Encompass New Opera Theatre To Stage World Premiere Of ANNA CHRISTIE

Encompass New Opera Theatre will be presenting the world premiere of Anna Christie with music by Edward Thomas set to a libretto by Joseph Masteroff, beginning on Thursday, October 4, 2018 at 8pm, running through Sunday, October 21, 2018, at the Baruch Performing Arts Center (located at 55 Lexington Avenue, entrance on 25th Street, between Lexington and Third Avenues). Nancy Rhodes is stage director and Julian Wachner conducts. Richard Pearson Thomas serves as Assistant Music Director, and set design is by Charles Wittreich, costume design by Angela Huff and lighting design by Colin Chauche.

A special 94th birthday celebration for Edward Thomas will take place on Sunday, October 7, immediately following the matinee, 3pm performance.

Anna Christie, based on Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning play explores the lost relationship of a woman and her father, and the sailor she falls in love with. The sea is a powerful symbol in the play and O'Neil having lived by the docks in New York City's waterfront, was acquainted with the sailors, booze, saloons and night life that he wrote about with such passion and authenticity. Abandoned by her father when she was five years old, Anna suffered a life of hardship and carries a dark secret from her past. An emotionally charged reunion with her father, a captain of a coal barge, intensifies when a merchant sailor is pulled from the cold, dark waters of the Atlantic on a foggy night. When the fog clears, Anna, the sailor and her father are caught in a riveting struggle between love and the sea, changing their lives forever.

The play made its Broadway debut at the Vanderbilt Theatre on November 2, 1921 and was made into a 1930 Hollywood film starring Greta Garbo in her first talking picture.

Tickets for Anna Christie, priced at $59 (premium ticket); $36 (general) and $16 (student) are available by going to www.encompasstheatre.org. BOX OFFICE: (212) 352-3101 or Toll Free (866) 811-4111. All performances take place at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, located at 55 Lexington Avenue. The entrance is on 25th Street, between Lexington and Third Avenues. Performances will be on Thursday, October 4, 11, and 18 (8pm); Friday, October 5, 12 and 19 (8pm); Saturday, October 6, 13 and 20 (8pm); and Sunday, October 7, 14 and 21 (3pm).