Marymount Manhattan College Presents AS YOU LIKE IT 11/18-11/22

William Shakespeare's witty, playful and totally magical As You Like It is a compelling romantic adventure in which Rosalind and Orlando's celebrated courtship is played out against a backdrop of political rivalry, banishment and exile in the Forest of Arden. This production is performed by students in the Theatre Arts programs of the College.

AS YOU LIKE IT is directed by John Basil, music composed and directed by Bruce Lazarus with vocal coaching by BarbAra Adrian marks the concluding fall production at Marymount's Division of Fine Arts. The production will play 5 performances only; Wednesday, November 18, through Sunday, November 22 at the Theresa Lang Theatre (221 East 71st Street).

AS YOU LIKE IT will feature Scott Basten (Corin), Melissa Benoist (Rosalind), A.J. Cote (Jacques), Tommy Hettrick (Amiens), George Iliopoulos (Duke Frederick), Adam Kerbel (Adam), Erica Knight (Celia), Justine Kunstler (Phebe), D'Marcus Langrum (Silvius), Mike Longo (Orlando), Michael Miller (Oliver), Eric Mossman (William/Lord), Kiley Reid (Audrey), Ryan Rinkel (Touchstone), Austin Ruffer (Jacques De Bois/Lord), Ryan Russell (Dennis/Lord), Alec Signorino (Charles the Wrestler/Lord), Shashoni Walton (Hymen), Noah Weary (D.F. Lord/Music/Dance), Johnny Weissgerber (Duke Senior), Jordan Westfall (Sir Oliver Martext).

The creative team for AS YOU LIKE IT includes: Sara Tice (Assistant director), Lilly Wild (Assistant Director), Ron Piretti (Fight Choreographer), Michelle Foster (Stage Manager), Katie Chai (Assistant Stage Manager), Joshua Hillman (Assistant Stage Manager), Cati Pishal (Dramaturge), Rebecca Stump (Dramaturge), Rob Dutiel (Set Director), Aaron Switzer (Scenic Designer/Assistant Set Designer), Ray Recht (Lighting Director), Gretchen Engle (Lighting Designer), Amanda Rosen (Assistant Lighting Designer), Kirche Zeile (Costume Designer), Mary Fleischer (Producer), Owen Spruill (Student Producer), Ross Champpell (Operations Director), CatrIona Jones (Administrative Secretary).

JOHN BASIL (Director) is the Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts at Marymount Manhattan College. He founded the American Globe Theatre in New York City in 1988, and since then has served as its Producing Artistic Director and regularly teaches its Playing Shakespeare course. John has taught Shakespeare and acting at Rutgers University, C.W. Post Long Island University, Penn State University, Asolo Conservatory, Bradley University, University of Colorado, University of Wyoming, and Columbia Teachers College. In addition he has taught Shakespeare workshops at the high school level and for the NYC Arts Connection's outreach program, Children of Hope. He has directed for the American Globe Theatre, Riverside Shakespeare Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre and the Sarasota Opera, in addition to guest artist positions at several universities. John is the author of Will Power, How to Act Shakespeare in 21 Days(Applause, 2006).

Bruce Lazarus (Music) studied composition at Juilliard with Vincent Persichetti and Andrew Thomas, earned his B.M. and M.M. in music composition, and studied piano and composition privately with Donald Waxman. He went on to earn his Ph.D in music theory at Rutgers University. Lazarus's recent projects include the choral cantata The night is full of noises for Rebecca Scott, Director of Cantabile Chamber Chorale in honor of Cantabile's 20 th anniversary; Far Corners for flutist Laurel Zucker, for premiere at the 2007 New American Music Festival at University of California in Sacramento and inclusion on Zucker's forth-coming CD Inflorescence IV; a song-cycle, White Boxes with Strings for soprano and piano on an original text; a new work for flutist Barbara Siesel, and continued work on Messier Catalog of Star Clusters and Nebulae , a full-evening interstellar adventure for solo piano. A new CD of Lazarus's chamber music - produced by Eric Somers of Sandbook Studios - is due for release in summer 2008. Recognition for Lazarus' work include residencies at Yaddo, and composition awards and fellowships from Meet the Composer, American Guild of Composers, and the New Jersey Council on the Arts. Lazarus is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Music at Marymount Manhattan College and Music Coordinator for Mark Morris Dance Group.

BARBAra Adrian (Vocal Coach) is the Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at Marymount Manhattan College. She recieved her B.A. from James Madison University, her M.F.A. at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York and C.M.A. from Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies. A recent production Barbara has worked as the voice and speech coach was for Major Barbara by Bernard Shaw. Adrian was the Co-Coordinator for Voice Methods Workshop: Six Day Voice Workshop featuring Phil Thompson, Louis Colaianni, and Nancy Krebs Hosted at MMC in July of 2008. Adrian was the mentor for the Association of Theatre Movement Educators' Mentoring Program for aspiring movement specialists in the Spring of 2009. A recent publication for BarbAra Adrian is the Actor Training the Laban Way: An Integrated Approach to Voice, Speech, and Movement. New York: Allworth Press, November 2008.

KIRCHE LEIGH ZEILE (Costume Designer) Off-Broadway credits include Amazons and Their Men and The Last Word. Regionally, she has designed for the Weston Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, Southern Rep, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Tulane Summer Shakespeare Festival, and the Sharon Playhouse. She designs for numerous theatre companies and is an affiliated artist with Clubbed Thumb, an Obie award-winning downtown theatre company in NYC. She is an assistant professor at Marymount Manhattan College and was listed as a Young Designer to Watch in Entertainment Design Magazine, October 2004. She holds an MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

AARON SWITZER (Scenic Designer) is a senior in the BA Theatre Arts program with a concentration in Design and Technical Production. Previous credits at MMC include the mainstage productions of Our Town (Assistant Scenic Designer) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (Assistant Scenic Designer). Other credits include Home Free/Heracles and West Lethargy for the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, both with Page 121 Productions.

GRETCHEN ENGLE (Lighting Designer) is currently a junior in the BA Theatre Arts program with a double concentration in Design and Technical Production and Theatre Performance. Previous MMC credits include the mainstage productions of Thoroughly Modern Millie (Assistant Lighting Designer) and Major Barbara (Master Electrician) and the Directing Projects Spring Dance(Lighting Designer), This Mess is a House (Lighting Designer), This Basement (Lighting Designer), and Am I Blue (Stage Manager). Other credits include Lighting Designer for Boxed In with the Compassionate Shepard Theatre Company and Stage Manager for Celebration, Primary Primary, and The Odyssey at the New Hampshire Theatre Project.

MARYMOUNT MANHATTAN COLLEGE THEATRE ARTS DEPARTMENT. The Theatre Arts programs at Marymount Manhattan College offers professional theatre training combined with a strong liberal arts education in Manhattan.

MMC Theatre Arts graduates leave with viable, competitive portfolios and audition material. Recent graduates of MMC have gone on to prestigious graduate schools (The Juilliard School, Yale School of Drama, DePaul University, Harvard, Columbia University), films (Chaplin, Field of Dreams, Get on the Bus, Little Odessa, Scenes From A Mall, The Edge of Seventeen), television (100 Centre Street, Ellen, ER, In Living Color, New York Undercover, Melrose Place, The West Wing), The Royal National Theatre (London) and Broadway (Wicked, Legally Blonde, Mary Poppins, Rock 'n' Roll, The Lion King & Little Shop of Horrors) national tours (Aida, Dreamgirls, Fosse, Guys & Dolls, Showboat), Off-Broadway (Lincoln Center Theatre, Vineyard Theatre, Krane Theatre, American Place Theatre, Mabou Mines, La Mama Theatre, LAByrinth Theater Company) and regional tours. Others have been hired as stage managers, lighting designers, directors, playwrights and arts managers in performing arts venues such as The Dallas Theatre Center, The Second Stage Theatre, The New York Shakespeare Festival, Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre, Touchstone Pictures and Dance Theatre Workshop. Still others have gone on to careers in architecture, education, law, medicine, and business.

PRODUCTION PERFORMANCES:
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18 AT 8:00PM
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19 AT 8:00PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20 AT 8:00PM
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21 AT 8:00PM
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22 AT 2:00PM

TICKETING INFORMATION:
Tickets are available through email at TheatreTickets@mmm.edu, by telephone at 212.774.0760 or at the box office on the day of the performance (seats are limited).
Ticket prices range from $5.00-$10.00. Reservations begin Wednesday, October 7.
For more information please visit the Marymount Manhattan College Theatre Production Workshop website at http://marymount.mmm.edu/cgi-bin/MySQLdb?MYSQL_VIEW=/news/view_theater.txt.