Philadelphia Theatre Company to Present ON BECKETT, 12/14

Philadelphia Theatre Company is proud to present a new work, On Beckett, a special one-night only event on December 14 created and performed by Tony Award-winning actor/master clown Bill Irwin. The performance will be at PTC's home at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre and will begin at 7pm. Tickets are available at philatheatrecompany.org or by phone at 215.985.0420.

On Beckett, is an expression of Irwin's life-long passion for the work of Samuel Beckett. A short evening of excerpts from Beckett's most moving and comic plays and prose, Irwin has fashioned a very personal performance that offers a new and uniquely American take on the master's work. Equal parts performance, conversation, clowning and a little bit of dancing, Samuel Beckett becomes alive in the hands of one of the world's most inspired performers.

"We are honored to be continuing our relationship with Bill Irwin, with whom we first worked on our production of Trumbo, which earned him a Barrymore Award for Best Actor, and then again our commissioned world premiere of The Happiness Lecture. PTC is honored to present this singular new evening that brings together two like-minded geniuses," said PTC's Executive Producing Director Sara Garonzik.

An actor, film and television star, world-renowned clown, playwright, director and choreographer, Bill Irwin is one of the most versatile performers on the American stage today. The recipient of a Barrymore Award for his performance in Philadelphia Theatre Company's production of Trumbo, Irwin won a Tony Award for his lead role in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opposite Kathleen Turner and appeared on Broadway in the Roundabout Theater Company's revival of Waiting for Godot opposite Nathan Lane, which earned him a Drama Desk nomination. The creator and star of the productions Regard of Flight, Fool Moon, for which he also won a Tony Award, and more recently, Old Hats with David Shiner at Signature Theater, he starred opposite Sally Field in the 2002 Tony Award-winning play Edward Albee's The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? The Signature Theatre's 2003/04 Season was dedicated entirely to his original work for which he served as writer, director, and star. Other Broadway work includes his original work, Largely New York, which received five Tony Award nominations and won Drama Desk, Outer Critic Circle and New York Dance and Performance Awards. In the fall of 2000, Irwin directed and performed his own adaptation of Samuel Beckett's prose work Texts for Nothing at the Classic Stage Company, for which he received a nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance by the Outer Critics Circle. His feature films include: Interstellar with Matthew McConaughey, Rachel Getting Married with Anne Hathaway, Love Conquers All!, Igby Goes Down, The Laramie Project for HBO, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey, John Turturro's Illuminata, Scalpers with Andy Garcia and Mike Hoffman's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Michelle Pfeiffer, Kevin Klein and Rupert Everett.

Samuel Beckett, winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature, was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. His work offers an outlook on human existence that is often coupled with black comedy and gallows humor. He is widely regarded as among the most influential writers of the 20th century. As an inspiration to many later writers, he is also considered one of the first postmodernists and one of the key writers in what came to be known as the "Theatre of the Absurd."

Founded in 1974, Philadelphia Theatre Company is a leading regional theatre company that produces, develops and presents entertaining and imaginative contemporary theatre focused on the American experience. By developing new work through commissions, readings and workshops, PTC generates a national impact and reaches broad regional audiences. Under the guidance of PTC's Executive Producing Director, Sara Garonzik, since 1982 and Executive Managing Director Priscilla M. Luce, who joined the leadership team in early April of 2013, PTC supports the work of a growing body of diverse dramatists and takes pride in being a home to many nationally recognized artists who have participated in more than 140 world and Philadelphia premieres. PTC has received 57 Barrymore Awards and 180 nominations. PTC's home on the Avenue of the Arts, the Suzanne Roberts Theatre which opened in October 2007, has helped revitalize of Center City Philadelphia's thriving arts district.

This special presentation will occur on a Monday evening during the run of Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, running from November 27 through December 27.