Spike Lee Confirmed to Direct Stalag 17 Revival

Acclaimed director Spike Lee will make his Broadway directing debut in the Spring 2008 with a new production of Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski's play Stalag 17, produced by Michael Abbott, who discovered and produced the initial New York stage production prior to Broadway.

"I'm very happy to get the opportunity to make my first foray into the theatre and Broadway," says Spike Lee, "I've never been one to put limits on my art.  I was too young to see the play but I've seen the movie numerous times and Billy Wilder is one of my favorite directors.  This production will have a contemporary look, yet still stay true to the period and the original play."

Stalag 17 is "a drama about a group of American airmen in a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II.  At Stalag 17, while the inmates spend their waking hours circumventing the boredom of prison life, at night, they attempt to arrange escapes.  Lightened by the antics of these restless prisoners, the play depicts the conflicts among these volatile and desperate men. Another producer moved the play to Broadway," state press notes.

The play opened on Broadway on May 8, 1951 at the 48th Street Theatre and ran for 472 performances, closing June 21, 1952. The play was made into a hit film in 1953, directed by Billy Wilder, and earning William Holden an Academy Award for Best Actor.

"Producing Stalag 17 once again on stage, after so many years, is a labor of love for me," says producer Michael Abbott.  "I feel audiences of all generations will react strongly to the humor, the mystery and the suspense of the show.  Its themes of laughter through adversity and the quest for freedom are timeless.  And Spike will add an extraordinary new dimension to this relevant new production.  The script essentially remains the same, but Spike's magic will bring Stalag 17 into the present."

"The play is based on the experiences of its authors, both of whom were POWs at Stalag 17 in Austria from 1943 - 1945.  It was there that the two men began working on Stalag 17. Patton's 3rd Army reached Stalag 17 on May 3, 1945 – twelve days before the end of the war in Europe -- freeing Bevan and Trzcinski."

Further information about theatre and cast will be forthcoming.

A two-time Oscar-nominee for his screenplay to Do the Right Thing and for his documentary 4 Little Girls, writer, director and producer Lee - who was originally in the running to helm the screen version of Rent - is one of the most acclaimed and distinctive voices in contemporary film.  His other film credits include She's Got to Have It, School Daze, Jungle Fever, Crooklyn, Get on the Bus, Clockers, He Got Game, Summer of Sam, Bamboozled, 25th Hour, and Inside Man.  Lee is also the Artistic Director for the New York University Graduate Film School, and has been a professor there for the past nine years.

Photo of Spike Lee by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.