Classic Stage Company Presents Patinkin In 'The Tempest'

 Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, will open its 2008-09 season with Tony Award winner Mandy Patinkin starring in William Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST, to be directed by Kulick.  Performances begin Wednesday, September 3.  The official press opening is Thursday, September 18.  THE TEMPEST will play a limited engagement through Sunday, October 12 only.  CSC will announce its complete 2008-09 season in the coming weeks.

Patinkin will perform the role of "Prospero," master of a magical isle where shipwrecks, fantastic creatures, chance encounters, mystery and romance abound in Shakespeare's celebration of the imagination, and it is anticipated that he will lend his stunning vocal abilities to the production as well.

As a benefit in honor of Classic Stage Company's 40th anniversary season, Patinkin will also return to Broadway for one night only on Monday, May 19.   Mandy Patinkin ON BROADWAY, with Paul Ford on piano, a solo tour de force concert, will be presented at 8pm at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street). Tickets are $50-$125 and can be purchased online at www.classicstage.org, or by phone at 212-677-4210 X40.

In his 1980 Broadway debut, Patinkin won a Tony Award for his role as Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita and was nominated in 1984 for his starring role in the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, Sunday in the Park with George.  In 1991 he returned to Broadway in the Tony Award-winning musical The Secret Garden and in 1997 played a sold-out engagement of his one-man concert, Mandy Patinkin in Concert, with all profits benefiting five charitable organizations. Patinkin's other solo concerts, Celebrating Sondheim and Mamaloshen have been presented both on Broadway and Off.  Other stage credits include The Wild Party, Falsettos, The Winter's Tale, The Knife, Leave It to Beaver is Dead, Rebel Women, Hamlet, Trelawney of the 'Wells,' The Shadow Box, The Split, Savages, and Henry IV, Part I.  Feature film credits include: The Choking Man, Pinero, Elmo In Grouchland, Men with Guns, The Princess Bride, Yentl, The Music of Chance, Daniel, Ragtime, Impromptu, The Doctor, Alien Nation, Dick Tracy, The House on Carroll Street, True Colors, Maxie, and Squanto: Indian Warrior. He won a 1995 Emmy Award for his critically acclaimed performance in the CBS series "Chicago Hope", recently starred in the CBS series "Criminal Minds" as FBI profiler Jason Gideon and the Showtime Original Series "Dead Like Me".  His other television appearances include the role of Kenneth Duberstein in the Showtime film "Strange Justice," playing Quasimodo opposite Richard Harris in the TNT film presentation of "The Hunchback," and a film version of Arthur Miller's "Broken Glass" for BBC/WGBH-Boston.  In 1989, Mandy began his concert career at Joseph Papp's Public Theater.  This coincided with the release of his first solo album entitled Mandy Patinkin.  Since then he has toured extensively, appearing to sold-out audiences across the United States, Canada and in London, performing songs from writers including Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Randy Newman, Adam Guettel and Harry Chapin, among others.  In 1990 he released his second solo album entitled Mandy Patinkin In Concert: Dress Casual on CBS Records.  His 1994 recording, Experiment, on the Nonesuch label, features songs from nine decades of popular music from Irving Berlin to Alan Menken.  Also recorded on the Nonesuch label is Oscar & Steve and Leonard Bernstein's New York.  In 1998 he debuted his most personal project, Mamaloshen, a collection of traditional, classic and contemporary songs sung entirely in Yiddish.  The stage production of Mamaloshen was performed on and Off-Broadway and has toured throughout the country.  The recording of Mamaloshen won the Deutschen Schallplattenpreis (Germany's equivalent of the Grammy Award). In 2001, Nonesuch Records released Kidults, a collection of beloved songs, designed – as the title suggests – for the kid in every adult.  And, in 2002, Nonesuch Records released Mandy Patinkin Sings Sondheim, a figurative journey through Sondheim's music and lyrics.

Brian Kulick (Director) is in his fifth season as the Artistic Director of CSC, where he has directed Richard III, Richard II, Hamlet, The False Servant and The Mysteries. From 1996–2001 he was an Artistic Associate at The Public Theater, where he directed Twelfth Night, Kit Marlowe, The Winter's Tale, Pericles, A Dybbyk and Timon of Athens. Prior to this, he was the Associate Artistic Director of Trinity Repertory Company, where he directed Romeo and Juliet, Don Quxiote and The Illusion. His work in opera and music theatre includes Carmen, Pelleas and Melisande, A Soldier's Tale, The Guilty Mother and The Anatole Cycle (all for Long Beach Opera).  He has directed premieres of works by Tony Kushner, Charles L. Mee, Nilo Cruz, Han Ong and David Grimm. His work has also been seen at Playwrights Horizons, NYTW, the Mark Taper Forum, ACT (Seattle), the McCarter Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the Magic Theatre, among others. He has been an artist-in-residence at the Mark Taper Forum and the Creative Director for The Shakespeare Society of New York.  Currently he is on the faculty of Columbia University's School of the Arts Theatre Program, where he teaches directing.

Now in its 40th season as one of New York's most exciting theatres, Classic Stage Company is the award-winning Off-Broadway theatre committed to re-imagining the classical repertory for a contemporary American audience. The company recently concluded critically acclaimed sold out runs of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, starring Dianne Wiest and Alan Cumming, and of the world premiere of David Ives' New Jerusalem, directed by Walter Bobbie, which was recently nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for Best Play. The production starred Jeremy Strong, who was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for Best Actor.  The season began with an acclaimed, highly successful production of Richard III, starring Michael Cumpsty.

CSC presents plays from the past that speak directly to the issues of today. As we return to works of the past, we endeavor to keep a clear eye on the future, particularly in terms of the next generation of artists and audiences. Classic Stage's artists are the best-established and emerging theater practitioners working in this country. Highly respected and widely regarded as a major force in New York and American theater, Classic Stage has been cited repeatedly by all the major Off-Broadway theater awards: Obies, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and 1999 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work.  Memberships to Classic Stage Company productions are available at various price levels, including the flexible Masterpass membership, which in addition to prime seats, entitles members to participate in CSC special series, including their sold out Open Rehearsal events.  For more information on Classic Stage Company visit the theatre's website at www.classicstage.org.