Cillian Murphy to Make US Stage Debut in MISTERMAN, 11/30-12/21

Following an immensely acclaimed world premiere at the Galway Arts Festival this past summer, St. Ann's Warehouse and Imagine Ireland will present the American Premiere of Misterman, November 30-December 21 at St. Ann's Warehouse. Murphy makes his American stage debut with a tour-de-force solo performance in this Landmark Productions / Galway Arts Festival co-production, his first collaboration with playwright/director Enda Walsh since Disco Pigs, which launched both men's careers 15 years ago.

Misterman will run November 30-December 3, December 6-10, 14-17, 20-21 at 8:00 P.M.; December 4, 11, 18 at 7:00 P.M.; and December 11, 15, 18 at 2:00 P.M. Critics are welcome as of December 3 for an official opening on December 4. The running time is approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.

Tickets, which start at $45, are available online at www.stannswarehouse.org and by phone at 718.254.8779 (Tuesday-Saturday, 1:00 P.M.-7:00 P.M.) or 866.811.4111 (extended hours Monday-Friday, 9:00 A.M.-9:00 P.M.; Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 A.M.-6:00 P.M.). They can also be purchased at the St. Ann's Warehouse Box Office at 38 Water Street Tuesday-Saturday, 1:00 P.M.-7:00 P.M. This production of Misterman is part of Imagine Ireland, Culture Ireland's year of Irish arts in America, and is supported in part by piece by piece productions.

Written and directed by Enda Walsh, Misterman is a dark, dangerous and blisteringly funny tale about a proselytizing, small-town fanatic on his own judgment day. Portraying the unraveling protagonist Thomas Magill, self-proclaimEd Moral leader of Inishfree, Murphy navigates an emotional spectrum that ranges from minutely subtle to unsettlingly explosive. Like a child trying to push a rock up a hill, in an abandoned warehouse, Magill imagines journeying through the village, seeking salvation for his neighbors. All the while hearing voices in his head, on reel-to-reel tapes that he has recorded, and becoming all the characters live, he desperately strives to settle his actions of the recent past. As he becomes increasingly unhinged, surprisingly, he becomes sadder and more winning to the bitter end. Walsh describes it as "a really bad dress rehearsal for God's right hand man."

Misterman has garnered tremendous acclaim. Reviewing the world premiere, The Guardian said, "Murphy is riveting...a bravura celebration of [Walsh's] theatrical vision." The Irish Independent has described the production as "theatre at its most raw, most barbaric and most beautiful," and The Sunday Independent calls Misterman "a marvelous achievement."

The production benefits from a world-class creative team that includes set design by Jamie Vartan, and features lighting design by Adam Silverman and sound design by Gregory Clarke. The show features an original score by Donnacha Dennehy, founder of the renowned Crash Ensemble and one of Ireland's leading contemporary composers.

Misterman is a coming-full-circle for Murphy, who began his acting career in Walsh's Disco Pigs. One of the most acclaimed actors of his generation, Murphy's film credits include the current In Time and Inception, Batman Begins, Breakfast on Pluto, The Wind that Shakes the Barley and the forthcoming Red Lights, with Robert De Niro and Elizabeth Olsen.

Misterman was first produced in 1999; for the new production, Walsh has greatly expanded the text. Misterman follows a number of Walsh plays St. Ann's Warehouse has presented over the last few seasons: Druid's The Walworth Farce, The New Electric Ballroom and Penelope.

About Enda Walsh (Writer/Director)

Enda Walsh is a multi-award winning Irish playwright. He lives in London. His work has been translated into over 20 languages and has been performed internationally since 1998. His recent plays include Penelope (Druid Theatre Company), which has been presented in Ireland, America and Britain, from 2010-2011. Other plays for Druid include The New Electric Ballroom, which played Ireland, Australia, Edinburgh, London, New York and LA from 2008-2009, and The Walworth Farce, which played Ireland, Edinburgh, London and New York, as well as an American and Australian tour, from 2007-2010. Walsh's other plays include Delirium (Theatre O/Barbican), which played Dublin and a British tour in 2008; Chatroom (Royal National Theatre), which played at the National and on tour in Britain and Asia (2006-2007); and The Small Things (Paines Plough), which played London and Ireland (2005). His early plays
include Bedbound (Dublin Theatre Festival) and Misterman, Disco Pigs and The Ginger Ale Boy (Corcadorca). His film work includes Disco Pigs (Temple Films/Renaissance) and Hunger (Blast/FILM4, directed by Steve McQueen, featuring Michael Fassbender).

About Cillian Murphy (Thomas Magill)

Cillian Murphy made his mark on stage with a stunning performance in Enda Walsh's Disco Pigs. After receiving commendations for Best Fringe Show at the 1996 Dublin Theatre Festival and the Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1997, Disco Pigs went on to tour extensively in Ireland, the UK, Canada and Australia. He later starred in the film version directed by Kirsten Sheridan. In 2006, he made his West End debut at the New Ambassador Theatre in John Kolvenbach's Love Song, directed by John Crowley.

Additional stage work includes several collaborations with Tony Award-winning director Garry Hynes: The Country Boy, Juno and the Paycock and The Playboy of the Western World at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin. He also starred as Konstantin in the Edinburgh Festival production of The Seagull directed by Peter Stein, as Adam in Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things at the Gate Theatre in Dublin and as Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing at Kilkenny Castle.

About Landmark Productions (Co-Producer)

Landmark Productions (producer) is one of Ireland's leading theatre producers, founded in 2003 by Anne Clarke. Its most recent productions include the world premiere of Testament, a new play by Colm Tóibín, directed by Garry Hynes, in a co-production with the Dublin Theatre Festival. Forthcoming productions include the world premiere of a new play by Emma Donoghue, author of the international bestseller Room. For more information: www.landmarkproductions.ie.

About Galway Arts Festival (Co-Producer)

Galway Arts Festival was established in 1978 and is Ireland's leading annual international arts festival presenting a programme of the performance and visual arts. As a producer and curator the Festival has toured work to the Perth International Arts Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Adelaide Festival, London and the USA. For more information: www.galwayartsfestival.com.

About Imagine Ireland (Co-Presenter)

Imagine Ireland, Culture Ireland's year of Irish arts in America, will see over 1,200 artists present more than 500 events across 45 states during 2011. The program is a celebration of the Irish imagination, presenting renowned artists and ensembles alongside some of the country's most exciting emerging voices. Irish and American artists share a strong cultural connection, going back many centuries. The Fall/Winter program of Imagine Ireland is full of highlights and special events, across theatre, visual arts, music, film, literature and dance. Full details are available at www. imagineireland.ie.

About St. Ann's Warehouse (Co-Presenter)

For over 30 years, St. Ann's has commissioned, produced and presented an eclectic body of innovative theater and concert presentations that meet at the intersection of theater and rock and roll. Since 2001, the organization has helped vitalize the emerging Brooklyn waterfront neighborhood, DUMBO, where St. Ann's Warehouse at 38 Water Street has become one of New York City's most important and compelling live performance destinations.

Through its signature multi-artist concerts and groundbreaking music/theater collaborations, St. Ann's Warehouse has become the artistic home for the American avant-garde, international companies of stature and award-winning emerging artists. Highly acclaimed landmark productions include Lou Reed's and John Cale's Songs for ‘Drella; Marianne Faithfull's Seven Deadly Sins; Artistic Director Susan Feldman's Band in Berlin; Charlie Kaufman and the Coen Brothers' Theater of the New Ear; The Royal Court Theater's 4:48 Psychosis; The Wooster Group's La Didone, Hamlet, The Emperor Jones, House/Lights, Brace Up! and To You, The Birdie! (Phèdre); The Globe Theatre of London's Measure for Measure; Druid Company's The Walworth Farce, The New Electric Ballroom and Penelope; Lou Reed's Berlin; and the National Theater of Scotland's acclaimed Black Watch. In 2009, St.
Ann's presented the New York premiere of Kneehigh Theatre's production of Noel Coward's Brief Encounter. The play topped Brantley's Best of 2009 list in The New York Times and completed a Broadway run at Roundabout's Studio 54 in 2010.

Other upcoming highlights of St. Ann's 2011-12 season include the return of Daniel Kitson with It's Always Right Now, Until It's Later; and Elephant Room, directed by Paul Lazar and written by Steve Cuiffo with Trey Lyford and Geoff Sobelle, in collaboration with the magicians/performers Dennis Diamond, Louie Magic, and Daryl Hannah.

In 2004, Susan Feldman and St. Ann's Warehouse were awarded the Ross Wetzsteon OBIE Award for the development of new work. The OBIE Award Committee honored St. Ann's for "inviting artists to treat their cavernous DUMBO space as both an inspiring laboratory and a sleek venue where its super-informed audience charges the atmosphere with hip vitality." New York Magazine recently proclaimed Feldman "The Saint of Experimental Theater." Recently, three productions were awarded OBIE Awards: The New Electric Ballroom (playwright Enda Walsh); Brief Encounter (Design Team); Coraline (composer and lyricist Stephin Merritt).