Austin Shakespeare Presents Tom Stoppard's THE REAL THING

Austin Shakespeare presents the brilliant Tom Stoppard's modern romance shot through with sharp comedy, The Real Thing, at the Long Center's intimate Rollins Theatre February 17-March 5, 2023. Tickets are $18-$47 and are available at www.thelongcenter.org.

Set in the early 1980s, two couples interlace in this dance of fidelity and infidelity in the theater world. "Tom Stoppard has been one of our audience's favorite playwrights for his combination of depth, passion, intellectual wit and clever plot," director Ann Ciccolella said.

Austin Shakespeare focuses on plays that feature love of ideas and love of language. The professional theater non-profit combines actors new to the company with others who have performed in numerous productions. The Real Thing features guest artist, Grant Goodman*, who says his character of the playwright "Henry" has long been on his bucket list. Goodman is known for his career in regional theater from The Shakespeare Theatre, DC to Chicago and Off-Broadway in New York.

After playing "Titania," queen of the fairies, for Austin Shakespeare in Zilker Park's Midsummer, Kate Glasheen* returns as "Annie," the actress in love with the playwright. Kate is an associate professor and head of the acting department at Texas State University. Gwendolyn Kelso*, who played "Hedda" in Hedda Gabler for the company after numerous roles in other productions, is the clever, acerbic actress "Charlotte," married to the playwright at the opening of the surreal play-within-a-play. The Real Thing will also feature Austin Shakespeare alumna Corinna Browning, who has done shows from the recent Sense and Sensibility to The Seagull and Isaac Howell who charmed audiences recently in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility at the Long Center.

New to the company are Jon Cook as a bold young actor who woos "Annie," and Shane Cullum, who recently moved to Austin after working as an actor in Las Vegas, as "Annie's" first husband.

Creative Team: Patrick W. Anthony, scenery and lights; Aaron Kubacak, costumes; Kellie Baldwin, sound.

­­­$18 student tickets are available for purchase each night in-person only. A valid, current student ID must be presented.

*appearing through an agreement between Austin Shakespeare and Actors' Equity Assn., the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

Audiences travel many roads with this professional company for surprising and entertaining theater productions featuring heightened language at The Long Center's Rollins Studio Theatre in the fall and spring, as well as Young Shakespeare at the Curtain Theater Elizabethan replica. Founded in 1984 and now the only professional classical theater company in Central Texas, Austin Shakespeare stages performances that are fresh, bold, imaginative, thought-provoking and eminently accessible - connecting the truths of the past with the challenges and possibilities of today. Austin Shakespeare is dedicated to diverse casting, staffing and audience development. The company's ongoing "Shakespeare Aloud" reading group and "Artist's Way" sessions invite new participants weekly, and the company's education program Shakespeare 20/20 sends professional actors into schools to encourage love of language.