Cantone, Clayburgh Cast In THE MINOTAUR At Fire Dept 3/27

The Fire Dept Artistic Directors Erica Gould and Audrey Rosenberg have announced that the cast for The Minotaur, the first installment of the company's 2009 Salon Series, will be Mario Cantone, Jill Clayburgh, Phoebe Neidhardt, Ethan Peck, Campbell Scott, and Jeremy Webb.

The Min otaur, written by Anna Ziegler; directed by Erica Gould; and produced by Audrey Rosenberg, will take place Friday, March 27 at 7:30pm at the historic Players Club, 16 Gramercy Park South at 20th Street.

Casting a different light on the monster in the labyrinth, The Minotaur is a startlingly relevant adaptation of the myth of Theseus and Ariadne-a funny, whimsical, and poetic look at love, loss, forgiveness, and the primal longings that connect us to and separate us from our animal selves.

The Players presents The Fire Dept Salon Series, staged readings of new plays in non-proscenium environments that encourage an intimacy between audience and performer, followed by a discussion wit h the artists and noted guest speakers whose life experiences speak to the issues raised by the material.

The speakers following the book-in-hand staged presentation will be Meghan O'Rourke and Dr. Paul F. O'Rourke. Ms. O'Rourke is the author of Halflife (W.W. Norton), a book of poems, which was a finalist for the Patterson Poetry Prize. A poetry editor for The Paris Review, she is also a cultural critic for Slate magazine. She is the recipient of a Lannan Fellowship, the 2008 May Sarton award for younger poets, and the 2005 Union League and Civic Arts Award from Poetry magazine. Dr. O'Rourke holds a BA in Classical Languages from Hamilton College and a PhD in Egyptology from the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies of New York University. His area of specializ ation is texts and language and is the author of several books and numerous scholarly articles. He is currently Head of Language and Humanities at Pierrepont School in Westport, CT and Research Associate in the Egyptian Department at the Brooklyn Museum.

A portion of the proceeds from the evening will benefit the NiteStar Program, a non-profit organization serving underprivileged, inner-city youth, that uses the performing arts and peer education to provide HIV/AIDS awareness and pregnancy, substance abuse, and relationship violence prevention; help youth to make informed decisions; provide options for changing attitudes and prejudices; and create opportunities for behavioral change.

The set design for The Minotaur is by Sarah Brown & Tim Mackabee; lighting design is by Pamela Kupper; sound design is by Jill DuBoff; costume design is by Jeffery Wallach; stage manager is Emily Park Smith.

The inaugural event in The Fire Dept Salon Series, "At War: American Playwrights Respond to Iraq," took place in June 2007 at the National Arts Club, and featured Michael Cerveris, Peter Sarsgaard, and David Strathairn, and the following winter played several nights at the Bleecker Street Theatre.

Founded in spring 2006 by Audrey Rosenberg, Erica Gould, and Jessica Blank, The Fire Dept is a New York-based, non-profit theatre company made up of established and emerging theatre artists dedicated to creating work that cannot be replicated inside a television box or on a movie screen, work of visceral and heightened theatricality that not only entertains, but also wrestles with questions of importance to our society and our world. Developing theatre that combines the rigor and structure of great narrative storytelling with the vitality of formal experimentation, The Fire Dept is committed to the development of new plays and theatre pieces, as well as vital re-interpretations of existing works. Using alternative as well as traditional theatre spaces, The Fire Dept is committed to igniting questions, sparking controversy, and responding to the urgency of our times.

The founding members of The Fire Dept are Rob Ackerman, Jessica Blank, Suzanne Bradbeer, Dave Calvitto, Amelia Campbell, Kathleen Chalfant, Constance Congdon, Chuck Cooper, Stefania de Kenessey, Jessica Dickey, Anton Dudley, Peter Gallagher, Janeane Gar ofalo, Jeff Goldblum, Nick Hallett, Judith Hawking, Sarah Nina Hayon, Brian Keith Jackson, Erik Jensen, Toby Jones, Rajiv Joseph, Laurence Klavan, Carson Kreitzer, Neil LaBute, David lander, Harry Lennix, Josh Lucas, Matthew Modine, Lynn Nottage, Denis O'Hare, Dael Orlandersmith, Aidan Quinn, Steven Rattazzi, Theresa Rebeck, Gloria Reuben, Jose Rivera, Jake Robards, Lynn Rosen, Edwin Sanchez, Jonathan Schaefer, Jeremy Schwartz, David Strathairn, Daniel Sunjata, Sona Tatoyan, Myra Lucretia Taylor, April Yvette Thompson, Jeremy Webb, Sheri Wilner, and Rebecca Wisocky. The members of The Fire Dept Artist Advisory Board are Peter Askin, Jill Clayburgh, Emily Mann, Lynn Redgrave, Marian Seldes, and Sam Waterston.

Tickets for the Salon Series evening of The Minotaur are $23 and may be purchased by visiting www.thefiredept.org, phoning SmartTix at 212 868-4444, or by visiting www.smarttix.com.