Arthur Schnitzler's ROUND DANCE is Coming to IRT Theater

Arthur Schnitzler's classic tale of love and infidelity, ROUND DANCE, is coming to New York in a new translation from the German by H. Clark Kee, who also directs. Produced by Oldest Boys Production in association with Accidental Repertory Theater, and presented by IRT Theater, ROUND DANCE begins performances on Thursday, March 10 for a limited engagement through Sunday, March 27. The performance schedule is Thursday - Saturday at 7 p.m. with matinee performances on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Performances are at the IRT Theater (154 Christopher Street, between Washington and Greenwich Streets; 1 and 2 trains at Christopher Street or the A, B, C, D, and E at West 4th). Tickets are $30. For tickets and more information visit IRTTheater.org.

Arthur Schnitzler's surprisingly forward-looking play ROUND DANCE explores the contrast between public and private personas, and the relationship between class dynamics, power, and sex. Each of ten characters drawn from every stratum of society has an encounter with two other characters, exposing the truths and contradictions of the timeless quest for love, affection, and gratification.

This production, set in the not-quite present day, acknowledges the history of sexual politics from Kate Millett to the #metoo movement, its context informed by contemporary political and social reality.

Originally written in 1897 - and barely skirting past the German censors upon publication a few years later - audiences rioted when the play was first publicly performed in Berlin in 1920. Schnitzler was branded a pornographer and prosecuted for indecency, an accusation steeped in anti-Semitism. Schnitzler withdrew the work from publication in German-speaking countries, but it found new life when film director Max Ophüls adapted it into the 1950 French film La Ronde.

The Round House cast features Ruth Guimera, Taylor Hadsell, Judy Krause (Indican Picture's Union), Mark Peters (Dear Harvey at FringeNYC), Christopher Pio, Mike Roche (Night Over Taos at Theater for a New City, dir. Estelle Parsons), Samantha Simone (McKenna on Blue Bloods), JP Stewart, Shannon Stowe, Jonathan Wong Frye. The lighting designer is Elizabeth M. Stewart.

Arthur Schnitzler (playwright) was born in Vienna in 1862. He became a medical doctor, working in a hospital before abandoning medicine to devote his life to writing. Fellow Viennese Sigmund Freud wrote "You have learned through intuition - though actually as a result of sensitive introspection - everything that I have had to unearth by laborious work on other persons."

H. Clark Kee (translator, director) attended second grade in Marburg, Germany, beginning what would become a lifelong interest in German language and culture. A Yale graduate, he was a member of the Williamstown Theater Festival's Second Company in the 70s, and since 2008 has been Administrative Director of Accidental Repertory Theater, John Strasberg, Artistic Director.

IRT Theater is a grassroots laboratory for independent theater and performance in New York City, providing space and support to a new generation of artists. Tucked away in the old Archive Building in Greenwich Village, IRT's mission is to build a community of emerging and established artists by creating a home for the development and presentation of new work. Some of the artists we have supported include Young Jean Lee, Reggie Watts, and Mike Daisey. For info visit www.irttheater.org.