The Seeing Place Stages Modern-Dress, Uncut Production of MACBETH, Starting Tonight

What do you feel you are owed in this world? What are you willing to do to get it? To complete the season's theme, "But Who Am I, Really," The Seeing Place presents one of Shakespeare's greatest stories in a way rarely seen it before: with a deep emphasis on text that's understandable, presented in modern dress to deeply connect the audience to the play's relevance today.

"Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires."

The Seeing Place Theater, known for intense & intimate ensemble work, brings you an uncut and briskly paced 100 minute presentation of William Shakespeare's MACBETH, directed by The Seeing Place's Artistic Director, BranDon Walker.

"Macbeth is not just a political story, so we'd be doing audiences a disservice by presenting it simply as an allegory for our election season," says Walker. "The play is about something bigger that we all can relate to: personal fulfillment to ourselves and family, and a desire leave behind a legacy that shapes our community for years to come. It's that moment of reckoning when a hard-working moral person is given a choice between two destinies - the lonely and predictable path they've been on since birth and another more treacherous path that promises fantastical triumph." By examining this puzzle through a modern lens, The Seeing Place is inviting the audience to experience Shakespeare's beautiful poetry while leaving a deeper understanding of how it relates to the social-political struggles our society faces today.

With an organic presentation style emphasizing the edgy, American style of acting developed by The Group Theatre, The Seeing Place puts a contemporary spin on classic works by master playwrights and engages its audiences at a personal level, with ticket prices affordable for all.

The play opens tonight, December 8, 2016 at 8pm and runs through December 22, 2016, at The Seeing Place's temporary home at the Paradise Factory, 64 East 4th Street, NYC. All tickets are $15 and can be purchases at www.TheSeeingPlace.com.

Starring in MACBETH are Olev Aleksander as Banquo/Seyton, Tim Anderson as Macduff, Erin Cronican (Othello, Hamlet, Getting Out) as Lady Macbeth, Joshua George (Rhinoceros), as Malcolm, Jane Kahler (Getting Out) as Witch 1/Gentlewoman, Lisa-Marie Newton (Rhinoceros) as Witch 2/Porter/Siward, Candice Oden (Boys' Life, Getting Out) as Witch 3/Lady Macduff/Caithness, Marcus Peterson as Ross, GW Reed as Duncan/Doctor, Elizabeth Rose as Hecate/Mentieth, Sabrina Schlegel-Mejia as Fleance/Donalbain/Daughter/Young Siward, Robin Friend Stift (Getting Out) as Angus/Murderer 2, Ari Veach as Lennox/Murderer 1, BranDon Walker (Othello, Hamlet, Rhinoceros) as Macbeth. The play is directed by BranDon Walker and co-directed by Erin Cronican. Lighting Design is by Duane Pagano, and stage management is by Logan Keeler.

About MACBETH (by William Shakespeare) - On a barren heath, three sisters tell the great and bloodied Macbeth that he is fated to be King of Scotland. And so begins a terrifying series of events that lead to the murder of Kings, friends, mothers and their children. Macbeth and his Lady fall prey to a soul-corroding guilt as they desperately try and cling to the defiled crown.

About Modern-Dress Shakespeare Productions:

In a guest post for Britain's The Globe and Mail, the great Sir Alec Guinness writes: "There is nothing new about presenting Shakespeare in modern dress. In fact the plays were always performed in contemporary costume until about one hundred and twenty years ago...If people object to archaic language being spoken by people in contemporary clothes, I would suggest that it is really no more odd than Elizabethans speaking in iambic pentametres, which of course they never did. Modern dress will often breathe fresh air on an old play and give it a fair chance of revaluation, firmly pointing out how little the human heart changes through the centuries, and how remarkably alike we are to our forebears..." To read the full op-ed, please go to: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/nestruck-on-theatre/guest-post-alec-guinnesss-defence-of-shakespeare-in-modern-dress/article4081581/

About The Seeing Place:

"The Seeing Place" is the literal translation of the Greek word theatron: "...the place where we go to understand ourselves." The Seeing Place Ensemble is an actor-driven company: built by actors and managed by actors to be a base for actors who want to grow & hone their craft in a creative and supportive artistic home. TSP is forcefully committed to four key elements of theatre-making: developing highly trained actors into thriving self-producers; honoring the craft of the acting process through rehearsal and into performance thereby bringing organic, "fully lived" storytelling to our community; presenting compelling works by master playwrights that reflect the struggles and triumphs of our current society; and making theater accessible for all New Yorkers by keeping ticket prices low and affordable.

Our 7th Season includes main stage productions of: GETTING OUT by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Marsha Norman; RHINOCEROS by French absurdist, Eugene Ionesco; and MACBETH by William Shakespeare, in honor of the 400th Anniversary of his death. Our TSP Unplugged Series gives patrons an exciting and exclusive look behind the scenes at The Seeing Place, and includes an opportunity to participate with our artists in exploring four important texts of our time: 1984, an adaptation of the novel by George Orwell; NECESSARY TARGETS by Tony Award winner Eve Ensler; AFTER THE REVOLUTION by Obie and Whiting Award winner Amy Herzog; and a world premiere of THE STRANGER, a new play by BranDon Walker based on the existential novel by Albert Camus.