MISS JULIE, Play Reading Festival, and More Announced at Classic Stage Company

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Doyle, today announced its upcoming 2018-19 season, the acclaimed theater's 51st.

Said Doyle, "The greatest gift of the classical repertoire is the opportunity to work on theater pieces of enduring relevance. This coming season, I hope, reflects the world we live in today. An epic Brecht play about the rise of Arturo Ui, a fictional mobster; two intimate Strindberg plays of conflict, dysfunction and deep-rooted anger; a landmark American musical set in the political mayhem of "Steeltown, USA"; and the opportunity to hear Shakespeare's canon from a collaborative 17th-century and contemporary viewpoint in partnership with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I'm excited to begin our second half century on our journey of keeping the classics alive."

CSC Season Memberships, offering priority access and other benefits, are available to the public beginning today.

2018-2019 Season

THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI

By Bertolt Brecht (translated by George Tabori)

Beginning late October

In 1930s Chicago, mobster Arturo Ui will stop at nothing to control the cauliflower trade. Terror and bloodshed follow. Can anyone stop him? Brecht's skewering of Adolf Hitler and totalitarianism is given renewed significance in a production directed by John Doyle. Written in 1941, the play was one of the Berliner Ensemble's greatest box office successes.

Two 19th-Century Plays by August Strindberg in Repertory

Beginning early January

MISS JULIE

On a hot summer evening, Miss Julie, the lonely, imperious daughter of an aristocrat, falls for her father's charismatic footman. The scandal that ensues spirals out of control and results in an ending that stunned theater-goers when it premiered in 1880. Strindberg's naturalist tragedy about sexuality, class and expectations is a revolutionary piece of modern drama widely considered one of his masterpieces.

THE DANCE OF DEATH

Retired military man Edgar and his wife Alice have given up on any semblance of civility toward each other on the threshold of their 25th wedding anniversary. Due to their isolation, however, they are as codependent as they are hateful. Seething with cruelty, and punctuated by absurdity and humor, Strindberg's electrifying play was ages ahead of its time in its bleak examination of marriage and the social institutions governing it.

THE CRADLE WILL ROCK

By Marc Blitzstein

Beginning late March

In Steeltown, USA, laborer Larry Foreman struggles to unionize fellow steel workers against mounting attacks from a greedy industrialist, who uses his power to influence nearly everyone else in town. Marc Blitzstein's folk opera, created through the Federal Theater Project, was famously shut down on the eve of opening night by federal authorities fearing its pro-labor stance.

PLAY ON! A FESTIVAL OF 39 READINGS FROM OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL'S TRANSLATION PROJECT

Summer 2019

CSC in partnership with Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) presents 39 readings from the Play on! Shakespeare translation project. OSF commissioned 36 playwrights-more than half are women and more than half are playwrights of color, each paired with a dramaturg-to translate Shakespeare's canon into contemporary modern English to celebrate the enduring impact of the Bard's work. These commissions challenge the playwrights to bring the same level of dramatic pressure and rigor of language to their work as is present in the originals, deepening our understanding and engagement with Shakespeare. This project is sponsored by a generous grant from the Hitz Foundation.

Classic Stage Company, CSC, is committed to re-imagining classic stories for contemporary audiences. The company has been a home for New York's finest established and emerging artists to grapple with the great works of the world's repertory that speak directly to the issues of today. CSC serves an average of 35,000 audience members annually, including more than 4,000 students through its nationally recognized education programs. Productions have been cited repeatedly by all the major Off-Broadway theater awards including the Obie, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work.

Classic Stage Company is currently presenting Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke, a co-production with Transport Group and will conclude its 50th Anniversary season with the musical Carmen Jones, featuring Tony Award winner Anika Noni Jones.

For further information on Classic Stage Company, call 212-677-4210, visit the theatre in person at 136 East 13th Street, or go to www.classicstage.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.