The Humans by Stephen Karam is a dark and moving familial comedy.  Set in Manhattan’s Chinatown in a newly rented duplex, the tenants are a young couple starting out in the world.  Brigid (Sarah Steele) is an undiscovered composer with mountains of student debt.  Her boyfriend, Richard (Arian Moayed) is working on completing his masters in social work.

The Public Theater

Announces

Additional Casting For

KING LEAR

Directed by James Macdonald

October 18 - November 20

Che Ayende, Craig Bockhorn, Michael Crane, Herb Foster,

Seth Gilliam, Michael Izquierdo, Arian Moayed, 
Kelli O’Hara and Richard Topol

Join The Cast

SINGLE TICKETS GO ON SALE TUESDAY, AUGUST 9

August 9, 2011 – The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Interim Executive Director Joey Parnes) announced additional casting today for KING LEAR, directed byJames Macdonald, running October 18 – November 20 in the Newman Theater with an official press opening on November 8.  Che Ayende (Duke of Burgundy/Knight/Servant),Craig Bockhorn (Doctor), Michael Crane (Oswald), Herb Foster (Old Man/Curan), Seth Gilliam (Edmund), Michael Izquierdo (King of France), Arian Moayed (Edgar),Kelli O’Hara (Regan), and Richard Topol (Albany) will join the previously announced Enid Graham (Goneril), Michael McKean (Gloucester), John Douglas Thompson(Kent) and Sam Waterston (Lear). Single tickets, priced at $75-$85, go on sale Tuesday, August 9. Member tickets are $40 and are on sale now.

KING LEAR, Shakespeare’s masterpiece, is one of the towering works of world literature. In no other play is Shakespeare’s tragic vision more terrifyingly clear – and nowhere in his canon does he create a richer or more complex set of characters. When King Lear divides his kingdom among his three daughters, he sets in motion a cascade of violence that sweeps the civilized world to the brink of chaos, and Lear to the edge of madness. 

KING LEAR will feature scenic design by Miriam Buether; costume design by Gabriel Berry; lighting design by Christopher Akerlind; and sound design by Darron L West.

JAMES MACDONALD (Director). In New York, Macdonald has directed The Book of Grace (The Public), Top Girls (MTC/Broadway), Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? (The Public), Dying City(Lincoln Center), A Number (New York Theater Workshop) and 4.48 Psychosis (St. Ann’s Warehouse). From 1992 to 2006, Macdonald was associate director of the Royal Court, where he directed world premieres of work by writers including Caryl Churchill, Sarah Kane, Martin Crimp, and most recently Mike Bartlett’s Cock.

CHE AYENDE (Duke of Burgundy/Knight/Servant) recently appeared in The Public Theater’s Public Lab production of Timon of Athens. His other Off-Broadway credits includeThe Day The Bronx Died, Inked Baby, Oroonoko, andAll’s Well That Ends Well. His regional credits include King Lear, The Cure (Yale Rep); Romeo and Juliet (A.R.T.); andResurrection (Arena Stage, Helen Hayes nom).

CRAIG BOCKHORN (Doctor) appeared at The Public Theater in The Seagull and Kit Marlowe. His Broadway credits include On Golden Pond and Prelude to a Kiss.  His additional Off-Broadway credits include The Hope Zone and The Truth-Teller.  He appeared in the film Transamerica and on television in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Ed.”

MICHAEL CRANE (Oswald) last appeared at The Public in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. He also appeared Off-Broadway in Doris to Darlene, A Cautionary Valentine. His regional credits include Hamlet, The Threepenny Opera, and Italian American Reconciliation.

HERB FOSTER (Old Man/Curan) has appeared in several Public Theater productions, including The Merchant of Venice (Broadway), Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, As You Like It and The Controversy of Valladolid. His Broadway credits include Cymbeline, The Rivals, Kiss Me, Kate, Amy’s View, and Me and My Girl. His television credits include “Spin City.”

SETH GILLIAM (Edmund) appeared in The Public’s production of The Tragedy of Richard III. Hisother theater credits include Iphigenia and Other Daughters, Girl Gone, and The Maids. Film and television credits include “Teen Wolf,” “The Good Wife,” “Skins,” “Law & Order,” “Nurse Jackie,” and Did You Hear About The Morgans?, with recurring roles on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “The Wire,” and “Oz.”

ENID GRAHAM (Goneril) appeared on Broadway in Honour, The Constant Wife, Dinner at Eight, and Fortune’s Fool. She has appeared Off-Broadway in Some Americans Abroad, The Long Christmas Ride Home, and Crimes of the Heart. Her television and film credits include Rose Van Alden on HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” “The Good Wife,” and Blue Valentine.

MICHAEL IZQUIERDO (King of France) appeared at the Delacorte Theater in Mother Courage and Her Children. He appeared on Broadway in The Miracle Worker and his Off-Broadway credits include Go Back To Where You Are and New Jerusalem. His film and television credits include Taking Woodstock, The Last Day of August, “Blue Bloods,” and “As The World Turns.”

MICHAEL MCKEAN (Gloucester) recently appeared on Broadway in Tracy Letts’ Superior Donuts, Hairspray, and The Homecoming. McKean originated the role of Lenny Kosnowski on television’s “Laverne and Shirley.” He was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1994 to 1995. His select film credits include This is Spinal Tap, Clue, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration.

 ARIAN MOAYED (Edgar) appeared in The Public Theater’s Public Lab production of The Fever Chart. On Broadway he received a Tony Award nomination for his performance in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. His other Off-Broadway credits include Masked, Queens Boulevard, American Pilot, Homebody/Kabul and Extra Key to Heaven. His film and television credits include Roadie, The Christians, Arranged, and “MONY.”

KELLI O’HARA (Regan) has appeared on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning revival of South Pacific at Lincoln Center, The Pajama Game, The Light in the Piazza, Dracula, Sweet Smell of Success, Follies, and Jekyll and Hyde.  Her film credits include Sex and the City 2, The Key to Reserva, and The Dying Gaul. She has recently released her second solo album “Always.”

JOHN DOUGLAS THOMPSON (Kent). His Broadway credits include Julius Caesar and Cyrano de Bergerac. Hewon an Obie, a Callaway, and a Lortel Award for his portrayal of the title role inOthello at Theatre for a New Audience. His other Off-Broadway credits include The Emperor Jones, The Forest, Antony and Cleopatra, and King Lear.

RICHARD TOPOL (Albany) recently appeared on Broadway in The Normal Heart and The Merchant of Venice. His other Broadway credits include Awake and Sing! (Drama Desk Award); Cymbeline; The Country Girl; Julius Caesar; and School for Scandal. His Off-Broadway credits include When The Rain Stops Falling, Hamlet, Mouth to Mouth, andOpus. His film and television credits include Mickey Blue Eyes, Party Girl, “Damages,” “Nurse Jackie,” and “Rescue Me."

SAM WATERSTON (King Lear) has appeared in The Public Theater’s productions of Hamlet (Hamlet, Polonius), Much Ado About Nothing (Leonato, Benedick), Measure for Measure (Duke),Cymbeline (Cloten), Henry VI Part 1 and Part 2 (Prince Hal), Ergo (AsIan) and As You Like It (Silvius). His film and television credits include The Great Gatsby, Serial Mom, The Glass Menagerie, four Woody Allen films and “I’ll Fly Away.” Waterston is an Academy Award nominee for his work in The Killing Fields, and he received an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe Award for his work as Jack McCoy on “Law & Order.”

THE PUBLIC THEATER (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Joey Parnes, Interim Executive Director) was founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 and is now one of the nation’s preeminent cultural institutions, producing new plays, musicals and productions of classics at its downtown home and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The Public Theater’s mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day on stage and through extensive outreach programs. Each year, more than 250,000 people attend Public Theater-related productions and events at six downtown stages, including Joe’s Pub, and Shakespeare in the Park. The Public Theater’s productions have won 42 Tony Awards, 158 Obies, 42 Drama Desk Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes. Fifty-four Public Theater productions have moved to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones; That Championship Season; A Chorus Line; For Colored Girls…; The Pirates of Penzance; The Tempest; Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk; The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Topdog/Underdog; Take Me Out; Caroline, or Change; Passing Strange; the revival of HAIR; Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and The Merchant of Venice. www.publictheater.org.

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The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust provides leadership support for

The Public Theater’s year-round activities.

Time Warner is the Supporting Sponsor of The Public’s 2011-2012 season.

 Bank of America is the proud Season Sponsor of Shakespeare in the Park.

Major support for The Public Theater is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Shubert Foundation, The Shen Family Foundation, the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Ford Foundation, the Susan Stein Shiva Foundation, the George T. Delacorte Fund at the New York Community Trust—Fund for Performances

at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation,

and by Warren Spector and Margaret Whitton.

New York Magazine is the official print and online sponsor of The Public Theater’s 2011-2012 downtown season.

Public support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs;

the New York State Council on the Art; and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Special thanks to Continental Airlines, the official airline of The Public Theater.

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WATERWELL
ANNOUNCES SECOND EXTENSION OF
“G O O D B A R”
DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND!

DIRECTED BY BENGAL TIGER’S ARIAN MOAYED

MONTHLY RESIDENCY
PRESENTED BY IDEAL GLASS IN MANHATTAN

PERFORMANCES CONTINUE
JUNE, JULY AND AUGUST

New York, NY – Waterwell, one of the Village Voice’s Best Arguments for Devised Theater (2010) and creators of #9 and The|King|Operetta, has announced a second extension of their monthly residency of its latest drop, the live concept album Goodbar, presented by Ideal Glass (22 East 2nd Street) in downtown Manhattan.   Performances will be Monday, May 2nd as previously announced, and continuing Monday, June 6th, Monday, July 11th and Monday, August 1st at 7:30 p.m.

Created in collaboration with NYC glam-punk band, Bambï, Goodbar blurs the boundaries between music and theatre while tackling one of the most controversial cult artifacts of the '70s: Looking for Mr. Goodbar. Riffing wildly on both the film starring Diane Keaton and the novel by Judith Rossner, Bambï and Waterwell crank the amps up to ten and launch a full frontal assault on modern myths of sex, independence and persona.

Directed by Waterwell co-founder Arian Moayed (Musa in Broadway’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Drama League Nomination), Goodbar features words and music by Bambï, video design by Alex Koch and the onscreen talents of Ira Glass, Bobby Cannavale and Moby, among others.  Waterwell ensemble members Hanna Cheek (Hostage Song, The Pumpkin Pie Show) and Kevin Townley (Shockheaded Peter, My Super Ex-Girlfriend), handle lead vocals, backed by Bambï bandmates Cara Jeiven (Drums), Jimmie Marlowe (Guitar) and Tobi Parks (Bass).  Rounding out the cast are dancers Kelly Hurt, Aleta Lanier, Sara Pauley and Emma Walton.

The design team that created the original version of Goodbar at City Park Foundation’s SummerStage this August reprises its roles: Nick Benacerraf (Scenic Design), Adam Frank (Lighting Design), Erik Bergrin (Costume Design) and Gaby Savransky (Sound Engineer). Waterwell ensemble member Robert Signom III also returns as Production Manager.

Performances at Ideal Glass are Monday, May 2nd, Monday, June 6th, Monday, July 11th and Monday, August 1st at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 and are available first come first serve at the door only. Ideal Glass is located at 22 East 2nd Street in New York, NY. For more information, visit http://www.waterwell.org.

Waterwell (Arian Moayed & Tom Ridgely, Artistic Directors) is a New York-based company of artists dedicated to the collaborative creation of new works for the theatre. Founded in 2002, they have devised eleven original plays, four cabarets and two staged readings. For each venture the actors, writers, directors, composers, musicians and designers work collectively to build the piece from the ground up. The Village Voice calls them, "Dynamic, resourceful and relentlessly entertaining." And TheaterScene says, "There's no way a written description can do justice to their blazing energy and inventiveness." Using a combination of research, improvisation and source texts, the ensemble devises each drop over the course of an extended rehearsal period. The resulting mixture of drama and vaudeville uses music and comedy as access points to address larger issues of power, class and race. The New York Times hails the work as, "Brilliant, original and inspired. Alive enough to surprise even the performers themselves," and Theatermania writes, "Waterwell has artfully staked a claim on our collective conscience." Their work has been nominated for three IT Awards, a Drama Desk, a New York Magazine Culture Award and a Village Voice Best of NYC.

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http://www.waterwell.org
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