Jonathan Cake Joins NY Theatre Workshop Production of RESTORATION, Begins 4/30

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director William Russo have announced that Jonathan Cake has joined the cast of Restoration, written by Claudia Shear, and directed by Christopher Ashley. Mr. Cake assumes the role to have been played by Danny Mastrogiorgio.

Restoration begins performances Friday, April 30, at 8pm, at NYTW, 79 East 4th Street, between Second Avenue and Bowery. Opening night is scheduled for Wednesday, May 19, 2010, at 7:00pm. The production runs through Sunday, June 13.

Two-time Tony Award-nominee, playwright, and actress Claudia Shear reunites with director Christopher Ashley to create and star in her new play Restoration. Shear plays Giulia, a down-on-her-luck art restorer from Brooklyn who receives what could possibly be a career-reviving job of "refreshing" Michelangelo's David in time for its quincentennial celebration in Florence.

Claudia Shear and Christopher Ashley first worked together on the hit NYTW production of Shear's OBIE Award-winning Blown Sideways Through Life, which played an extended run at NYTW, transferred to the Cherry Lane Theatre, and was later filmed for PBS's "American Playhouse." Shear triumphantly returned to NYTW with Dirty Blonde, a comic exploration of the life of Mae West, directed by James Lapine, which transferred to Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre and for which she won a Theatre World Award, as well as Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations for Best Play and Best Actress.

Jonathan Cake's Broadway credits include Braham in The Philanthropist opposite Matthew Broderick, Iachimo in Cymbeline directed by Mark Lamos, Jason in Deborah Warner's Tony nominated Medea (also London's West End and BAM). Mr. Cake's New York Credits include Four Benches by Ethan Coen, Parlour Song by Jez Butterworth. London credits include Silva Vaccaro in the RNT's Baby Doll (Best Actor at the Barclays Theatre Awards), the title role in Coriolanus at Shakespeare's Globe, productions at the Royal National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Co. Regional credits include Doubt at Pasadena Playhouse. UK television includes: Ricky Gervais' Emmy-winning "Extras;" the BAFTA winning programs "A Dance to the Music of Time" and Peter Kosminsky's "The Government Inspector; the title role in "Mosley;" Dennis Potter's "Cold Lazarus;" and Eddie Izzard's "Cows." US television includes: ABC's "Six Degrees" and "Empire," NBC's "Inconceivable," Showtime's "Out of the Ashes." Films include: First Knight, True Blue, Honest, The One and Only, and Miramax's Brideshead Revisited.

The cast of Restoration is Tina Benko, Jonathan Cake, Alan Mandell, Natalija Nogulich, and Claudia Shear.

The set design for Restoration is by Scott Pask; costume design is by David C. Woolard; lighting design is by David Lander; sound design is by Dan Moses Schreier; video design is by Kristin Ellert; wig design is by Mark Adam Rampmeyer; the production Stage Manager is James FitzSimmons.

New York Theatre Workshop, now celebrating its 26th season, is a leading voice in the world of Off-Broadway and within the theatre community in New York and around the world. NYTW has emerged as a premiere incubator of important new theatre, honoring its mission to explore perspectives on our collective history and respond to the events and institutions that shape our lives. In addition, NYTW is known for its innovative adaptations of classic repertory. Each season, from its home in New York's East Village neighborhood, NYTW presents three to five new productions, over 80 readings, and numerous workshop productions, for over 45,000 audience members. Over the past 26 years, NYTW has developed and produced over 100 new, fully staged works, including Jonathan Larson's Rent, Tony Kushner's Slavs! and Homebody/Kabul, Doug Wright's Quills, Claudia Shear's Blown Sideways Through Life and Dirty Blonde, Paul Rudnick's The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told and Valhalla, and Caryl Churchill's Mad Forest, Far Away, and A Number. The 2002 remounting of Martha Clarke's seminal work Vienna: Lusthaus and subsequent American tour was one of the longest-running productions in NYTW's history. NYTW supports artists in all stages of their careers by maintaining a series of workshop programs including work-in-progress readings, summer residencies, and minority artist fellowships. In 1991, NYTW received an OBIE Award for Sustained Achievement and in 2000 was designated to be part of the Leading National Theatres Program by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Restoration plays at New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street, between Second Avenue and Bowery. The regular performance schedule is Tuesday at 7:00pm, Wednesday through Friday at 8:00pm, Saturday at 3:00pm and 8:00pm, and Sunday at 2:00pm and 7:00pm. There will be a special student matinee on Wednesday, May 26 at 1pm. Changes in performance schedule for the run are:

Saturday, May 1, 2010 - 8:00pm performance only
Sunday, May 2, 2010 - 7:00pm performance only
Sunday, May 9, 2010 - 2:00pm performance only
Monday, May 17, 2010 - 7:00pm performance
Thursday, May 20, 2010 - no performance
Sunday, May 30, 2010 - 2:00pm performance only

Restoration runs through Sunday, June 13, 2010. Tickets are $65 and may be purchased online at www.ticketcentral.com, 24 hours a day, seven days a week or by phoning Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200. For exact dates and times of performance, visit www.nytw.org.

Maintaining its commitment to making theatre accessible to all theatergoers, NYTW continues its CheapTix Sundays program in which all tickets for all Sunday evening performances at 7:00pm will cost $20. Tickets may be purchased in advance, payable in cash only, and are available in person only at the NYTW Box Office. And for all performances, student tickets cost $20, based on availability, and can be purchased in advance from the NYTW Box Office with valid student identification. The NYTW Box Office is open 1:00pm to 6:00pm, Tuesday through Saturday.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.

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