TACT Announces Their 17th Anniversary Season Including THE COCKTAIL PARTY And More

The Actors Company Theatre/TACT (Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris and Simon Jones, Co-Artistic Directors) has announced its 17th Anniversary season. The critically-acclaimed company dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit will offer fully staged productions of The Late Christopher Bean by Sidney Howard, and The Cocktail Party by T.S. Eliot at The Beckett Theatre (410 West 42nd Street) on Theatre Row.

In a statement from Scott Alan Evans, the Co-Artistic Director of TACT said, "After having previously presented both these plays in our Concert Performance format, TACT is thrilled to be able to continue our exploration of these fine - and very different - works on our mainstage at Theatre Row. We believe Sidney Howard's razor-sharp look at greed, and Eliot's compassionate examination of our deepest physical and spiritual needs are as fresh as ever and will strike a resounding chord with audiences today."

Opening the 17th Anniversary Season is The Late Christopher Bean, a sly 1930's comedy by Sidney Howard. Yankee practicality collides with New York's sophisticated Art World as all hell breaks loose when a celebrated painter's early works are traced to the humble home of a country doctor. Both a biting satire on the destructive power of greed and a touching view of a family in turmoil, this feisty comedy will have you cheering for the most unlikely heroines.

The Late Christopher Bean, first published in 1932 under the title "Muse of All Work," had its world premiere at the Ford's Opera House in Baltimore on October 24, 1932, and opened in New York a week later at the Henry Miller Theatre on Broadway with a cast that included Walter Connolly and Beulah Bondi. Playwright Sidney Howard won the 1925 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for They Knew What They Wanted, his play about a middle-aged Italian vineyard owner and his mail order bride (later adapted into the Broadway musical The Most Happy Fella). Having died at the age of 48 in a farming accident, Howard was awarded a posthumous Academy Award for his adapted screenplay of Gone with the Wind. TACT Company Member and Associate Producer Jenn Thompson directs. Performances begin on Sunday, November 1st, 2009. Opening night is Wednesday, November 11th at 7:30pm. Performances will continue through Saturday, December 5th.

TACT continues its 17th Anniversary season with the brilliant, witty world of The Cocktail Party, T.S. Eliot's profound exploration of self-deception and redemption. Edward and Lavinia Chamberlayne are throwing a fashionable party at their London flat. The guests arrive only to discover that their hostess is nowhere to be found and a rather strange man, who knows no one, seems right at home. Ruthless and compassionate, this "Cocktail Party" embodies the day-to-day struggle of domestic life while turning the classic ‘drawing room comedy' on its head.

The most popular of T.S. Eliot's plays, The Cocktail Party had its New York premiere in January 1950 at the Henry Miller Theatre and starred Alec Guinness as the mysterious stranger. It had a very successful run of 409 performances and won the 1950 "Best Play" Tony Award. It was revived in 1968 at The Lyceum Theatre (running a mere 44 performances) and starred Brian Bedford and Frances Sternhagen as the party hosts and Sydney Walker as the strange visitor. TACT Co-Artistic Director Scott Alan Evans directs. Performances begin Sunday, March 7, 2009. Opening Night is Wednesday, March 17th at 7:30pm. Performances will continue through April 10th.

The cast and creative team for both productions will be announced at a later date.

The Late Christopher Bean and The Cocktail Party will both have the following performance schedule: Monday, Wednesday - Friday at 7:30pm; Saturday at 2pm & 8pm; Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $27.50 - $55.00 and are available 24/7 through Ticket Central www.ticketcentral.com or from 12 - 8:00pm daily at 212-279-4200. They may also be obtained at the Theatre Row box office (410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues) between 12pm and 8pm daily.

The Actors Company Theatre is dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of
literary merit, with a focus on creating theatre from its essence: the text and the actor's ability to bring it to life.

TACT's celebrated company of actors was drawn together in 1992 by a love of the literature of the theatre. Since that time, they have grown to become a true ensemble: a group that has developed a common vocabulary and a technique based on their specific artistic vision and collective body of work. TACT company members, whose cumulative experience includes scores of significant roles on and off Broadway, in the country's finest regional theatres and in many films and television shows, have received Emmy, Obie, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards, in addition to several Tony nominations.

After presenting thirteen seasons of "in-concert" performances, the company took a leap with its 2006-07 season by presenting fully staged productions of David Storey's Home and The Sea by Edward Bond at The Beckett Theatre on Theatre Row. TACT became a resident company on Theatre Row with its 2007-08 season when they presented critically-acclaimed productions of The Runner Stumbles by Milan Stitt and The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, by Tennessee Williams, which The New York Times included in its "Top 10 Theatre Picks for 2008." The company's productions of Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce and last season's Incident at Vichy by Arthur Miller became instant hits and enjoyed extended runs.

www.tactnyc.org