Punch, Purl Complete Cast of THE GRADUATE; Opens 12/8

Kathleen Turner and Matthew Rhys will reprise the roles they created (as Mrs. Robinson and Benjamin Braddock) in the originAl West End production when L.A. Theatre Works records Terry Johnson's hit stage adaptation of The Graduate for radio. Also in the cast are Bruce Davison (Mr. Braddock), John Getz (Mr. Robinson), Lucy Punch (Elaine), Linda Purl (Mrs. Braddock) and Tom Virtue (multiple roles). John Rubinstein will direct five performances, December 8-12, at the Skirball Cultural Center. L.A. Theatre Works' nationally syndicated radio theater series airs locally in Southern California on KPCC 89.3 every Saturday from 10 pm - midnight and can be streamed on demand at www.latw.org.

The Graduate is an hilarious coming-of-age story about an innocent college grad who is seduced by an older woman. Originally a cult novel by Charles Webb, The Graduate is best known as a landmark Hollywood film. Terry Johnson's stage adaptation was a theatrical sensation when it premiered at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End with Turner and Rhys.

"[Turner] has a sharp turn of phrase and a great sense of timing. She breathes seduction," wrote London's Daily Mail. "Cue memories of Simon and Garfunkel, Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman in Mike Nichols's still fresh and funny 1967 film. Miss Turner overrides these expectations as successfully as does playwright and director Terry Johnson, and indeed the new lanky young star on the block, Matthew Rhys."

Kathleen Turner, whose films include Body Heat, Romancing the Stone, Prizzi's Honor, Peggy Sue Got Married and War of the Roses among many others, has garnered critical acclaim for her performances in a wide variety of theater. On Broadway, Ms. Turner starred in Jean Cocteau's Indiscretions, as Maggie the Cat in Tennessee Williams Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and in Gemini. She played the title role in Camille at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, Connecticut and starred in Travesties, The Seagull, Toyer, and A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Arena Stage in Washington D.C. In the fall of 2000, Turner broke box-office records starring in the stage version of the classic film The Graduate in London's West End, and in 2002 she took The Graduate to Broadway. In 2007 she received London's coveted Evening Standard and London Critics Circle awards and a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for the West End production of Edward Albee's modern classic Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, having been nominated for a Tony Award during the play's acclaimed run on Broadway. She also directed the Roundabout Theatre Company's off Broadway production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Crimes of the Heart. Recently, Turner toured the U.S. as Tallulah Bankhead in Sandra Ryan Heyward's one-woman show Tallulah.

Performances of The Graduate take place on Wednesday, December 8 at 8 pm; Thursday, December 9 at 8 pm; Friday, December 10 at 8 pm; Saturday, December 11 at 2:30 pm; and Sunday, December 12 at 4 pm.  Tickets range from $20.00 to $49.00.  L.A. Theatre Works at the Skirball Cultural Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd, off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the Santa Monica Mountains (exit Skirball Center Drive).  For tickets and information, call the L.A. Theatre Works box office at (310) 827-0889 or go to www.latw.org.

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