Suzanne Bertish and Paxton Whitehead Set for Noel and Company's THE CHERRY ORCHARD Reading, 9/23

Noël and Company will present a free staged reading of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov at Theater 3 on Monday, September 23rd at 7:00pm.

The reading will be the forth installment in Noël and Company's festival honoring the work of theatre pioneer Eva Le Gallienne. This gorgeous translation is by Irina Skariatina - on which Le G collaborated, directed and starred in 1944. Artistic Director Keith Merrill will direct and Anne Kaufman will produce the event.

Starring Suzanne Bertish (Madame Ranevskaya), Paxton Whitehead (Gaev), Andrea Syglowski (Anya), Elizabeth Morton (Varya), James Waterston (Lopahin), Keith Merrill (Trofimov), Roger DeWitt (Pistchik), Margaret Robinson (Dunyasha), Zoe Frazer (Charlotta), Ethan Saks (Epihodov), and Samuel Benedict (Yasha).

Synopsis: Madame Ranevskaya, a once prosperous aristocrat has returned to her estate in provincial Russia after five years (having fled in an attempt to heal from the deaths of her son and husband) only to find her finances in ruin and faced with the unfathomable option: to sell her ancestral home to pay off her mounting debts. The staff are fed on peas while their employers continue to squander and deny - the future seems a grim one no matter what the decision. Will Ranevskaya open her eyes in time to save her family - or will she continue to live in blissful ignorance until the last ruble is spent? This charming comedy illustrates all the vibrant stereotypes that inhabit this topsy turvy new world and give us Chekhov's sense of humor in all it's wry and vivid glory.

Reservations are required. To RSVP visit www.noelandcompany.org (please do not contact Theater 3). Theater 3 is located at 311 West 43rd Street (3rd Floor) in Manhattan.