TFANA Announces Full Cast and Creative Team of THE WINTER'S TALE

Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA; Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director) announces the full cast and creative team for William Shakespeare's tragicomedy The Winter's Tale, directed by OBIE Award-winner Arin Arbus. The production plays March 13-April 15, 2018, at Polonsky Shakespeare Center (262 Ashland Place), TFANA's home in the Brooklyn Cultural District.

Last season, Arbus's staging of Thornton Wilder's classic "triumphantly reestablished The Skin of Our Teeth as one of the finest American plays of the 20th century" (The Wall Street Journal), and Arbus won an OBIE. This is the first Winter's Tale Ms. Arbus has directed and TFANAhas produced. It also marks the 31st of Shakespeare's 37 plays TFANA has presented since its founding in 1979 and is the only major American Off-Broadway production of Shakespeare in the Spring 2018 theatre season.

For TFANA, Arin Arbus' stagings include Othello, Macbeth, and Ibsen's A Doll's House in repertory with Strindberg's The Father, featuring John Douglas Thompson. Her most recent Shakespeare for TFANA was King Lear featuring Michael Pennington. Jeffrey Horowitz, TFANA's Founding Artistic Director, notes, "By the time Shakespeare wrote The Winters's Tale, he had written King Lear and his other great tragedies. Having directed King Lear, it's exciting for Arin to now stage The Winter's Tale."

Arbus observes, "In The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare is exploring what is possible after tragedy. Like Hermione and Leontes at the end of the play, Shakespeare's son died fifteen years prior to writing The Winter's Tale. Shakespeare creates a new form with this play: it's part tragedy and part comedy, both a myth and a psychological portrait. At this moment, when so many dark forces are being unleashed, this play about miraculous transformation feels urgent."

Shakespeare's source for The Winter's Tale is Robert Greene's 16th century romance Pandosto, subtitled The Triumph of Time. Time is personified in The Winter's Tale, but the play also dramatizes change and the effects of the passage of time.

The Winter's Tale begins in winter and hurtles towards tragedy. Leontes, King of Sicilia, suddenly accuses Hermione, his Queen, of infidelity with Polixines, his childhood friend and the King of Bohemia. Hermione, nine months pregnant, is imprisoned, where she gives birth to a daughter. The oracle of Apollo declares Hermione innocent and warns, "The King shall live without an heir if that which is lost is not found." Leontes orders his newborn daughter killed. Mamillius, the young son of Leontes and Hermione, dies of grief. Hermione collapses and is reported dead. Antigonus, a Lord loyal to Leontes, abandons the newborn infant on the wild coast of Bohemia. A Shepherd finds the child and observes to his son, who has just seen Antigonus devoured by a bear, "Thou met'st with things dying, I with things new born."

The character of Time explains 16 years have passed and that infant is now Perdita, a Shepherd's daughter. Spring and summer follow winter, comedy follows tragedy; there's song, saytr dances, a con artist, marriage, royal succession and then a miracle: the statue of Hemione comes alive. Unlike Othello, which ends with death, in The Winter's TaleShakespeare creates a world where metamorphosis is the norm. We know it isn't real, and yet we believe it. The play asks that we have faith.

The 17-member company play 21 roles, plus ladies, lords, officers, servants, and shepherds, and isled by Kelley Curran asHermioneand Anatol Yusef as Leontes. Curran won the Callaway Award for her performance as Hippolita in Red Bull Theater's Tis Pity She's a Whore and recently appeared on Broadway in Present Laughter. Yusef has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and played Laertes in The Public Theater's Hamlet featuring Oscar Isaac.

The castalso features Oberon K.A. Adjepong (TFANA's Measure for Measure, Pericles,) as Antigonus; Maechi Aharanwa (An Octoroon at TFANA and multiple productions at Classical Theatre of Harlem) as Mopsa; Arnie Burton (39 Steps and Peter and the Starcatcher on Broadway, and opposite F. Murray Abraham in TFANA's The Jew of Malta/The Merchant of Venice) as Autolycus; Eddie Ray Jackson (Classic Stage Company's Much Ado About Nothing) as Florizel; Mahira Kakkar (Public Mobile Unit's Romeo and Juliet, Playwrights Horizons' Miss Witherspoon) as Paulina; John Keating (TFANA's Much Ado About Nothing, Measure for Measure) as Old Shepherd; Robert Langdon Lloyd (Peter Brook's Marat/Sade, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear, and multiple productions with TFANA) as Time; Ed Malone (Irish Rep's The Home Place and The Weir) as Clown; Dion Mucciacito (Classic Stage Company's Romeo and Juliet and American Conservatory Theatre's Napoli!) as Polixenes; Eli Rayman (Christmas in Hell at Urban Stages) as Mamillius; Nicole Rodenburg (Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Westport Playhouse, directed by Mark Lamos, and The Flick ) as Perdita; Michael Rogers (The Trial of an American President and multiple productions with TFANA)) as Camillo; Zsaz Rutkowski as Musician; Titus Tompkins (American Conservatory Theatre's A Christmas Carol) as Mariner, Servant, Shepherd, and Musician; and Liz Wisan (TFANA's The Servant of Two Masters, Atlantic Theater Company's These Paper Bullets) as Dorcas.

The creative team is Austin Mccormick, Choreographer (founder of the acclaimed COMPANY XIV); Justin Ellington, Composer(TFANA's recent production of He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box); Riccardo Hernandez, Set Design (The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, The Tempest, and more on Broadway); Emily Rebholz, Costume Design(Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway, The Tempest for Shakespeare in the Park); Marcus Doshi, Lighting Design (TFANA's Othello, Hamlet, Measure for Measure, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, The Father, A Doll's House, and The Skin of Our Teeth);Broken Chord Collective, Sound Design (Eclipsed and The Parisian Woman on Broadway); Alison Bomber, Voice & Text Coach (Tamburlaine and Measure for Measure for TFANA, numerous productions with the RSC); Jonathan Kalb, Dramaturg(Author and Professor of Theatre, Hunter College) J. Jared Janas & Dave Bova, Hair/Wig & Makeup Designers (M. Butterfly, Peter and the Starcatcher, and more on Broadway); Jon Knust , Props Supervisor (Happy Days, The Skin of Our Teeth, and A Doll's House / The Father for TFANA); J. Allen Suddeth, Fight Director (The Skin of Our Teeth, Henry V, Cymbeline, As You Like It, and other productions for TFANA); and longtime TFANA collaborator Renee Lutz, Production Stage Manager (The Skin of Our Teeth, Pericles, King Lear, Othello, and more).

Performance Schedule, Ticketing, and Other Information

Performances of The Winter's Tale will take place March 13, 16-18, 21-23, 25, 28-31 and April 3-8, 10-15 at 7:30pm; March 24 at 7pm; and March 31, April 1, 7, 8, 14, and 15 at 2pm.

Members of the press are welcome March 23 at 7:30 pm and March 24 at 7:00pm and at the official opening March 25 at 7:30pm.

Theatre for a New Audience is committed to economically accessible tickets and offers tickets at a range of prices for The Winter's Tale.

$20 New Deal: All Performances. Age 30 and under and full-time students of any age. May be purchased online, phone, or at the box office, in advance or day-of, with valid ID(s) proving eligibility required at pickup.

$20 Brooklyn Pass: All Performances. Members of local Brooklyn non-profit organizations through Brooklyn Pass program.

$28 TDF: selected performances.

$60: All performances with a TFANA subscription.

Special Discounts: TFANA offers special discounts available by joining TFANA mailing list at www.tfana.org.

$90-$100: all performances.

$125 Premium Seats: all performances.

Polonsky Shakespeare Center is located at 262 Ashland Place, Brooklyn.

About the Cast

Oberon K.A. Adjepong's New York theatre credits include Homecoming Queen (Atlantic); Uncommon Sense (Tectonic); Measure for Measure, Pericles, Tamburlaine (TFANA); Party People (Public); 12 Angry Men (Billie Holiday); Like I Say, Cellophane (Flea); Mother Courage, The Blacks (CSC, CTH); Wabenzi (New Ohio); Hamlet Project (La Mama); and Sango (AUDELCO nom./NBT). His regional theater credits include Civil War Christmas (Center Stage); Electric Baby (Two River); Good Goods (Yale Rep); Ruined (La Jolla, Huntington, Berkeley Rep, IRNE Award); Timon of Athens, Coriolanus (Shakespeare Theatre); Rhyme Deferred (Kennedy Ctr.). TV/Film: "Blacklist," "The Knick," "Louie," Crazy Famous, Crown Heights. Training: British American Dramatic Academy; Howard U.

Maechi Aharanwa has appeared Off-Broadway in The Old Settler (Billie Holiday); Sweet (NBT); An Octoroon (TFANA); Facing Our Truth - Night Vision and No More Monsters Here (NBT); Mother Courage, Macbeth, The Blacks, Trojan Women (Classical Theatre of Harlem); The Beyoncé Effect (TFTTF). Her regional credits include The Call, Seven Guitars, Antigone, Miss Julie, and A Woman Called Truth. She has appeared in TV shows and films "Elementary" (CBS), "Show Me a Hero" (HBO), "Person of Interest" (CBS), "30 Rock" (NBC), "Mercy" (NBC), Boy in a Backpack, Maybe There's a Tree, Police State, and Silver Sling. She isPrincess Grace Award recipient and The Actors Center Company member. Training: Juilliard.

Arnie Burton's Broadway credits include 39 Steps, Peter and the Starcatcher, Machinal, A Free Man of Color, Amadeus, and The New Yorkers (Encores). Off-Broadway, Burton has appeared in The Government Inspector (Callaway Award), The Temperamentals (Drama Desk Award), The Mystery of Irma Vep (Drama League nom.), Lonely Planet, The Explorers Club, The Jew of Malta/The Merchant of Venice, Lives of the Saints, and Mere Mortals. Film and TV credits include The Greatest Showman, The Invention of Lying, "The Good Fight," "Blacklist," "Jessica Jones," "Elementary," "Frasier," and "White Collar."

Kelley Curran was recently seen on Broadway in Present Laughter, starring Kevin Kline. Her multiple Off-Broadway credits including Sense & Sensibility and Peter Pan (Bedlam), The DingDong (Pearl, Drama League nom.), and Angels in America (Signature). Regionally, she has performed at / with Paper Mill, Shakespeare Theatre Company of D.C., Guthrie, Portland Center Stage, and The Acting Company.

Eddie Ray Jackson's Off-Broadway work includes Much Ado About Nothing (Don Pedro, Classic Stage Company). His Regional credits include The Heart of Robin Hood (Much Miller, Oregon Shakespeare Festival); X's and O's: A Football Love Story (Man 4, Berkeley Rep and Center Stage); and Fetch Clay, Make Man (Muhammad Ali, Marin Theatre Company/Round House Theatre). He received his MFA in Theatre at Columbia University.

Mahira Kakkar has appeared in New York in Against the Hillside, When January Feels Like Summer (EST); Romeo and Juliet (Public Mobile Unit); Clive (New Group); Opus(Primary Stages); Harper Regan (Atlantic); and Miss Witherspoon (Playwrights Horizons), among other productions Select regional theatres include Huntington, Denver Center, OSF, Old Globe, Berkeley Rep, Hartford Stage, Baltimore CenterStage, McCarter. Her film and TV credits include Hank and Asha, "The Big C," "Louie," "Blue Bloods," "Blacklist," and "Law & Order: CI." Training: Juilliard, Harold Guskin, SITI, Public Shakespeare Lab. She is a member of EST, Hero Theater Co., and The Actors Center.

John Keating has appeared in the TFANA productions of Pericles, Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, The Broken Heart, Measure for Measure. He has also been in 18 shows at Irish Rep, including Rebel in the Soul, The Pigeon in the Taj Mahal, The Weir, Da, Juno and the Paycock. His extensive New York credits include The New York Idea (Atlantic); Public Enember (Pearl); Is Life Worth Living, John Ferguson (Mint); Juno and the Paycock (Roundabout). He has performed with many leading regional theatres, including McCarter, Old Globe, Hartford Stage, Westport, Wilma, and ACT. TV credits include "Boardwalk Empire," "John Adams," "The Following," "Nurse Jackie," "SVU," "High Maintenance," "Alpha House," and "Lipstick Jungle." Film: The Lone Ranger, Freedom, Emerald City. He has also done160 audiobook narrations (and is an AUDIE-winner).

Robert Langdon Lloyd is a founding member of Peter Brook's company and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His American theatre work includes Midsummer Night's Dream, Marat/Sade, Conference of the Birds, Carmen, Mahabharata (dir. Peter Brook); Othello, Measure for Measure, Macbeth, Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado, King Lear (dir. Arin Arbus); Hay Fever, Legacy, Up Centre Between (dir. Shauna Kanter); and Burial at Thebes (dir. Charlotte Moore). Film credits include The Mahabharata, Paul Scofield's King Lear, Julie Taymor's Midsummer Night's Dream, and Tell Me Lies. He appeared in the Cure's music video for "Wrong Number."

Ed Malone makes his TFANA debut in this production of The Winter's Tale. His New York theatre credits include The Home Place, The Weir, Juno and the Paycock (Irish Rep); and Imperfect Love (Connelly Theater). Among his film and TV credits are "Lipstick Jungle" (NBC) and "Zhe Zhe" (web series). Training: École Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq and École Philippe Gaulier in Paris. Malone is a teacher of Theatrical Clown.

Dion Mucciacito: Romeo and Juliet (Classic Stage Company), Golden Boy (Lincoln Center), Napoli! (American Conservatory Theatre), Apple Cove (The Women's Project), The House of the Spirits (The Denver Center), The Sins of Sor Juana (The Goodman), Age of Iron (Classic Stage Company), and Waiting for Lefty (Hero Theatre Company). Film and TV credits include Brawl in Cell Block 99, Black Site Delta, NBC's "The Player," Day 39, and "Law & Order." He is a graduate of The Juilliard School.

Eli Rayman played in Sleepy Hollow at the Duke, Christmas in Hell at Urban Stages, and Shakespeare's Henry V. He played lead in the films Shiksa and Sweet Dreams and has performed at Carnegie Hall.

Nicole Rodenburg has appeared Off-Broadway in The Antipodes (Signature) and The Flick (Barrow Street). Selected regional theater roles include Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Westport Country Playhouse); As You Like It, Venus in Fur (Alley Theatre); the world premieres of The Whale (Denver Center), Slasher (Humana), and The End (Guthrie Theatre); Bus Stop (Huntington); and three seasons with the Great River Shakespeare Festival. TV and film credits include "Inside Amy Schumer," "The Shivering Truth" (Comedy Central); "Amish Witches" (Lifetime); "The Girl's Guide to Depravity" (Cinemax); and What Children Do. BFA: University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theatre Actor Training Program.

Michael Rogers has appeared at theatres across the United States and internationally in roles including Titania, Othello, Dracula, Robert Mugabe, and God. Recent, he has performed in The Call, The Trial of an American President, Generations, Born Bad, Marley, Sucker Punch. His television credits include "Tattingers," "Kay O'Brien," "Six Degrees," "The Jury," "Law & Order," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," Law & Order: SVU," and "Butterfield." Film credits include The Mosquito Coast, Weekend at Bernie's II, Side Streets, Moonfire, Inscape, Dance of the Quantum Cats, and Dope Fiend. Rogers is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

Titus Tompkins has appeared Off-Broadway in Peer Gynt and the Norwegian Hapa Band, and Off-Off Broadway in R&J: Star-Cross'd Deathmatch, The Goree All-Girl String Band (NYMF), and Phantom Pains. Regional theater credits include Contrafact of Freedom (Capital Fringe Festival), Sophocles' Elektra, Arcadia, 4,000 Miles (u/s), and A Christmas Carol (American Conservatory Theater). He has also appeared in the TV show Younger. Tompkins performs in several bands locally, including The Good Morning Nags, The Rusty Guns, The Bearcat Catchers, and The Talking Deads.

Liz Wisan returns to TFANA after appearing in last season's the Servant of Two Masters (also Yale Rep/Guthrie/Shakespeare Theatre Company/Seattle Rep). Her other New York credits include These Paper Bullets (Atlantic), Other Desert Cities (Broadway, LCT), The Tempest (La MaMa), and DannyKrisDonnaVeronica (Wheelhouse/4th St. Theatre). Regionally, she has appeared in Assassins, These Paper Bullets, Caucasian Chalk Circle (Yale Rep), Baskerville (Old Globe, Dorset Theatre Festival), Absurd Person Singular (Two River), Intelligent Homosexuals Guide (Berkeley Rep), and Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare Theatre Company). TV and film work include: "Elementary," Garden DayZe, and Ready or Knot. She earned her MFA from the Yale School of Drama and is a member of New Neighborhood and Actors Center.

Anatol Yusef's stage work encompasses a range of productions, both in the UK and the U.S. His Shakespeare acting includes extensive work with the Royal Shakespeare Company; he has also played Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet; the titular role in Richard III; and, most recently, Laertes and the Player King in Sam Gold's production of Hamlet, at The Public Theater. He is best known for playing Meyer Lansky on HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," and for appearing in the UK's acclaimed Channel 4 miniseries "Southcliffe." Yusef recently appeared on AMC's "Preacher" and the film Bastille Day. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre school.

About the Creative Team

Arin Arbus (Director) is a resident artist at TFANA, where she directed The Skin of Our Teeth (Obie), repertory productions of Strindberg's The Father and Ibsen's A Doll's House, as well as King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Measure for Measure, and Othello. She staged Britten's The Rape of Lucretia at Houston Grand Opera and La Traviata at Canadian Opera Company and Lyric Opera of Chicago. She was a Drama League Directing Fellow and a Princess Grace Award Recipient, and spent several years making theatre with prisoners at a medium security prison in upstate New York in association with Rehabilitation Through the Arts. This summer, Arbus is directing an adaptation of The Tempest in a refugee camp in Greece.

Austin Mccormick (Choreographer) is the founder Company XIV. As a choreographer, his recent engagements include the Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Guggenheim Works in Process, Carnegie Hall La Serenissima Festival, Kennedy Center, Houston Grand Opera, and Opera Columbus. He has been nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Choreography, in 2015, and Unique Theatrical Experience, in 2014. He was nominated for Bessie Awards for Best Light, Set, and Costume Design in 2011. McCormick received a Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Grant from Opera America in 2011, won an Innovative Theater Award for Outstanding Choreography in 2009 and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, Dance on Camera, at Lincoln Center, in 2007. Education: The Juilliard School.

Riccardo Hernandez's (Scenic Designer) Broadway credits include The Gin Game, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess (Tony 2012 Best Musical Revival), The People in the Picture(Studio 54), Caroline, or Change, Topdog/Underdog, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, Noise/Funk (also National Tour and Japan), Parade(Tony/Drama Desk Noms), The Tempest, and Bells Are Ringing. Recent work includes La Mouette, Jan Karski, Mon Nom Est Une Fiction(both for Avignon Festival: Cour d'Honneur, Opera Theatre, France),The Dead(Abbey Theater, Dublin), Il Postino(L.A. Opera, PBS Great Performances), Philip Glass' Appomattox (SFO), Lost Highway(London's ENO/Young Vic) and 200 other productions in the U.S. and internationally.

Emily Rebholz's (Costume Designer) Broadway work includes Dear Evan Hansen; Oh, Hello; If/Then; Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike; and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. Recent Off-Broadway credits include Indecent (Vineyard), Dear Evan Hansen, The Way We Get By (Second Stage), The Robber Bridegroom (Roundabout), The Tempest, Into The Woods (Shakespeare in the Park), Pretty Filthy (The Civilians), Our Lady of Kibeho (Signature), and Yardbird (Apollo Theater). In New York, her designs also have been seen at Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, Lincoln Center, MCC, Atlantic, Rattlestick, The Women's Project, and many more. Regional theater and opera includes Don Giovanni (Santa Fe), La Boheme (Opera Theater of St. Louis), Another Word for Beauty (Goodman), and Othello (Shakespeare DC). MFA: Yale.

Marcus Doshi (Lighting Designer) has previously worked with TFANA on its productions of Othello, Hamlet, Measure for Measure, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, The Father, A Doll's House, and The Skin of Our Teeth. Internationally, Doshi's work has appeared at The Barbican, La Comédie Française, La Monnaie, Venice Biennale, Dutch National Opera, Holland Festival, Canadian Opera, Sydney Festival, and others; in the U.S. with most major regional theatres and opera companies; and in New York City at Lincoln Center, the Public, Park Avenue Armory, New York Theatre Workshop, Signature, Vineyard, and others. He is a frequent collaborator with Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre. Education: Wabash College, Yale Drama. Faculty: Northwestern University.

Broken Chord's (Sound Designer) Broadway credits include Eclipsed and The Parisian Woman. Off-Broadway credits include Scarcity, The Jammer, The Lying Lesson (Atlantic); OZET (Incubator Arts Project); The Insurgents (Labyrinth); Bull in a China Shop (LCT3); Spirit Control, When We Were Young and Unafraid (MTC); A Liftime Burning, Harrison TX, Informed Consent (Primary Stages); The Good Negro, Eclipsed, Party People (Public); Stay, Massacre, Charles Ives Take Me Home (Rattlestick); 10 Things to Do Before I Die, The Other Thing (Second Stage); The Dance and the Railroad, Appropriate (Signature); and Lascivious Something, Row After Row (Women's Project). Regional credits include Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alley, Berkeley Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, Cleveland Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, Hartford Stage, Huntington, La Jolla, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, People's Light, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and Yale Rep: Film: Fall to Rise.

Justin Ellington's (Composer) wrote music for the Broadway production of Other Desert Cities. Off-Broadway, he has worked on He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box (TFANA); Pipeline (LCT); The Pride (dir. Joe Mantello); Fetch Clay, Make Man (dir. Des McAnuff); The Seven (dir. Jo Bonney); American Clock (workshop dir. Rachel Chavkin); and X or Betty Shabazz vs The Nation of Islam (dir. Ian Belknap). Other theatre credits include Until the Flood (dir. Neel Keller), As You Like It (dir. Des McAnuff), The Mountaintop (dir. Steve Broadnax), Syncing Ink (dir. Nigel Smith), Trouble in Mind (dir. Valerie Curtis Newton), and Move Act Free (dir. George C. Wolfe). He has received awards from the American Society of Composers and Publishers, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and the Industry Film Producers Association.

Alison Bomber (Voice & Text Coach) spent seven years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, including five as Senior Text & Voice Coach. Productions she has worked on include Michael Boyd's award-winning Histories Cycle, and many others. Now freelance, she continues to work with the RSC, and also has worked on King Charles III for the Almeida, London and Broadway, Tamburlaine and Measure for Measure for TFANA in New York, the Cumberbatch Hamlet, Barbican, London, and collaborations with Polish company Pie?? Koz?a (Song of the Goat). She is an Associate Artist of the RSC.

J. Jared Janas & Dave Bova's (Hair & Makeup Designers) Broadway credits include Sunset Boulevard, Bandstand, Indecent, The Visit, M. Butterfly, The Real Thing, Violet, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, Motown, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, All About Me, and Next to Normal. Recent off-Broadway work includes The Low Road (Public), The Amateurs (Vineyard), Jerry Springer the Opera (New Group), and Yours Unfaithfully (Mint, Drama Desk Nomination). Films include Angelica and The Night Before. TV includes "Six by Sondheim," "Scream Queens," "Gotham," "Mozart in the Jungle," and "Inside Amy Schumer."

John Knust (Props Supervisor) is a NYC-based prop master and artisan. Recent prop master credits include Happy Days, The Skin of our Teeth and the rep of A Doll's House and The Father (TFANA); The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, Big Love, and Appropriate (Signature); Peter and the Starcatcher (1st National Tour); Too Much Sun (The Vineyard); Marie Antoinette, ...The Death of Walt Disney, and We Are Proud to Present a Presentation... (Soho Rep). Knust frequently does prop work for The Signature, Playwrights Horizons, The Atlantic, The Vineyard, The Public, and The Mint. He got his start in props at Williamstown Theatre Festival and graduated from Eastern Connecticut State University.

Jonathan Kalb (Dramaturg) is Professor of Theatre at Hunter College, CUNY, and Resident Dramaturg at TFANA. He has published five books on theater and his writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Nation, salon.com and many other publications. A two-time winner of the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, he writes about theater on his blog, Something the Dust Said, at www.jonathankalb.com.

J. Allen Suddeth (Fight Director) is a Broadway veteran of twelve shows, over 150 Off-Broadway shows, and hundreds of regional theater productions. He has staged action for over 750 television shows, and teaches at SUNY Purchase and Lee Strasberg. Suddeth is the author of Fight Director for the Theatre. For TFANA, he has worked on The Skin of Our Teeth, Tamburlaine, The Killer, The Broken Heart, Henry V, Cymbeline, As You Like It, and several other productions.

Renee Lutz (Production Stage Manager) has worked with TFANA on The Skin of Our Teeth, Pericles, King Lear, Othello, All's Well, Merchant of Venice (NY, RSC, National Tour),Measure for Measure, Antony & Cleopatra, and others. Off- Broadway credits include MTC, Playwrights, Signature, Public, Primary Stages, and others, as well as multiple commercial productions. Regional credits include over 60 productions with Barrington Stage, as well as Hamlet (Hartford), Goodspeed, La Jolla, ART, NJ Shakespeare, Berkshire Theatre, and more. She is a trustee of historic FDNY fireboat John J. Harvey.

About Theatre for a New Audience

Founded in 1979 by Jeffrey Horowitz, Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) is a modern classic theatre. It produces Shakespeare alongside other major authors from the world repertoire, such as Harley Granville Barker, Edward Bond, Adrienne Kennedy, Richard Nelson, Wallace Shawn and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. TFANA has played Off- and on Broadway and toured nationally and internationally.

In 2001, Theatre for a New Audience became the first American theatre invited to bring a production of Shakespeare to the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Stratford-upon-Avon. Cymbeline, directed by Bartlett Sher, premiered at the RSC; in 2007, TFANA was invited to return to the RSC with The Merchant of Venice, directed by Darko Tresnjak and featuring F. Murray Abraham. In 2011, Mr. Abraham reprised his role as Shylock for a national tour.

After 34 years of being itinerant and playing mostly in Manhattan, Theatre for a New Audience moved to Brooklyn and opened its first permanent home, Polonsky Shakespeare Center, in October 2013. Built by The City of New York in partnership with Theatre for a New Audience, and located in the Brooklyn Cultural District, Polonsky Shakespeare Center was designed by Hugh Hardy and H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture with theatre consultants Akustiks, Milton Glaser, Jean-Guy Lecat, and Theatre Projects. Housed inside the building are the Samuel H. Scripps Mainstage (299 seats)-the first stage built for Shakespeare and classical drama in New York City since Lincoln Center's 1965 Vivian Beaumont-and the Theodore C. Rogers Studio (50 seats).

TFANA's productions have been honored with Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, Drama League, Callaway, Lortel and Audelco awards and nominations and reach an audience diverse in age, economics and cultural background.

Theatre for a New Audience created and runs the largest in-depth program in the New York City Public Schools to introduce students to Shakespeare and has served over 130,000 students since the program began in 1984. TFANA's New Deal ticket program is one of the lowest reserved ticket prices for youth in the city: $20 for any show, any time for those 30 years old and under or for full-time students of any age.

Funding Credits

The Winter's Tale is sponsored by Deloitte. Student matinee performances of the production are supported in part by Shakespeare in American Communities: National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. Endowment funds are provided by The Howard Gilman Foundation Fund for Classic Drama.

PHOTO: Cast of The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare's Tragicomedy about Metamorphosis, Time, and Renewal. Photo by Gerry Goodstein.