The Colony Theatre Presents Ian Buchanan & Mariette Hartley in THE LION IN WINTER, Now thru 5/18

The Colony Theatre is thrilled to present Ian Buchanan and Mariette Hartley starring in THE LION IN WINTER, written by James Goldman and directed by Stephanie Vlahos. THE LION IN WINTER will preview tonight, April 16; Thursday, April 17; and Friday, April 18 at 8:00pm and will open on Saturday, April 19 at 8:00pm and continue through Sunday, May 18 at The Colony Theatre, 555 N. Third Street (at Cypress) adjacent to the Burbank Town Center Mall.

Epic and intimate. Brilliantly funny and deeply moving. THE LION IN WINTER plays out the spectacular strategies for power and love between two of England's most formidable and most human rulers, King Henry II and Queen Eleanor, and their three crown-hungry sons. As the sun sets on his reign, the great and powerful Henry Plantagenet calls Eleanor to the castle at Chinon for one last Winter Court, along with their three sons - the warrior Richard, the conniving Geoffrey, and the bumble-headed John. Locked behind the palace doors, a deadly game of alliances and betrayals unfolds as each of the players moves to control who will sit on the throne when Henry is gone - a battle that will determine the future of an empire. Goldman has combined keen historical and psychological insights with delicious, acid wit to create a modern theatrical masterpiece.

JAMES GOLDMAN (Playwright) was an associate professor at Brooklyn College before his writing career took off on Broadway, in motion pictures, on TV, and in print. His first play (written with his brother, William), Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, was produced in London in 1961. That same year, he wrote They Might Be Giants, which debuted in London, and was produced and directed by Joan Littlewood. He felt he had never gotten the play right, so he never let it be published. The next year, he contributed the lyrics and, with his brother, the book for the stage musical A Family Affair, but it was with The Lion in Winter that he became known on Broadway in 1966. It was produced as a feature film in 1968 and earned for Goldman an Oscar for the screenplay, and Katharine Hepburn the third of her four Oscars. He first worked in TV in 1967, writing the book for Evening Primrose, an ABC special which featured a score by Stephen Sondheim. He also contributed the book for Follies, the landmark 1971 musical with score by Sondheim and direction by Harold Prince and Michael Bennett. His other screenplays include Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) and Robin and Marian (1976), starring Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn. In 1982, he adapted Oliver Twist as a two-hour longform for CBS, Anna Karenina (CBS, 1986), and Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, a 1986 four-hour NBC miniseries dealing with the woman who claimed to be the surviving daughter of Czar Nicholas II of Russia. Waldorf, Goldman's first novel, was published in 1965. He later published three additional novels, contributed to numerous magazines, and also wrote or contributed to non-fiction such as Where to Eat in America (1987). He died from a heart attack in New York City in 1998 at the age of 71.

STEPHANIE VLAHOS (Director) is a graduate of Yale University and comes to the directing profession with the experience of a former, professional opera singer with a crossover edge. Her career has ranged in its collaborative work with artists such as Pierre Boulez, Andre Previn, Van Dyke Parks, John Adams, Ry Cooder, Sir Peter Hall, Peter Sellars, and Don Was. A recipient of the Chanel Diva Award, Stephanie has sung in opera houses nationally and internationally in addition to her direction of and performances in cabaret-influenced performance art devoted to the music of European cabaret. Among 30 other artists, nationwide, she has been nominated for the prestigious United States Artists Grant in directing.

Stephanie has most recently directed sold-out performances of Le Nozze Di Figaro and Don Giovanni for California State University, critically successful productions of Old Wicked Songs and The Morini Strad at The Colony Theatre, La Boheme with Lyric Opera Virginia, and Britten's Little Sweep in collaboration with Maestro James Conlon. In addition she has collaborated with the Confucius Institute by conceiving and directing a production entitled Pacific Cinderella. Her boutique company, Opera Posse, hit the ground running with a critically-acclaimed production of Amahl and the Night Visitors at the Pasadena Playhouse with Malcolm McDowell reading A Child's Christmas in Wales. She is also collaborating with playwright Willy Holtzman and composer Louise Beach on a new musical. Stephanie is proud to serve on the Thornton School of Music Board of Counselors at the University of Southern California

IAN BUCHANAN (Henry) has appeared in motion pictures, guest starred on television dramas and comedies, and played iconic roles on a host of daytime dramas that have brought him a worldwide audience. He has starred in both classic and modern plays in England and the U.S., and is a member of The Citizens Band and The New Phoenix Theater Company. Television guest-starring roles include Nip/Tuck, Alias, Hope and Faith, Yes, Dear, Quantum Leap, and Stargate among many others. He starred in On the Air and It's The Garry Shandling Show, and appeared for two seasons on Twin Peaks. Buchanan is familiar to audiences worldwide for his roles in The Bold and The Beautiful, for which he received an Emmy Award, General Hospital, All my Children, Port Charles, and Days of our Lives. Film roles include Mate, Panic Room, Lying in Wait, Double Exposure, The Cool Surface, and The Seventh Sign. Scots-born Buchanan resides in Southern California.

MARIETTE HARTLEY (Eleanor) was last seen at the Colony as Erica Morini in The Morini Strad. She began acting at the age of ten with the legendary Eva Gallienne and John Houseman. Her numerous theatre appearances include Cabaret, Broadway; Sylvia, MTC; Ancestral Voices, Lincoln Center; Enchanted April, Pasadena Playhouse; Measure for Measure, King John, Public Theatre. She has appeared in National Tours beginning as a teenager when she co-starred with Bert Lahr in the American Shakespeare Festival production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. She toured with Copenhagen and The Sisters Rosenzweig for which she earned a Helen Hayes Award and the League of American Theatres National Touring Award. Regional theatre credits include Ten Chimneys, the Cleveland Playhouse; Buffalo Gal, Williamstown; Tom Stoppard's The Seagull, Old Globe; Detective Story, Ahmanson; Antigone with John Houseman and the UCLA Theatre Group; The Lion In Winter, La Mirada; Same Time Next Year, Love Letters, Mrs. Warren's Profession, The King & I, and Mame. The Emmy award-winning actress recurred on Law and Order: SVU and has appeared on dozens of television shows including Grey's Anatomy, Big Love, The Mentalist, Dirt, M*A*S*H, and The Incredible Hulk. A three-time Clio Award winner for her Polaroid commercials with James Garner and recipient of a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she also hosted the CBS Morning Program. She is currently hosting her tenth season of Wild About Animals. Her best-selling autobiography, Breaking The Silence, can be purchased through Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com. A mental health advocate since 1987, she co-founded The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention which now has chapters in 52 cities.

BRENDAN FORD (Richard) is happy to be returning to The Colony Theatre where he played the role of Victor Fleming in Moonlight and Magnolias (originating at The Laguna Playhouse and at the La Mirada Center for the Performing Arts). At The Laguna Playhouse, he also played Declan in Many Happy Returns and Frank in Red Herring. He played Dominic in Amy's View and Howie in Rabbit Hole, at North Coast Rep, Harper in One Slight Hitch at the Falcon Theater, Jamie in Long Day's Journey at The Lyceum, Jack in Ernest in Love at the Fremont Theater, Arthur in Camelot at Fullerton CLO, The Captain in Anything Goes for Reprise!, Neville Craven in Secret Garden at South Bay CLO, Vincent Van Gogh in the world premiere of Break of Day at the Lillian Theatre, Torvald in A Doll's House at L.A. Rep, Marco in the world premiere of Florinda at the Freud Playhouse, and at LATC, he played Laertes, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern in the 6-actor Hamlet and Leslie in The Hostage.

Brendan grew up in New York City, where, among other roles, he played Laertes in Hamlet and Hastings in She Stoops to Conquer for the National Shakespeare Co., Claudio in Measure for Measure at Westbeth Theater Center, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet at Columbia Shakespeare Festival, and Valere in Tartuffe at Westside Rep. Brendan has appeared in the films Clear and Present Danger, The Net, George of the Jungle, and If These Walls Could Talk. He has recently had recurring roles on the television series Big Love and Weeds. Other TV credits include Hawaii Five-O, Castle, Mr. Sunshine, CSI Miami, Numbers, Notes from the Underbelly, and the pilot of Hot Properties, among others.

JUSTINE HARTLEY (Alais) is a graduate of the famed Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, and a former member of the Southwest Shakespeare Company in Mesa, Arizona where she appeared as Adriana in Comedy of Errors, Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, Elvira in Blythe Spirit, Viola in Twelfth Night, Queen Elizabeth in Richard III, Gwendolyn in The Importance of Being Ernest, Tamora in Titus Andronicus, Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Amanda in Private Lives, and Kate Hardcastle in She Stoops To Conquer. Her TV credits include Law and Order, Standoff, and Guiding Light. Although Justine has done TV and film her true passion lies in theatre, and she is thrilled to reprise her role as Alais, which she first debuted at the La Mirada Theatre.

DOUG PLAUT (John) is making his Colony debut. Theatre: The NY premiere of Christopher Durang's Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge; The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Cape Rep); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Connecticut Free Shakespeare). Film/TV: The upcoming films The Adventures of Sweet Yellow (with Frances Fisher and Steve Howey); Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List (with Victoria Justice); The Sundance Commissioned Margarita With A Straw; "School Spirits" (SyFy). Print and Commercial Work includes Business Week and PNC Bank. Doug holds a BFA from Pace University.

PAUL DAVID STORY (Philip) is making his Colony debut. Other Theatres: Broadway: Standby for Alan Strang in Equus, Junius Urban in The Caine Mutiny Court Martial.

Off-Broadway: Ferguson/John Wilkes Booth in Our Leading Lady at the Manhattan Theatre Club, David in The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel at The Public. Regional Theaters: Arviragus in Cymbeline at A Noise Within, Hamlet in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead at the Baltimore Center Stage, Mr. Bingley in Pride & Prejudice at the Dallas Theatre Center, Philip in The Lion in Winter at the Ensemble Theatre in Santa Barbara, Death of the Author (Reading) at South Coast Repertory. Film/TV: In Time, American Violet, The Undying, St. Nick, Vartan LLP, The Mentalist, Body of Proof, Nip/Tuck, Law and Order SVU. Education and Training: University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Paul is also a co-founder, director, and artistic director of the USC NAI Theatre Workshop, as wellas a writer whose recent work The Mountain Lion was published in Gambling the Aisle magazine.

PAUL TURBIAK (Geoffrey) is making his Colony Theatre debut. In addition to a number of film and voiceover projects, he has appeared onstage all over Los Angeles-including The Geffen Playhouse, LATC, A Noise Within, Actors Co-op, Son of Semele, and REDCAT. He is a company member at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, where he has performed in numerous productions including A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Three Musketeers, Hamlet, Tartuffe, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Measure for Measure, The Taming of the Shrew, and the upcoming Equivocation by Bill Cain this summer. Paul is also a frequent collaborator with Christine Marie and Ensemble-devising large-scale, cinematic shadow theater. He received an MFA in Acting from California Institute of the Arts, a BA in Theater from Gordon College, and studied at the British American Drama Academy in London.

THE LION IN WINTER features an award-winning design team. Scenic Design is by David Potts (Emmy Award - HBO's Deadwood). The Costume Design is by Kate Bergh (LA Stage Scene - Costume Designer of the Year, 2011 and 2012). The Lighting Design is by Jared A. Sayeg (Ovation nominations, Trying and Kiss Me, Kate). The Sound Design is by Drew Dalzell (Ovation Award, Songs for a New World). Props Design and Set Dressing is by Colony Theatre resident designer John McElveney.

THE LION IN WINTER will open on Saturday, April 19, at 8:00pm and continue through Sunday, May 18. Performances for THE LION IN WINTER are Thursdays & Fridays at 8:00pm; Saturdays at 3:00pm & 8:00pm; and Sundays at 2:00pm. Ticket prices range from $20.00 - $49.00 (group discounts are available). THE LION IN WINTER will preview on Wednesday, April 16; Thursday, April 17; and Friday, April 18 at 8:00pm at The Colony Theatre, 555 North Third Street (at Cypress) adjacent to the Burbank Town Center Mall.

For the opening night performance with reception, all tickets $55.00. There are question-and-answer talkbacks after the performances on Friday, April 25 and Thursday, May 8 For tickets, call the Colony Theatre Box Office at 818/558-7000 ext. 15 or online at www.ColonyTheatre.org.

Photo Credit: Colony Theatre