The Queen's Company to Stage All-Female SIR PATIENT FANCY at The Wild Project, 3/15-4/5

The Queen's Company, New York City's acclaimed all-female classical theater company, presents a rare production of Aphra Behn's Sir Patient Fancy, directed by The Queen's Company Artistic Director Rebecca Patterson. Sir Patient Fancy runs from March 15 - April 5, 2014 in a limited engagement at the Wild Project, located at 195 East 3rd Street between Avenue A and Avenue B in New York City.

Performances are Wednesdays - Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased online at www.QueensCompany.org or by calling 1-866-811-4111. Tickets are 2 for 1 on Wednesday nights. The running time is approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes including intermission. A post-show discussion with Ms. Patterson and the cast will follow the Sunday, March 23 performance. The Wild Project is accessible from the F train to 2nd Avenue.

For info visit www.QueensCompany.org, follow on Twitter at @queenscompany, join the conversation at #AphraBehn and #SirPatientFancy, and Like them on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/pages/The-Queens-Company/219369338392.

Aphra Behn, the delicious diva of 17th century sexy sophistication, delivers a wickedly witty tale of defiant women and the men who love them. Amorous fops, lusty widows, mistaken beds and narrow escapes are some of the delights packed into this exciting ride through the backstreets and bedrooms of London's wild and wooly past. Performed by The Queen's Company's signature all-female cast, Aphra Behn's Sir Patient Fancy will be a night of theatre to remember.

Aphra Behn wrote in the late 1600's, not an easy time to be England's first professional female playwright. She triumphed through humor and audacity, surprising audiences with characters and stories unique for her time. A few centuries after her death she was famously eulogized by author Virginia Woolf, "all women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn which is, most scandalously but rather appropriately, in Westminster Abbey, for it is she who earned them the right to speak their minds."

The cast includes Tiffany Abercrombie, Kelsey Arendt, Virginia Baeta, Karen Berthel, Julia Campanelli, Amy Driesler, Sarah Hankins, Sarah Joyce, Natalie Lebert, Elisabeth Preston and Antoinette Robinson.

The creative team includes Matthew J. Fick (Set and Light Design), Kristina Makowski (Costume Design), Amy Altadona (Sound Design) and Judi Lewis Ockler (Fight Choreography). Jeanne Travis is the Production Stage Manager.

Joyful. Bold. Sexy. Funny. Elegant. Explosive. Riveting. The Queen's Company is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the creation of innovative productions of classical plays featuring all-female casts. Their work is known for its exquisite use of language, bold physicality, creative storytelling and artistic playfulness that interweaves music and movement sequences with the classical text. Founded in 2000, they've presented thirteen critically acclaimed productions directed by founding Artistic Director Rebecca Patterson. They advocate gender-blind casting in classical theatre.

Rebecca Patterson's directing credits with The Queen's Company include As You Like It, The Wonder, Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, Edward II, School For Scandal, Much Ado About Nothing, The Lucky Chance, Antony & Cleopatra, The Feign'd Courtesans, The Duchess of Malfi, The Rover and Macbeth. Patterson's other NYC directing credits include Wapato (Women's Project), Greeks & Centaurs (Women's Project), The Gabriels (SPF) and The Imaginary Invalid (Resonance Ensemble). In 2010 she received a Lucille Lortel Award by the League of Professional Theatre Women for her direction in The Wonder and her longstanding body of work.

Ms. Patterson states, "There are many compelling reasons for all-female casts in classical plays, the most obvious being the wealth of untapped talent and interpretations of our female actors. When we start talking about the humanity of a character with their own particular mix of male and female characteristics, that's when things become exciting. There are many examples of classical productions with predominantly male casts. Our aesthetic is neither better nor worse. It is simply different. It allows for a diversity of voices, insights and access, enriching our understanding and enjoyment of classical plays."

Photo Credit: Bob Pileggi

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