Elliot Mayer, David Carlyon Lead Pulse's AS YOU LIKE IT 7/19-8/13

Pulse Ensemble Theatre (Alexa Kelly, Artistic Director) announced today the cast for its seventh Harlem Summer Shakespeare production, As You Like It, at New York City's beautiful riverside amphitheatre in Riverbank State Park (145th Street and Riverside Drive) July 19 through August 13, 2011. The multi-ethnic, open air production of William Shakespeare's comedy is free to the public on a first come, first served basis.

The cast of As You Like It features Elliot Mayer (Duke Senior/Frederick), David Carlyon (Jacques), Bill Galarno (Adam), Josh Odsess-Rubin (Orlando), Stella Kammel (Rosalind), Iris McQuillan-Grace (Celia), Vincent Bagnall (Oliver), Cherish Monique Duke (Phebe), Stuart Rudin (Corin), Jacob Heimer (Amiens), Robert Dyckman (Lord I in both Courts), Shawn Williams (Charles the Wrestler), Emily McGowan (Audrey) and Deaon Pressley (Silvius). The production team includes Bob Miller (costume design), Steve O'Shea (lighting design) and BrIan Richardson (sound design).

As is the tradition with Pulse Theatre Ensemble's Harlem Summer Shakespeare, this production keeps Shakespeare's language intact whilst updating the world in which the characters live. In this contemporary version of As You Like It, Frederick is a millionaire in the image of Hugh Hefner or Donald Trump. He believes money rules the day. Duke Senior and his followers, on the other hand, live a rustic, free-spirited life somewhere between the 1960's hippies and the Hari Krishna followers.

This is the seventh season Pulse Ensemble Theatre has presented free Shakespeare in Riverbank State Park. The company's previous seasons have presented critically acclaimed productions of The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet where Lord and Lady Capulet danced to Marvin Gaye and Romeo first spied Juliet as she danced to The Black Eyed Peas. The New York Times wrote about A Midsummer Night's Dream, "The audience - which did not resemble any audience I have seen at the Delacorte or any other mainstream Shakespeare venue - obviously loved it." Pulse Ensemble Theatre's productions have been hailed as "entrancing" by the Wall Street Journal and "amazing Shakespeare under the stars" by WABC-TV.

The Harlem Summer Shakespeare Project invites young people from the Harlem community to work with the professional Acting Company. The project is sponsored in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, Con Edison, Councilman Robert Jackson, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and Riverbank State Park.

Previews of As You Like It begin July 19th before an official opening of July 21st. Performances run through August 13, 2011, Wednesday through Sunday at 8:00 pm at the Amphitheatre at Riverbank State Park, 145th Street and Riverside Drive (Subway: #1 to 145th and Broadway; Bus: M11 (until 7pm) and BX 19). Admission is free and open to the public. The production is fully produced-lights, costumes and sound, and the actors wear body mikes, so they can always be heard. For more information, visit http://www.pulseensembletheatre.org.

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