NJ's Two River Theater to Host A Conversation With Stephen Colbert 11/1

"I Am Stephen Colbert (and So Can You)" A candid conversation with the real Stephen Colbert is a benefit for the Two River Theater Company and will be held on Sunday, November 1, 2009 at 7:30pm. All proceeds will benefit TRTC's productions and education programs.

Stephen Colbert, the host and executive producer of the Emmy Award winning series "The Colbert Report", will be interviewed by TRTC's Artistic Director Aaron Posner at the historic Count Basie Theatre. Tickets are $99.50-$35. They can be purchased online at www.countbasietheatre.org, by calling 732-842-9000, or at the Count Basie box office at 99 Monmouth Street, Red Bank, NJ. A limited number of Exclusive VIP tickets are available. These include premium seating and an private reception with Stephen Colbert.  

How did Stephen Colbert create one of the most intensely theatrical, bitingly satiric, genuinely important, and totally original characters on television today? Audiences will discover this and more in a rare, out-of-character interview between Colbert and his old friend Aaron Posner .

"Stephen's not only one of the most important social and political commentators of our time, he's also a wildly original performance artist," says Two River Artistic Director Aaron Posner . "Though, of course his character would bristle at the idea of being thought of as any kind of an artist. But I think Stephen Colbert's sustained performance as this conservative egomaniac named "Stephen Colbert" is nothing less than a stroke of genius. It gives him an utterly unique position from which to observe and comment upon the events and movements of our times. He walks a complex and razor thin line between satire, parody, political commentary, and just out and out hilarity. His entire "Colbert" creation is an extraordinary achievement."

Stephen Colbert is the host and executive producer of the Emmy and Peabody Award winning series on Comedy Central, "The Colbert Report." Touted by the New York Times as "one of the best television shows of the year" and praised as "The Best Show of the Year" by Entertainment Weekly, "The Colbert Report" has garnered ratings and critical success as one of the top shows on television. Colbert's book, I AM AMERICA (And So Can You!), spent 29 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller's List; debuting and occupying the #1 spot for 13 weeks.

"It is incredibly generous of Stephen to do this benefit for us. He has seen our work and cares about live theatre and it is just an extraordinary gift in these challenging economic times" says TRTC Managing Director Tom Werder. Proceeds will help support all of TRTC's productions and education programs. The Co-chairs for this event are Kathryne Singleton, Secretary of TRTC's Board of Trustees who resides in Fair Haven, and Susan Robbins Fiorino of Holmdel.

"Stephen is an old friend and it has been amazing to watch what he has created", says Posner. The two attended Northwestern University in the early 1980's and have remained in touch ever since. "I directed him in a show back in college" says Posner, "in which he was completely fabulous, and of course totally hilarious. He was already learning to inhabit the kind of high-status, egocentric persona that he has now perfected through his work at Second City, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report."

Posner, a theater director, teacher and published playwright, sees Colbert's on-camera persona as a unique form of sustained theatrical improvisation. "It's an amazing achievement. Even a lot of people who loved his work weren't sure he would be able to pull it off for this length of time, but he has. It's incredible. It's been a genuine delight to watch him evolve from just one of the funniest and smartest people I knew to the position he now holds. We have talked several times about how he has made this all happen, and I am excited to help offer our audience a unique entrance into the weird and wonderful mastermind behind the ‘Colbert Nation'."

Two River Theater Company is a top-notch professional not-for-profit regional theater company in Red Bank, New Jersey, providing outstanding plays and educational programs. Founded in 1994 by Robert and Joan Rechnitz, TRTC has hosted events featuring such luminaries as Bruce Springsteen, Olympia Dukakis, Jackson Browne, Jon Bon Jovi, Edward Albee, Sheldon Harnick and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The company received "Theatre of the Year" awards from the New Jersey Theatre Alliance in 2006, and from The Star-Ledger in both 2006 and 2008.

Since 1997, Stephen was the longest-tenured and most diverse correspondent on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." He helped the show to win numerous Emmy and Peabody Awards as an on-air personality and show writer for the news satire. He contributed to AMERICA (THE BOOK): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction (Warner Books) which immediately topped The New York Times Bestseller List for 15 consecutive weeks. He also co-authored the critically acclaimed book "Wigfield" (Hyperion) which Publisher's Weekly called "uproariously funny, painfully sharp and unlike anything the genre of humorous fiction has seen before."

Born and raised near Charleston, South Carolina , Stephen graduated from Northwestern and quickly made a name for himself as a member of Chicago 's famed Second City improv troupe where he met Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello . The threesome moved to New York City where they created and starred in "Exit 57", a half-hour sketch comedy series which ran for three seasons. "Exit 57" received five CableACE nominations for Best Writing, Performing, and Comedy Series. Colbert reunited with Sedaris and Dinello to create Comedy Central's first ever live-action narrative series, the cult hit "Strangers with Candy."

Colbert's other on-camera appearances include shows like HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and NBC's "Law and Order: Criminal Intent"; was a cast member and writer on ABC's "The Dana Carvey Show"; wrote for "Saturday Night Live" and was the voice of Ace on the SNL animated series "The Ambiguously Gay Duo". He was also the voice of the President of the United States in Dreamworks animated film, "Monsters vs. Aliens."

Stephen, his wife Evelyn, and their three children reside in the New York area.

 

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