New Rep Extends THE KING OF SECOND AVENUE Through March 8

New Repertory Theatre announces THE KING OF SECOND AVENUE, now playing through March 8, 2015 in the Charles Mosesian Theater at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA. Tickets are $30-$60 and may be purchased by calling the New Rep Box Office at 617-923-8487 or visiting newrep.org. Student, senior, and group discounts are available. Added performances include: Friday, March 6, 8pm; Saturday, March 7, 3pm; Saturday, March 7, 8pm; and Sunday, March 8, 2pm.

"To host a creative team as accomplished as we have working on THE KING OF SECOND AVENUE is absolutely thrilling," says Artistic Director, Jim Petosa. "Robert Brustein and Hankus Netsky have written a wonderfully witty and lyrical new play that will certainly delight our audiences. The recent title change from KING OF THE SCHNORRERS to THE KING OF SECOND AVENUE is proof that what we have here is a living and breathing new work being carefully crafted, and helmed masterfully by its creators."

"Too many people were confused about the title," explains playwright and lyricist, Robert Brustein. "Though it is clarified in the play, I decided to change it to something less bewildering. I thought that THE KING OF SECOND AVENUE grounded the play more in its adapted modern period than Zangwill's 19th century London."

"New Rep's commitment to new work is a critical part of our mission," says Managing Director, Harriet Sheets. "THE KING OF SECOND AVENUE will enjoy a world premiere production after several years of development by collaborators Robert Brustein and Hankus Netsky. With a cast of New Rep and Boston area favorites, this fun and funny production is a perfect addition to our 30th anniversary season."

Based on a famous Israel Zangwill story, Robert Brustein's THE KING OF SECOND AVENUE is a new musical with a lively klezmer score by composer Hankus Netsky. This world premiere comedy features a Romeo and Juliet love story set against the background of antagonistic Jewish sects in the Lower East Side of 1960s Manhattan. A wily Sephardic actor named Da Costa, now down on his luck, dupes Joseph E. Lapidus, a wealthy Hollywood producer, out of his clothes, money, groceries, and self-respect. All the while Da Costa's lovely daughter Dolores is courted by both one of her father's beggar companions, and Lapidus' ill-mannered son. THE KING OF SECOND AVENUE is a hilarious sequence of con-games, swindlings, and the search for true love.

New Repertory Theatre is the award-winning, professional theatre company in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA. Now celebrating its 30th anniversary season as a leading self-producing theatre in greater Boston, New Rep produces contemporary and classic dramas, comedies, and musicals in both the 340-seat Charles Mosesian Theater and the 90-seat Black Box Theater. Annually, New Rep serves over 40,000 patrons, including 2,000 season subscribers. In addition to its mainstage productions, New Rep produces Next Voices, a program dedicated to developing new plays with four playwrights through three staged readings and one world premiere production. Under its Lifelong Enrichment Arts Programs (LEAP), New Rep also produces its Classic Repertory Company, Page To Stage, Insider Experiences, and Spotlight Symposium Series.

New Rep's Mission - New Repertory Theatre produces plays that speak powerfully to the essential ideas of our time. Through the passion and electricity of live theater performed to the highest standards of excellence, New Rep expands and challenges the human spirit of both artists and audience. New Rep presents world premieres, contemporary and classic works in several intimate settings. We are committed to education and outreach, including special dedication to the creation of innovative in-school programming and providing access to underserved audiences. New Rep is an active advocate for the arts and a major voice in the national dialogue defining the role of theater in our culture.

ARTISTIC BIOS:

MATTHEW 'MOTL' DIDNER (Director) makes his New Repertory Theatre debut. He is the Associate Artistic Director of the National Yiddish Theatre -Folksbiene in New York City. Off- Broadway directing credits include The Megile of Itzik Manger, Fyvush Finkel Live! (Drama Desk Award Nominated), The Two Brothers, The Pushcart Peddlers, and the Marriage Contract. He has appeared on stage in Gimple the Fool, The Sunshine Boys, and appears regularly with The Folksbiene Travelling Troupe. He was a co-founder and Artistic Director of The Richmond Performing Arts Collective from 1996-2002.

MERETE MUENTER (Choreographer/Assistant Director) makes her New Repertory Theatre debut. Choreographer credits include The Megile Of Itzik Manger and Lies My Father Told Me (The National Yiddish Theatre - Folksbiene); Eddie And The Palaceades (Midtown International Theatre Festival); Jesus Christ Superstar (Woodstock Playhouse); and Sherlock Holmes - The Early Years (New York Musical Theatre Festival). Director/choreographer credits include Chicago and The Who's Tommy (Woodstock Playhouse); They Walk Among Us (Midtown International Theatre Festival, Award for Best Choreography). Assistant Director credits include World Aids Day Gala (Capetown, South Africa); Jesus Christ Superstar (European Tour). Ms. Muenter received a BA from SUNY Geneseo. She is the Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Jazz Choreography Enterprises, Inc. Originally from Buffalo, NY, she now resides in New York City.

ROBERT BRUSTEIN (Book and Lyrics) is the founder of the Yale Repertory Theatre and American Repertory Theater. A critic, director, teacher, and playwright, he is also the author of twenty books of criticism and eighteen plays and adaptations, among them his Shakespeare Trilogy-The English Channel, Mortal Terror, and The Last Will-as well as Nobody Dies on Friday, Demons (also broadcast on WGBH Radio), and Schlemiel the First, which also featured a klezmer score by Hankus Netsky. His adaptation and direction of Six Characters in Search of an Author won the 1996 Boston Theatre Award. He was the recipient of the Tony Award as Artistic Director at the American Repertory Theater, was awarded a medal for Distinguished Service to the Arts from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the National Medal of the Arts presented by President Barack Obama. He was twice awarded the George Jean Nathan Award in Criticism, as well as the Groge Polk Award in Journalism, and was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame and the Players Club Hall of Fame. Formerly Dean of the Yale School of Drama, Director of the Loeb Drama Center, and Professor of English at Harvard University, he is currently Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Suffolk University and a Harvard Senior Research Fellow. His latest book, Winter Passages, was published in November 2014. He is currently working on another Shakespeare book (his first was The Tainted Muse) called Shakespeare's Lovers: a Sexual Odyssey and a new political musical based on Moliere's Tartuffe called Exposed. Originally from New York, Mr. Brustein is a 35-year resident of Cambridge.

HANKUS NETSKY (Composer) is chair of New England Conservatory's Contemporary Improvisation Department and Founder and Director of the Klezmer Conservatory Band. He previously collaborated with Robert Brustein on the musical Shlemiel the First (American Repertory Theater and the American Musical Theatre Festival). Other musical scores include The Imported Bridegroom and Borsht Capades '94. He is musical director, producer, and arranger for Eternal Echoes, Itzhak Perlman's much-acclaimed Jewish music collaboration featuring cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot, and In the Fiddler's House, Perlman's klezmer touring and recording project. His most recent project with Perlman, Rejoice, aired on Great Performances (PBS) in the fall of 2014. Mr. Netsky received a BM and MM in Composition from New England Conservatory and a PhD in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University. He has been the recipient of the Forward Fifty award, a New England Conservatory Outstanding Alumni award, the Yosl Mlotek award, and the New England Conservatory Louis Krasner and Lawrence Lesser awards. He has taught at McGill University, Hampshire College, Wesleyan University, and Hebrew College. His book Klezmer: Music and Community in 20th Century Jewish Philadelphia is scheduled for publication in June of 2015. Originally from Philadelphia, he currently resides in Newton.