Keen Company Announces Special Ticket Price on Tuesday Performances of 'The Fourposter'

Keen Company (Artistic Director Carl Forsman, Producer Wayne Kelton) is thrilled to announce a special promotion for its run of Jan De Hartog’s The Fourposter: 15 seats available for $15 at every Tuesday night performance*.  The Fourposter is currently in previews at the intimate 99–seat Clurman Theatre at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues) and will run through November 22.  The official opening is Sunday, October 19.

Directed by Blake Lawrence and starring Todd Weeks and Jessica Dickey, The Fourposter (recipient of the 1952 Tony Award for Best Play) is the first production of Keen Company’s 2008-2009 season.  Up next at Keen is Beasley’s Christmas Party, the perfect holiday offering for all audiences, running from December 2 – January 3.  And this spring, Keen will present the New York premiere of the 2006 Olivier Award-winner for Best Comedy, Tom Stoppard’s translation of Heroes, by Gérald Sibleyras.  Directed by Carl Forsman, this production will run February 24 – April 11.

The Fourposter follows thirty-five years of Michael and Agnes’s marriage, from their wedding night in 1890 through the universal highs and lows of adulation, consummation, infatuation, tribulation and reparation.  Having presented three of the last 20 Drama Desk nominees for Best Revival of a Play, Keen Company is thrilled to launch into its 9th season with this Tony Award-winner.

Born in Haarlem, Holland, Jan De Hartog wrote a series of detective stories under a pseudonym and then produced a novel under his own name entitled Hollands Glorie which was published at the time of the German invasion and became a symbol of Dutch pride and independence.  The Nazis failed in their attempts to use the author for their own propaganda and he was forced to go into hiding in an old people’s home.  It was there, in an attic room waiting for his chance to escape to England, that he wrote The Fourposter, a play he never expected to see performed, the casualty rate among escapees from Holland being 80%.  However, in 1943 he was successful in reaching England where, after the war, he began to write in English.  His first novel, The Lost Sea, published in 1950 by Harper and Brothers in New York, gained rave reviews, as did its successor, A Distant Shore.  Others followed, and several of his books turned into movies – The Key with William Holden and Sophie Loren, The Spiral Road with Rock Hudson and Burl Ives, The Inspector with Stephen Boyd, and others, to name a few.  In the meantime, a movie was made of The Fourposter with Rex Harrison and Lili Palmer and in 1951, The Fourposter opened on Broadway with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, directed by Jose Ferrer, winning the Tony award for that year.  A musical version, I Do I Do, followed with Mary Martin and Robert Preston.  Both the play and the musical have been performed worldwide and continue to do so to this day.  Jan De Hartog died in Houston in 2002, at the age of 88.

The Fourposter is directed by Blake Lawrence and stars Jessica Dickey & Todd Weeks.  The scenic design is by Sandra Goldmark; costume design is by Theresa Squire; lighting design is by Josh Bradford; sound design is by Jill BC DuBoff.

Keen Company produces sincere plays with the belief that theater is at its most powerful when texts and productions are generous in spirit and provoke identification.  Inspired by the works of early 20th Century American playwrights, Keen Company demonstrates that an earnest intent can still be sophisticated and is unafraid of emotional candor, vulnerability, and optimism.  Keen Company seeks to create a culture of artists, technicians, administrators and audiences who share a desire to invigorate the theater with productions that connect audiences through humor, heart and hope.

The Fourposter plays the following schedule at The Clurman Theatre / Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues): Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday through Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm.  Please note: the performance on Sunday, October 19 will be at 7pm (not 3pm); there will be an additional performance on Saturday, November 22 @ 2pm; and there will be no performance on Sunday, November 23. The Fourposter runs through November 22.  Tickets are $41.25 and can be purchased through TicketCentral.com or by phoning (212) 279-4200.  For more information about please visit www.KeenCompany.org.

Keen Company announces 15 seats for $15 at every Tuesday night performance of The Fourposter.  $15 (plus $1.25 facility fee) tickets are available every Tuesday beginning at 12pm only through the Theatre Row box office (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Aves).  Patrons should mention “15 for 15” when purchasing tickets.  Limit 3 tickets per person.

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