Days to Midnight “and “Live from Baghdad.”
THERESA REBECK (Playwright) is a widely produced playwright throughout the United States and abroad. Past New York productions of her work include Mauritius(directed by Doug Hughes) at the Biltmore Theatre in a Manhattan Theater Club production; The Scene, The Water’s Edge, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann and Spike Heelsat Second Stage; Bad Dates, The Butterfly Collection and Our House at Playwrights Horizons; and View of the Dome at New York Theatre Workshop. Omnium Gatherum (co-written, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003) was featured at the Humana Festival, and had a commercial run at the Variety Arts Theatre. The Understudy (2010 Lilly Award), premiered at the 2008 Williamstown Theatre Festival and ran in New York at the Laura Pels Theater in a Roundabout Theatre Company production. All of Ms. Rebeck’s past produced plays are published by Smith and Kraus as Theresa Rebeck: Complete Plays, Volumes I, II and III and in acting editions available from Samuel French, Playscripts or Dramatists Play Service. Ms. Rebeck’s two novels, Three Girls and Their Brother (ALA Alex award) and Twelve Rooms with a View, have been published by Random House/Shaye Areheart Books. In television, Ms. Rebeck has written for “Dream On,” “Brooklyn Bridge,” “L.A. Law,” “American Dreamer,” “Maximum Bob,” “First Wave” and “Third Watch.” She has been a writer/producer for “Canterbury’s Law,” “Smith,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “NYPD Blue.” Her produced feature films include Harriet the Spy, Gossip and the independent features Sunday on the Rocks and Seducing Charlie Barker, an adaptation of her play, The Scene. Awards include the Mystery Writer’s of America’s Edgar Award, the Writer’s Guild of America award for Episodic Drama, the Hispanic Images Imagen Award and the Peabody, all for her work on “NYPD Blue.” She was the proud recipient of the National Theatre Conference Award for The Family of Mann, the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award in 2003 for The Bells and received both the 2007 IRNE Award for Best New Play and the Eliot Norton Award for Mauritius. She is also the proud recipient of the 2010 PEN Award for Playwriting. She is a board member of the Lark Theater, the Dramatists Guild and has taught at Brandeis University and Columbia University. She recently served as artist in residence at the University of Delaware. Her new play, Poor Behavior, will have its World Premiere this Fall at The Mark Taper Forum. She is creator, head writer and executive producer of the upcoming NBC series “Smash.”
SAM GOLD (Director) won a 2010 Obie Award for his direction of both Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation (Playwrights Horizons) and The Aliens (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater). His other recent New York work include acclaimed productions of Kin by Bathsheba Doran (Playwrights Horizons), The Coward by Nick Jones (Lincoln Center Theater’s LCT3), Tigers Be Still by Kim Rosenstock (Roundabout Theatre Company), Stephen Belber’s Dusk Rings a Bell (Atlantic Theater Company) and Nick Jones’Jollyship the Whiz-Bang, which played to sold out runs at Ars Nova in 2008 and The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival in 2010. He most recently directed Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at Williamstown Theatre Festival and Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County at The Old Globe. Other credits include Noah Haidle’s Rag and Bone(Rattlestick), Sam Marks’ The Joke (Studio Dante), Betty Shamieh’s The Black Eyed (New York Theater Workshop), Colin McKenna’s The Secret Agenda of Trees (Cherry Lane), The Threepenny Opera and Marlowe’s Edward II (Juilliard) and Anne Carson’s translation of Electra (Williams College). From 2003 to 2006, Sam served as the dramaturg at The Wooster Group. He is a Roundabout Associate Artist, NYTW Usual Suspect, a Drama League Directing Fellow, a recipient of the Princess Grace Award, and a graduate of the Juilliard Directing Program. Future projects include Dan LeFranc’s The Big Meal at Playwrights Horizons in Spring 2012. In addition, Sam Gold, Nick Jones and Dave Malloy are currently developing a new musical, Homunculus, which has been commissioned and will be produced by Center Theatre Group.
JEFFREY FINN (Producer). Broadway: American Idiot (Tony nomination, Best Musical), A View from the Bridge (Tony nomination, Best Play Revival), Oleanna, Blithe Spirit, On Golden Pond (Tony nomination, Best Play Revival). Off-Broadway: Game Show. Regional: Oleanna at the Mark Taper Forum, The Subject Was Roses at The Kennedy Center. National Tours: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber; On Golden Pond; The Who’s Tommy; Leader of the Pack; Tell Me on a Sunday; Promises, Promises; Company; Chess; and numerous Broadway Songbooks concert tours. In 1992, Jeffrey Finn Productions launched a corporate events company, Hot On Broadway, to produce customized corporate entertainment exclusively featuring current Broadway performers. Upcoming projects include producing the World Premiere of Theresa Rebeck’s new play Poor Behavior at The Mark Taper Forum and Executive Producing the new musical Saving Aimee at The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle. Visit www.JeffreyFinnProductions.com and www.HotOnBroadway.com.
JILL FURMAN (Producer) was co-lead producer of In the Heights, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2008. On Broadway, Jill co-produced the most recent revival of West Side Story, and is also co-producing the national tour, which is currently running. On Broadway, she produced The Drowsy Chaperone and associate produced Sly Fox and Fortune’s Fool. Off-Broadway, she produced In the Heights and On the Line and associate produced Adult Entertainment. Currently, Jill is co-producing the hip-hop comedy group Freestyle Love Supreme, and will soon shoot a television pilot with the group for a cable network. In 2011 Jill received the Robert Whitehead Award from the Commercial Theatre Institute for Outstanding Achievement in Commercial Theatre Producing. Jill is on the Board of Directors of MCC Theater, the advisory committee of the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center and is a member of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
SMUGGLER FILMS (Producer). Founded by Brian Carmody, John N. Hart and Patrick Milling Smith, with offices in Los Angeles, New York and London, Smuggler Films is a home for creative talent and stands for a commitment to original storytelling with a discretionary fund that is being used to develop and produce film and theater. Brian Carmody and Patrick Milling Smith from Smuggler, one of the largest and most creative production companies in the world, formed the company with award-winning producer John Hart (Boys Don’t Cry, Revolutionary Road, and 4 Tony Awards for best production including the Broadway revival of Chicago).
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