Red Bull Theatre Presents An Evening With New Yorker Essayist Adam Gopnik & Mike Birbiglia

Red Bull Theater (Jesse Berger, Artistic Director | Jim Bredeson, Managing Director) today announced a very special pop-up benefit event - Adam Gopnik: An Evening of Stories with guest appearance by comedian and author Mike Birbiglia. This will take place for one night only on Sunday April 7th at 7pm at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, between Bleecker and Hudson Streets).

Following the performance, Mike will sit down with Adam for what's sure to be a funny and enlightening talk. They'll discuss the impossibilities of life in New York, their own experiences here and the ever-harrowing creative process. They'll take questions from the audience as well.

"I love Red Bull Theater and all it stands for. At a time when classic theater is struggling to survive, they do classics that no one knew were classics before they did them, and then make them contemporary classics by doing them with living intelligence and theatrical flair. Red Bull stands up for language at a time when the world is contemptuous of words. I love their work and love being able to throw a few of my words towards their ends, said Mr. Gopnik.

We're delighted to welcome beloved New Yorker essayist Adam Gopnik to the Red Bull Theater stage. His witty tales from 30 years as a husband, father and writer in New York City are insightful and delightful, especially in person. I love his use of language and storytelling on the page and the stage, and we're thrilled to welcome him to Red Bull for this exciting and unique one-night only event. Plus Mike Birbiglia and other special guests ... it's going to be a fun, stimulating night out! said Mr. Berger.

A staff writer for The New Yorker since 1986, Adam Gopnik was born in Philadelphia and raised in Montreal. He received his BA in Art History from McGill University, before completing his graduate work at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. His first essay in The New Yorker, "Quattrocento Baseball" appeared in May of 1986 and he served as the magazine's art critic from 1987 to 1995. That year, he left New York to live and write in Paris, where he wrote the magazine's Paris Journal for the next five years. His expanded collection of his essays from Paris, Paris to the Moon, appeared in 2000, and was called by the New York Times the finest book on France in recent years. While in Paris, he began work on an adventure novel, The King in the Window, which was published in 2005, and which The Journal of Fantasy & Science Fiction called a spectacularly fine children's novel children's literature of the highest order, which means literature of the highest order. He still often writes from Paris for The New Yorker, has edited the anthology Americans In Paris for the Library of America, and has written a number of introductions to new editions of works by Maupassant, Balzac, Proust, Victor Hugo and Alain-Fournier.

Mike Birbiglia is a comedian, storyteller, director and actor who has performed in front of audiences worldwide, from the Sydney Opera House to Carnegie Hall. His recent shows, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend and Thank God for Jokes, were both filmed for Netflix. In addition to performing live, Birbiglia is an author and filmmaker who wrote, directed and starred in the films Sleepwalk with Me and Don't Think Twice. His book Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. As an actor, Birbiglia has appeared on Inside Amy Schumer, HBO's Girls and Broad City, as well as in the films Trainwreck, The Fault in Our Stars and Popstar. He plays the role of Danny Pearson on Orange Is the New Black and Oscar Langstraat on Showtime's Billions. He is a contributor to This American Life on public radio. Last year, Birbiglia was honored with the Kurt Vonnegut Award for humor. Mike most recently appeared on Broadway in his new play, The New One.

Red Bull Theater, hailed as the city's gutsiest classical theater by Time Out New York, brings rarely seen classic plays to dynamic new life for contemporary audiences, uniting a respect for tradition with a modern sensibility. Named for the rowdy Jacobean playhouse that illegally performed plays in England during the years of Puritan rule, Red Bull Theater is New York City's home for dynamic performances of great plays that stand the test of time. With the Jacobean plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries as its cornerstone, the company also produces new works that are in conversation with the classics. A home for artists, scholars and students, Red Bull Theater delights and engages the intellect and imagination of audiences, and strives to make its work accessible, diverse, and welcoming to all. Red Bull Theater believes in the power of great classic stories and plays of heightened language to deepen our understanding of the human condition, in the special ability of live theater to create unique, collective experiences, and the timeless capacity of classical theater to illuminate the events of our times. Variety agreed, hailing Red Bull's work as: Proof that classical theater can still be surprising after hundreds of years.

Since its debut in 2003 with a production of Shakespeare's Pericles starring Daniel Breaker, Red Bull Theater has served adventurous theatergoers with Off-Broadway Productions, Revelation Readings, and the annual Short New Play Festival. The company also offers outreach programs including Shakespeare in Schools bringing professional actors and teaching artists into public school classrooms; Bull Sessions, free post-play discussions with top scholars; and Master Classes in classical acting led by veteran theater professionals.

Acclaimed as a dynamic producer of classic plays by The New York Times and the most exciting classical theater in New York by Time Out NY, Red Bull Theater has produced 17 Off-Broadway productions and over 150 Revelation Readings of rarely seen classics, serving a community of more than 5,000 artists and providing quality artistic programming to an audience of over 65,000. The company's unique programming has received ongoing critical acclaim, and has been recognized with Lortel, Drama Desk, Drama League, Callaway, Off Broadway Alliance, and OBIE nominations and Awards.

Tickets are available at these levels:

$50 Regular

$75 Supporter ($25 tax-deductible)

$95 Benefactor ($45 tax-deductible)

$500 VIP Experience ($450 tax-deductible)

VIP Experience ticket holders will join Adam Gopnik, Mike Birbiglia and other special guests for an exclusive post-performance dinner at a fine West Village eatery following the performance.

Currently at the Lucille Lortel Theatre: Red Bull Theater's production of John Webster's The White Devil, directed by Louisa Proske, now through April 14th only. Following The White Devil will be Mac Beth adapted and directed by Erica Schmidt from Shakespeare, playing its limited Off-Broadway engagement May 7th through June 2nd only.

To purchase tickets or for more information about any of Red Bull Theater's productions & programs, visit www.redbulltheater.com or call (212) 343-7394.