CSC Establishes Rosemarie Tichler Grant For Young Actors

Classic Stage Company has announced the establishment of the Rosemarie Tichler Fund, which will annually award a young artist with a $3,500 grant. The Fund will look to assist young actors who have appeared at CSC and who have recently made the transition from their training into the profession. The grant can be used by the young artist to continue training or to offset loans they may have incurred while studying their craft. CSC hopes to make a difference in the lives of young actors at the start of their careers as well as to heighten awareness in the community to the specific needs of actors. The recipient will be selected by a panel of judges including CSC Artistic Director Brian Kulick, CSC Casting Director James Calleri and a rotating theatre professional. The grant will be presented by Ms. Tichler at CSC's Annual Benefit Gala.

The company has announced that the first recipient of the Tichler Fund grant is Devin Norik, most recently seen at CSC in Unnatural Acts, conceived and directed by Tony Speciale. Devin Norik received his MFA from NYU Graduate Acting Program. Other New York credits include Robert Mapplethorpe Doesn't Live Here Anymore (Red Fern), I Am Frightened of My Body (Ars Nova), The Smoking Gun (Studio Tisch), and Sex of the Baby (NYU Graduate Acting). Regional theater credits include The Lion in Winter (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey) and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Geva Theatre).

Rosemarie Tichler has a long legacy of identifying and nurturing new generations of young actors and is committed to their future well-being. Tichler was the Artistic Producer of The New York Shakespeare Festival/The Public Theater from 1991 to September 2001 where she worked on over 40 productions including The Skriker by Caryl Churchill, Simpatico by Sam Shepard, Venus by Suzan-Lori Parks and George Wolfe's production of The Tempest at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

Prior to 1991, Ms. Tichler was Head of Casting (1975-1991) at the Public for Joseph Papp where she cast over 150 plays, including such landmark productions as Andrei Serban's The Cherry Orchard, Richard Foreman's Threepenny Opera and Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls.

Ms. Tichler founded The Shakespeare Lab, now in its 15th year: an intensive program for actors in Shakespeare performance. Prior to working at The Public, she was Associate Director for Artistic Services at Theatre Communications Group, the national service organization for the country's not for profit theaters from 1972-74 and its Casting Director before that from 1969-71. Ms. Tichler has been teaching at New York University's Graduate Acting Program and The Juilliard School for 20 years. She has also done workshops at major actor training programs around the country including The Actors Center, Yale Drama School and the MFA program in Acting at Columbia.

"There are an array of 3 year Conservatory programs in this country (I teach at one) that prepare a young actor for the rigorous demands of acting for the stage. I have always loved and admired the talent, commitment and fearlessness of young actors and have strived in my 30 year career as a Casting Director and a Producer to give them a start, a leg up, a way in to the professional world of New York Theater. When you give actors a start, they will do amazing things. I am extraordinarily grateful to Classic Stage Company for establishing the Fund to support young actors in this most difficult transition, from school to work," said Tichler.

"Rosemarie Tichler has very quietly and unobtrusively changed the very landscape of American Theatre with thirty plus years dedicated to casting, producing and teaching. Her unerring eye and empathic soul has lead to one extraordinary discovery after another, identifying and nurturing many of our nation's greatest actors. CSC has established the Rosemarie Tichler Fund, in honor of this truly singular contribution to the field, " said Brian Kulick.

Tax-deductible donations can be made to The Rosemarie Tichler Fund by calling (212) 677-4210 x 12, by visiting online at www.classicstage.org or by mailing a check to Classic Stage Company, Attention: The Rosemarie Tichler Fund 136 East 13th Street, New York, NY 10003. Please make checks payable to Classic Stage Company.

Now in its 45th year Classic Stage Company is the award winning theatre committed to re-imagining the classical repertory for a contemporary American audience. This season will feature Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Brecht's Galileo with Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham, and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Tony Award-winning actress Bebe Neuwirth as Titania. Past seasons have included critically acclaimed productions of Chekhov's Three Sisters with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessica Hecht, Juliet Rylance and Peter Sarsgaard, directed by Austin Pendleton (Obie Award); David Ives' The School for Lies with Hamish Linklater (Obie Award), directed by Walter Bobbie; Unnatural Acts, conceived and directed by Tony Speciale; Ostrovsky's The Forest with Dianne Wiest and John Douglas Thompson, directed by Brian Kulick; David Ives' Venus In Fur with Nina Arianda and Wes Bentley, directed by Walter Bobbie; Shakespeare's The Tempest with Mandy Patinkin, directed by Brian Kulick; Chekhov's Uncle Vanya with Denis O'Hare, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, directed by Austin Pendleton; Anne Carson's An Oresteia (International PENN Award for Poetry); Chekhov's The Seagull with Dianne Wiest and Alan Cumming; David Ives' New Jerusalem with Richard Easton, directed by Walter Bobbie; Hamlet, Richard II, Richard III with Michael Cumpsty (Obie Award as Hamlet), directed by Brian Kulick; and Yasmina Reza's A Spanish Play with Zoe Caldwell, directed by John Turturro.

CSC presents plays from the past that speak directly to the issues of today. As we return to works of the past, we endeavor to keep a clear eye on the future, particularly in terms of the next generation of artists and audiences. Founded in 1967, CSC has received wide recognition for its significant contributions to theatre as an art form through productions of classic plays, translations and adaptations and a long-standing commitment to the identification and nurturing of leading and emerging artists. Classic Stage's artists are the finest established and emerging theater practitioners working in this country. Highly respected and widely regarded as a major force in New York and American theatre, Classic Stage has been cited repeatedly by all the major Off-Broadway theater awards: Obies, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and the 1999 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work. Memberships to Classic Stage Company productions are available at various price levels, including the flexible MasterPass membership, which in addition to prime seats entitles members to participate in CSC special series, including their sold-out Open Rehearsal events. For more information on Classic Stage Company visit the theatre's website at www.classicstage.org.

Test and expand your Broadway knowledge with our new game - The Broadway Match-Up! How well do you know your Broadway casting trivia?	Play the Daily Game, explore current shows, and delve into past decades like the 2000s, 80s, and the Golden Age. Challenge your friends and see where you rank!
How well do you know your Tony Awards history? Take our never-ending quiz of nominations and winner history and challenge your friends.	Can you beat your friends? Play today’s daily Broadway word game, featuring a new theatrically inspired word or phrase every day!