Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard Lead THREE SISTERS for CSC in '10-'11; Season Details Announced

Classic Stage Company (CSC), under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, has announced details for their upcoming 2010-11 season, the esteemed downtown theater company's 44th, which will include five Mainstage productions, as well as their popular Special Series.

The season will begin in September with the New York premiere of ORLANDO, written by acclaimed playwright Sarah Ruhl (In the Next Room, Clean House), adapted from the work of Virginia Woolf, and directed by Rebecca Taichman. Spanning three centuries, the play chronicles the boisterous adventures of Orlando, a young nobleman in Queen Elizabeth's court who awakes in the middle of his life to discover that he is now a she, and immortal to boot. What ensues is a journey through the less accepting 18th and 19th Centuries where Orlando becomes a wife, mother and finally a witness to the brink of full suffrage for women.

In January, CSC reunites much of the cast and creative team from their 2009 acclaimed production of Uncle Vanya, this time in Chekhov's masterpiece THREE SISTERS. The exemplary cast includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mamie Gummer, Josh Hamilton, Roberta Maxwell, George Morfogen, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Peter Sarsgaard and Louis Zorich, among others. Austin Pendleton again directs.

In March, CSC will present DOUBLE FALSEHOOD, Shakespeare's long lost play (recently discovered after 400 years of scholarly questing), presented in a minimalist staging, directed by CSC Artistic Director Brian Kulick. This chamber production will be augmented with a special expansion of CSC's popular Open Rehearsal Series as well as a series of panel discussions with noted Shakespeare scholars.

In April, playwright David Ives and director Walter Bobbie reunite following this season's sold out run of Venus In Fur with SCHOOL FOR LIES. This time, the acclaimed and prolific duo will present a free-form, modern riff on Molière's immortal comic classic The Misanthrope.

The season wraps next June with UNNATURAL ACTS, conceived and directed by Tony Speciale. In this theatrical retelling of a true story, Harvard University's administration has set up a secret court to determine what is taking place in Perkins Hall, Room 28. Behind those doors, eleven young men will discover themselves, their sexuality and an implacable intolerance that will forever alter their lives.

The 2009-2010 season will also include the company's popular First Look Festival. This year First Look turns its gaze to Molière, with Tartuffe, School for Wives, and The Misanthrope, in April and May, 2011.

CSC will also reunite with the Graduate Acting Program of the Columbia University School of the Arts for the sixth year of The Young Company, CSC'S unique Education and Outreach initiative that has greatly impacted the lives of thousands of New York City public schoolchildren throughout the five boroughs. CSC's Young Company recently received a prestigious Shakespeare in American Communities Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. This season The Young Company will present Shakespeare's As You Like It in March, 2011.

Now in its 43nd year as one of New York's most exciting theatres, Classic Stage Company is the award-winning Off-Broadway theatre committed to re-imagining the classical repertory for a contemporary American audience. Led by Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, they recently presented David Ives' highly acclaimed Venus In Fur, directed by Walter Bobbie. Last season the company presented three sold-out acclaimed productions: Shakespeare's The Tempest, starring Mandy Patinkin; Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, starring Denis O'Hare, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard; and Anne Carson's An Oresteia. Recent productions: critically acclaimed sold-out runs of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, starring Dianne Wiest and Alan Cumming; the world premiere of David Ives' New Jerusalem, directed by Walter Bobbie; Hamlet, Richard II, and Richard III starring Michael Cumpsty and directed by Brian Kulick; and Zoe Caldwell in Yasmina Reza's A Spanish Play, directed by John Turturro.

CSC presents plays from the past that speak directly to the issues of today. As we return to works of the past, we endeavor to keep a clear eye on the future, particularly in terms of the next generation of artists and audiences. Classic Stage's artists are the finest established and emerging theater practitioners working in this country. Highly respected and widely regarded as a major force in New York and American theatre, Classic Stage has been cited repeatedly by all the major Off-Broadway theater awards: Obies, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and the 1999 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work. Memberships to Classic Stage Company productions are available at various price levels, including the flexible MasterPass membership, which in addition to prime seats entitles members to participate in CSC special series, including their sold-out Open Rehearsal events. For more information on Classic Stage Company visit the theatre's website at www.classicstage.org.

CSC is currently presenting Academy Award winner Dianne Wiest in Alexander Ostrovosky's THE FOREST, adapted by Kathleen Tolan and directed by Brian Kulick, and co-starring Obie Award-winner John Douglas Thompson.

For further information on Classic Stage Company, call (212) 352-3101, visit the theatre in person at 136 East 13th Street, or go to www.classicstage.org.