Arian Moayed, Sherie Renee Scott and Micah Stock to Lead Dual-Language HAMLET at Waterwell

Waterwell announced today a strictly limited engagement of a new dual language (English/Farsi) version of Hamlet at the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture (18 Bleecker Street).

Starring Tony Award nominees Arian Moayed as Hamlet, Sherie Rene Scott as Gertrude, and Micah Stock as Horatio, with direction by Drama Desk nominee Tom Ridgely, Hamlet will begin performances on Wednesday, May 10, 2017, with an opening night set for Sunday, May 21 at 8:00pm, and will play through June 3.

The complete cast includes Barzin Akhavan, Amir Arison ("The Blacklist"), Maryam Ataei, Brendan Averett, Cary Donaldson, Andrew Guilarte, Abraham Makany, Arash Mokhtar, Ajay Naidu, Sathya Sridharan and Sheila Vand ("24: Legacy"). Original music will be composed and performed live by singer-songwriter Mohsen Namjoo, "the Bob Dylan of Iran" (New York Times).

"When simply looking Middle Eastern means living with an identity under siege, and with the current political leadership thin on the ground, where can we as a culture turn?" said Waterwell Artistic Director Tom Ridgely. "This company of immigrants and first generation Americans is offering us a perspective on this seminal play that we simply haven't seen before, which also marks the first professional production in the United States featuring an Iranian-born Hamlet."

Set in Persia a hundred years ago, on the eve of World War I, Waterwell's Hamlet weaves passages of Farsi translation into the English of Shakespeare's masterpiece of crisis and identity. In it, a traditional way of life is being threatened by an evolving world, the land is being threatened by encroaching foreign interests, and a young man finds himself uprooted and torn between opposing customs, values and codes. Featuring a vibrant score that seamlessly blends traditional Persian and modern western elements, this is a bold re-imagining of most renowned play in any language.

Tickets are $30-$75 with a limited number of $20 same-day rush. Please visit sheencenter.org/shows/hamlet for more information and to purchase.

Written by William Shakespeare, the creative team for Hamlet includes Direction by Tom Ridgely, Original Music by Mohsen Namjoo, Scenic Design by Jason Simms, Costume Design by Nina Vartanian, Lighting Design by Reza Behjat, and Sound Design by Sinan Zafar.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

ARIAN MOAYED (Hamlet) Broadway: The Humans (Drama Desk), Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Tony, Drama League nom, Theatre World Award), Off-Broadway: Guards at the Taj (Obie, Atlantic), Masked (Drama Desk nom), King Lear (Public), and Homebody/Kabul (Steppenwolf, BAM) Film/TV: "Madam Secretary," Rock the Kasbah, Rosewater and Appropriate Behavior. Co-founder and Artistic Director of Waterwell, devised 13 productions, administers the Waterwell Drama Program at Professional Performing Arts School; and with Waterwell Films, has written/directed films including the upcoming thriller series "The Accidental Wolf" starring Kelli O'Hara.

SHERIE RENE SCOTT (Gertrude). Actor: The Front Page; co-author/actor 2015's critically acclaimed Off-Broadway play Whorl Inside a Loop ; co-author/actor Everyday Rapture (Tony Award Actress and Book nominations, Drama Desk and Lortel Award Musical, Actress and Book nominations) Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Drama Desk nomination); John Guare's Landscape of the Body (Obie Award, Lortel Award); Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Jack O'Brien dir; Tony Award, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations); Disney'sThe Little Mermaid (OCC nomination); Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida (Derwent Award); The Last Five Years (Drama Desk nomination); Randy Newman's Faust; Kander & Ebb's Over and Over(Helen Hayes nomination), can be heard on numerous recordings, co-founder of the multiple Grammy-winning Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight records from 2000-2014, authored Piece of Meat performed with Todd Almond; producer 2015 film The Last Five Years; Advisory Board Neighborhood Playhouse.

MICAH STOCK (Horatio) just wrapped Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's The Front Page, opposite Nathan Lane, John Goodman and John Slattery for director Jack O'Brien. Micah was nominated for a Tony for his Broadway debut in the Jack O'Brien-directed hit revival of Terrence McNally's It's Only a Play starring opposite Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, F. Murray Abraham, Stockard Channing, Rupert Grint, and Megan Mullally. Previously, he starred Off-Broadway in the world premiere of McNally's And Away We Go at The Pearl Theatre Company directed by Jack Cummings III. Regional work includes stints at Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival (dir. Kip Fagan), Long Wharf Theatre (dir. Eric Ting), and Williamstown Theatre Festival. He has developed new work by the likes of Annie Baker, Erin Courtney, Greg Kotis, Denis O'Hare and Lisa Peterson, Diana Stahl, Justin Kuritzkes and Max Posner at places like The Public, NYTW, The Atlantic, Rattlestick, Clubbed Thumb, The LARK, Ars Nova, Rising Phoenix Rep and the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab in Utah. TV credits include "Pan Am," "Law & Order: SVU" and a recurring role on NBC's "Deception." He had a supporting role in the SXSW and PiFan-selected award-winning indie King Kelly directed by Andrew Neel. Micah received his BFA in Acting from the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film.

TOM RIDGELY (Director) is a Drama Desk-nominated director and co-founder of Waterwell. For Waterwell he's directed/co-directed Blueprint Specials, GOODBAR and #9, among others. In New York, he's directed at Ars Nova, FringeNYC, the Public and more. Nationally he's developed/presented work at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Old Globe and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, as well as Yale, Johns Hopkins and Indiana Universities. His productions have won DFW Theater Critics Forum and ECNY Awards and been nominated for CT Critics Circle, IT and New York Magazine Culture Awards. He won a finalist award for the 2016 TCG Leadership U: One-on-One and was the 2014 Killian Directing Fellow. He has assisted/associate directed with Joe Mantello, Tony Taccone, Daniel Sullivan and Barry Edelstein. With Waterwell, he also oversees the Drama Program at the Professional Performing Arts School (PPAS), providing world-class training to exceptional 6-12th graders absolutely free of charge.

WATERWELL (Arian Moayed & Tom Ridgely, Artistic Directors) is a unique ensemble of theater artists dedicated to the creation of new work and the bold re-interpretation of classics. The company's special blend of music, theater and social dialog has been nominated for three IT awards, a Drama Desk, a New York Magazine Culture Award and a Village Voice Best of NYC.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride