Full Casting Set for CTH's King Lear, with De Shields

The OBIE and Drama Desk Award-winning Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH) will begin their 8th season with a new production of Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear.  Performances will be at the HSA Theatre, 647 St. Nicholas Avenue, and will begin on September 29th and run through the 5th of November.

King Lear is "widely considered to be Shakespeare's greatest dramatic work," as press notes state. Tony Award nominee André De Shields (who was previously announced) returns to the Classical Theatre of Harlem to play the title role; this will be his third collaboration with CTH Artistic Director Alfred Preisser. King Lear is a co-production with the Folger Theatre in Washington, DC; Lear will move to Miami in November, and then will travel to Washington, DC for a 6-week engagement at the Folger Theatre in January of 2007.  Alfred Preisser, the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of The Classical Theatre of Harlem and the director of the Theatre Division at The Harlem School of the Arts, directs King Lear. 

The cast of King Lear will also include OBIE-winner Ty Jones, John Douglas Thompson, Jerome Preston Bates, Robyne Landiss Walker, Zainab Jah, Ken Schatz, George C. Hosmer, Sean Patrick Reilly, Christina Sajous, Jaime Carrillo, Duane Allen, Alex Sovronsky, Noshir Dalal, and Shayshahn Macpherson.

André De Shields made his Classical Theatre of Harlem debut as Makak in the 2003 production of Derek Walcott's Dream on Monkey Mountain (2004 AUDELCO Award-Leading Actor in a Play). Other critically acclaimed dramatic roles include Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, SheriDan Whiteside in The Man Who Came To Dinner, Vladimir in Waiting for Godot, Henry Drummond in Inherit The Wind and Graham, the Gorilla, in Mark Medoff's Prymate. He is best known for appearing on Broadway in The Wiz (title role), Ain't Misbehavin' (Drama Desk nomination), Play On! (Tony Nomination) and The Full Monty (Tony nomination).

The Classical Theatre of Harlem has won numerous awards and honors include a 2004 Drama Desk Award (as well as several nominations), 12 AUDELCO Awards (along with 77 nominations) for Excellence in Black Theatre, and five OBIE Awards, off-Broadway's most prestigious honor.  Previous productions include Funnyhouse of a Negro and Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death.

The schedule will be Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8PM and Sundays at 3PM. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased by calling smarttix at (212) 868-4444 or by visiting their web site at www.smarttix.com. For more information about The Classical Theatre of Harlem, visit their web site at www.classicaltheatreofharlem.org.