Jonathan Epstein News

When three veteran actors from Shakespeare & Company set out to play 'Heroes,' there's no lack of excitement on stage, and even a little warfare.

At first impression the show seems gratuitously violent, but apparently revenge killings were a way of life during Shakespeare's time. Despite the blood and gore, TITUS ANDRONICUS became Shakespeare's most popular play. It is not recommended for the squeamish as buckets of stage blood is thrown about the stage along with chopped off body parts.

Shakespeare & Company's 36th Performance Season just keeps getting bigger and better. Artistic Director Tony Simotes has announced additional programming filled with dance, music, zany antics and more with four new additions to the already scheduled line-up.

Following a record-breaking 35th Season, Shakespeare & Company Artistic Director Tony Simotes is pleased to announce the 2013 summer lineup of plays that will take place in the Tina Packer Playhouse and the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, including a number of special events that will underscore those productions. The highlights of the 2013 Summer Season include two full productions of Shakespeare: Love's Labour's Lost and Richard II, both of which will be performed for the first time on the Tina Packer Playhouse stage, as well as the previously announced Mother Courage and Her Children, directed by Simotes and starring Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis, Apollo Dukakis, and OBIE Award winner John Douglas Thompson. Tickets will go on sale on February 14, 2013, and can be purchased online at www.shakespeare.org or by calling 413-637-3353.

Cynical, angry artist Mark Rothko (Jonathan Epstein) hires a young idealistic assistant, Ken (Thomas Leverton) to work with him on his newest commission: a series of four murals to hang in the newly constructed Four Seasons Restaurant in Manhattan. A smart dialogue about painting and about American society unfolds with the teacher-student relationship transitioning. Ken's hopes that Rothko might be a friend, or even a mentor to replace the father he discovered murdered at a young age are dashed with every stroke of paint, however. The master's vision for companionship extends only to the relationship between the paintings. The end result is always the same for him: tragedy. Rothko is struggling with the futility of life and with putting his brilliance on the walls of a commercial enterprise where its full meaning of the color red might or might not be comprehended by the capitalists dining beneath it.

TheaterWorks presents the Connecticut premiere of RED by John Logan. RED is a raw and provocative exploration of an angry but brilliant artist - master abstract expressionist Mark Rothko. In well-wrought language, John Logan creates a totally convincing portrait of Rothko as a visionary. A superbly taut and compelling drama, this Tony Award winning play imagines a series of confrontations between Rothko and his young assistant, Ken.

Winner of the 2010 Tony Award for Best Play, RED is described as 'a raw and provocative exploration of an angry but brilliant artist - master abstract expressionist Mark Rothko. In well-wrought language, John Logan creates a totally convincing portrait of the artist as a visionary and deftly defines the exhilaration of the act of painting.'

TheaterWorks presents the Connecticut premiere of RED by John Logan. RED is a raw and provocative exploration of an angry but brilliant artist - master abstract expressionist Mark Rothko. In well-wrought language, John Logan creates a totally convincing portrait of Rothko as a visionary. A superbly taut and compelling drama, this Tony Award winning play imagines a series of confrontations between Rothko and his young assistant, Ken.

Winner of the 2010 Tony Award for Best Play, RED is described as 'a raw and provocative exploration of an angry but brilliant artist - master abstract expressionist Mark Rothko. In well-wrought language, John Logan creates a totally convincing portrait of the artist as a visionary and deftly defines the exhilaration of the act of painting.'

Tickets for Shakespeare & Company's 35th Season go on sale today. The 2012-2013 season is set to include an appearance by Olympia Dukakis in an all-female version of 'The Tempest.' "From the perspective of someone who witnessed first hand the beginnings of our Company," says Artistic Director Tony Simotes. "It is astonishing to look back at what we've achieved. I am proud to say that we are at the forefront of actor training and education programs in terms of objective and scope. It is a tremendous privilege to be Shakespeare & Company's Artistic Director during this exciting time, and I feel that we've compiled a riveting and daring list of productions this season that not only reflect the best of what Shakespeare & Company has to offer, but will take us to the next level.

Shakespeare & Company has just announced their 35th Season with is set to include an appearance by Olypia Dukakis in an all-female version of 'The Tempest.' "From the perspective of someone who witnessed first hand the beginnings of our Company," says Artistic Director Tony Simotes. "It is astonishing to look back at what we've achieved. I am proud to say that we are at the forefront of actor training and education programs in terms of objective and scope. It is a tremendous privilege to be Shakespeare & Company's Artistic Director during this exciting time, and I feel that we've compiled a riveting and daring list of productions this season that not only reflect the best of what Shakespeare & Company has to offer, but will take us to the next level.

Shakespeare & Company's new Artistic Director Tony Simotes today announced news of a hugely successful and near record-breaking box office for its 2010/11 season, along with a sneak preview of his exhilarating and ambitious line-up for the Company's 34th Performance Season (his second as A.D.). Productions for the upcoming season include 3 Shakespeare shows, Tina Packer's new series Women of Will: The Complete Journey (Parts I-V), the return of the side-splittingly funny The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Santaland Diaries, and a handful of other equally exciting titles, which have been carefully chosen to round out the season. This season will feature several veteran S&Co. actors and directors, including Jason Asprey, Elizabeth Aspenlieder, Kevin G. Coleman, Jonathan Croy, Jonathan Epstein, Nigel Gore, Malcolm Ingram, Dennis Krausnick, Corinna May, Annette Miller, Tony Simotes, Daniela Varon and Kristin Wold, who will join the Company's roster of talented artists celebrating its 34th Season.The 197-seat Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, part of the Bernstein Center for the Performing Arts, will open the Company's summer season with a high octane line-up of shows featuring Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer and her irreverent Women of Will: The Complete Journey (Parts I-V). Eric Tucker returns to direct Packer and acting partner Nigel Gore in W.O.W, which previewed to sold-out houses during its world premier and limited run in 2010. Up next is British playwright Shelagh Stephenson's heartwarming and poignant comedy The Memory of Water, directed by Kevin G. Coleman (A Winter's Tale 2010, The Ladies Man 2008, Rough Crossing 2006, Director of Education and Company actor) and featuring audience favorites Elizabeth Aspenlieder, Corinna May, Annette Miller and Kristin Wold (others TBA). The popular Lunch Box Shakespeare series presents one of Shakespeare's earliest comedies with Thedirected by Dennis Krausnick (Director of Training, Company actor and playwright) and Two Gentlemen of Verona featuring the energetic Performance Intern Company.

The Performance LAB will launch its inaugural season with a world premier musical, Le Cabaret Grimm - a punk cabaret fairy tale (sans fairies). It runs Thursday through Saturday April 8-24 at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St. in Boston. Based on Tales of the Brothers Grimm, this experimental musical features a live band onstage, masks, large puppets and dance and is infused with a punk sensibility.

The Performance LAB will launch its inaugural season with a world premier musical, Le Cabaret Grimm - a punk cabaret fairy tale (sans fairies). It runs Thursday through Saturday April 8-24 at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St. in Boston. Based on Tales of the Brothers Grimm, this experimental musical features a live band onstage, masks, large puppets and dance and is infused with a punk sensibility.

The Performance LAB will launch its inaugural season with a world premier musical, Le Cabaret Grimm - a punk cabaret fairy tale (sans fairies). It runs Thursday through Saturday April 8-24 at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St. in Boston. Based on Tales of the Brothers Grimm, this experimental musical features a live band onstage, masks, large puppets and dance and is infused with a punk sensibility.

Tony Simotes, Shakespeare & Company's Artistic Director, today announces the full lineup for the summer portion of S&Co.'s 33rd season, his first as Artistic Director. Joining the previously announced Mainstage titles is a special addition to the Founders' Theatre lineup, plus the exciting programming at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theater and key casting info for the summer season. In addition to previous casting announcements, award-winning long-time Company actor Jonathan Epstein returns to S&Co. after a six-year absence to join the cast of The Winter's Tale in the role of Leontes. Simotes also welcomes back Director Daniela Varon after a five-year absence, who will direct Sea Marks in the Bernstein this season.

More than paradise has been lost in the contemporization of this 1935 play.

The American Repertory Theater (Diane Paulus, Artistic Director) continues its landmark season with its production of Clifford Odets's drama Paradise Lost, directed by Daniel Fish, beginning performances on Saturday, February 27 and scheduled to run through Saturday, March 20 at the Loeb Drama Center (64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA).

The American Repertory Theater will present Clifford Odet's PARADISE LOST from February 27 - March 20, 2010.

American Repertory Theater presents Clifford Odets's drama Paradise Lost directed by Daniel Fish February 27 - March 20, 2010 at the Loeb Drama Center.