Marin Theatre Company to Continue Season with West Coast Premiere of ANNE BOLEYN

Marin Theatre Company continues its 49th Season with Howard Brenton's, Anne Boleyn. The play was originally commissioned by Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and World Premiered in 2010. It later toured across the UK and Scotland with the Globe before receiving its US Premiere at the GAMM Theatre in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 2013, and MTC is thrilled to have its West Coast Premiere opening on its mainstage April 19.

In this brilliant twist on the story of King Henry VIII (played by Craig Marker) and his ambitious second wife, Anne Boleyn herself (played by Liz Sklar) shares the story of her rise into the household of the King of England during the reformation of the Catholic Church, and her epic, infamous and tragic demise. The story is spliced with that of King James I (also played by Craig Marker), some 70 years later. James has found copies of two banned books that belonged to Anne, and goes on a ghost hunt to learn about her motivations...leading to his own attempts to settle the "religious question" in England and leading to the creation of the King James Bible.

Marin Theatre Company's own Jasson Minadakis to Direct

Marin Theatre Company's own Jasson Minadakis is directing this poignant and provocative play in this his tenth season as artistic director of MTC. His directing credits here include The Convert, The Whale, Failure: A Love Story, the world premiere of Lasso of Truth,The Whipping Man (San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle Awards for best production and best acting ensemble), Waiting for Godot, Othello, the Moor of Venice, The Glass Menagerie, Edward Albee's Tiny Alice, the world premiere of Seagull, Happy Now, Equivocation, (SFBATCC Award for best director), the world premiere of Sunlight, Lydia, The Seafarer, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, A Streetcar Named Desire, said Saïd, Love Song and The Subject Tonight is Love.

Pre-Show Lectures with NPR Commentator and Historian Peter Robinson

On April 16th and April 24th, NPR commentator and historian, and Mill Valley local, Peter Robinson, will be engaging audiences with a pre-show talk. He will explore the background to Henry VIII's relations with Anne Boleyn; the affair, the execution and the consequences. He will then fast forward to the reign of James I to ask dramatic questions about how the story unfolded 70 years later. Mr. Robinson, like playwright Howard Brenton, is a graduate of Cambridge University (UK). He is now the editor of San Francisco Books & Travel magazine and President of the San Francisco Literary Society. His voice will be familiar to listeners of KALW 91.7fm.

Partnership with UrbanSitter Helps More People Attend Plays at MTC

MTC is pleased to continue to partner with UrbanSitter, a website and app that helps busy parents find trusted babysitters and nannies, to enable the numerous young families in the Bay Area to attend live theater more easily. For the fourth time this season UrbanSitter will provide babysitters for MTC's Sitter Saturday event on Saturday, April 23, at 2:00 pm. Read David Templeton's feature about this partnership in the North Bay Stage and Screen here.

More about Playwright Howard Brenton

Howard Brenton, the English playwright and screenwriter is originally from Portsmouth, Hampshire, is a graduate of Cambridge University (UK), currently living in Brooklyn. He is a two-time recipient of the Evening Standard Award for Weapons of Happiness and Pravda. His many plays include Christie in Love (Portable Theatre, 1969); Revenge (Theatre Upstairs, 1969); Magnificence (Royal Court Theatre, 1973); The Churchill Play (Nottingham Playhouse, 1974 twice revived by the RSC 1978 and 1988); Bloody Poetry (Foco Novo 1984 and The Royal Court Theatre, 1987); Weapons of Happiness (National Theatre, winner of the Evening Standard Award 1976); Epsom Downs (Joint Stock Theatre, 1977); Sore Throats (RSC, 1978); The Romans in Britain (National Theatre, 1980, revived Sheffield Crucible Theatre 2006); Thirteenth Night (RSC, 1981); The Genius (1983), Greenland (1988) and Berlin Bertie (1992) all presented by the Royal Court; Kit's Play (RADA Jerwood Theatre, 2000); Paul (National Theatre 2005, nominated for the Olivier Award, 2006); In Extremis (Shakespeare's Globe, 2006); THE Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Chichester Festival Theatre/ Liverpool Everyman, 2010) and Anne Boleyn (Shakespeare's Globe and UK Tour 2010/2011 - winner of Best New Play at the 2011 Whatsonstage Awards). He is also an accomplished TV play and screenwrighter.