John Rando to Direct Acting Company's ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD in Rep, Begin. Jan. 2014

John Rando (Urinetown, A Christmas Story, Lincoln Centers's Carousel, All in the Timing) will direct Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead for The Acting Company," announced its producer, Margot Harley. Tom Stoppard's TONY-winning play will run off-Broadway in rotating repertory with Hamlet, directed by Ian Belknap, beginning in January 2014. Prior to New York, Hamlet will play a fall tour of western states beginning at Cal State-Northridge. A national tour of both plays, including an extended stay at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, begins in February. This is the 41st season and tour for The Acting Company, the sixth tour in association with the Guthrie.

"I am excited to be back at The Acting Company where I got my New York start," says John Rando "and this season is especially exciting with two plays that are so interrelated-it's 27 years since Rosencrantz and Guildenstern was last done in New York; a great classic play with an equally great counterpart. I previously directed Trevor Nunn's Comedy of Errors in 2001 for The Acting Company where I began as Staff Repertory Director on the 1991-92 tour."

"It is hard to imagine a more perfect repertory in the classical theatrical cannon than these two masterfully inventive explorations of the same story - one of nobility, one of commoners," notes Ian Belknap in speaking about his first season as Artistic Director of The Acting Company. He was represented this year by Of Mice and Men; his production of The Comedy of Errors began at the Guthrie in 2010 before a two-year national tour. John Skelley, who appeared in The Comedy of Errors, will play Hamlet.

Founded by John Houseman and Margot Harley in 1972, The Acting Company has toured to 48 states and 10 foreign countries earning a TONY for Excellence in Theater, Obies, Audelcos and Los Angeles Critics Circle Awards. Kevin Kline, Rainn Wilson, Patti LuPone, Cristin Milioti, Frances Conroy, Jeffrey Wright, Harriet Harris, David Ogden Stiers, Keith David, Hamish Linklater and Jesse L. Martin are but a handful of performers who began their careers on tour with The Acting Company.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride

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