PICT launches 2011 Season With Antony & Cleopatra 5/5-21

A Roman general and an Eqyptian queen, Mark Antony and Cleopatra are great leaders of their time who share a passion for each other - but at a price. Power, politics and betrayal overshadow their doomed and legendary affair. Antony & Cleopatra runs May 5th through the 21st in the Charity Randall Theatre at the Stephen Foster Memorial in Oakland. The media sponsor is WDUQ-FM.

PICT's production of Antony & Cleopatra is part of Shakespeare for a New Generation, a national program of the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest. PICT is one of 40 professional theatre companies selected to participate in Shakespeare for a New Generation, bringing the finest productions of Shakespeare to thousands of middle- and high-school students in communities across the United States. This is the eighth year of Shakespeare in American Communities, the largest tour of Shakespeare in American history.

Under the direction of James J. Christy, Antony & Cleopatra features Sam Tsoutsouvas, Helena Ruoti, and Leo Marks, with scenic design by David P. Gordon, lighting design by Cindy Limauro and costume design by Jen Sturm. David Huber designs sound.

Antony & Cleopatra is set as Rome emerges from the chaos following the civil wars that ensued from the assassination of Julius Caesar. Mark Antony, Caesar's best general, and Octavius Caesar, Caesar's nephew, are locked in a titanic struggle for control of the rising Roman Empire. Cleopatra has ruled Eqypt strongly and successfully for nearly twenty years when she meets Mark Antony. Both are mature power brokers with great experience of the world, and they fall madly, indulgently, irresponsibly in love. Antony is torn between duty to Rome and an intense ambition to rule the world with Cleopatra. The core of the play is the lovers' relationship, which is volatile, passionate, hilarious, messy and, finally, deeply spiritual.

Philadelphia-area director James J. Christy directed PICT's 2008 critically-acclaimed production of King Lear. He has directed over twenty Shakespeare productions at theatres like the Utah Shakespearean Festival, the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, the Virginia Shakespeare Festival and at Villanova University where he taught theatre for thirty-nine years. Christy also worked with Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival in the 1990's, directing As You Like It and The Comedy of Errors. He has garnered seven nominations for directing by the Philadelphia Theatre Alliance Barrymore Awards, winning two Barrymore Awards for directing and a special Barrymore for Lifetime Achievement.

The queen of the Pittsburgh stages Helena Ruoti plays the passionate and powerful Cleopatra. Antony & Cleopatra reunites Ruoti with Sam Tsoutsouvas, after their brilliant turn as a couple in PICT's 2009 production of Rock 'n' Roll, and with Christy, for whom she played Goneril in King Lear. Her other PICT credits include What the Butler Saw, Heartbreak House, A Woman of No Importance, Hamlet, and The Seagull.

Acclaimed Shakespearean actor Sam Tsoutsouvas plays the Roman general, torn between duty to Rome and an intense ambition to rule the world with Cleopatra. Tsoutsouvas recently completed a run in the Red Bull Theatre's hit production of The Witch of Edmonton. His extensive credits include Timon of Athens and Antony and Cleopatra at New York Shakespeare Festival, Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew (directed by Julie Taymor) at Theatre for a New Audience. Other Shakespeare roles include Hamlet, Hotspur, Coriolanus, Berowne, Benedick, Leontes, Brutus, Shylock, Macbeth, and Titus Andronicus. Tsoutsouvas' previous PICT credits include Pinter Celebration, Rock 'n' Roll, Heartbreak House, and the title role in Shakespeare's Henry IV.

Leo Marks returns to PICT to play the supremely political Octavius Caesar. The OBIE award-winning actor was company member in PICT's extraordinary Pinter Celebration last season, and he has appeared at some of the most respected theatres in the country, including South Coast Repertory, Actors Theater of Louisville, The Old Globe, and Intiman. He is a founding member of New York's acclaimed Elevator Repair Service.

Lauded Southern California-based actor James Sutorius makes his PICT debut as cynical warrior Enobarbus. Sutorius' Broadway credits include The Farnsworth Invention, Conversations with My Father, The Changing Room and The Cherry Orchard. His regional credits include Old Globe Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Repertory and Seattle Repertory Theatre.

Also featured in Antony & Cleopatra are David Berry, Ken Bolden (Julius Caesar), Dan Derks, Jarrod DiGiorgi (Pinter Celebration, The Lieutenant of Inishmore), James FitzGerald (Pride & Prejudice), Parag Gohel, Daina Michelle Griffith (Beautiful Dreamers), Daniel Krell (Beautiful Dreamers), Shammen McCune, Michael Mueller, Jim Platania, Sean Sears, Mark Staley (King Lear), Bria Walker, and Aaron White.

Scenery is designed by David P. Gordon (King Lear.), lighting by Cindy Limauro (Beautiful Dreamers, Pride & Prejudice, among others), and costumes by Jen Sturm. Sound design is by David Huber.

Antony & Cleopatra plays May 5th through the 21st in the Charity Randall Theatre, located at the Stephen Foster Memorial, 4301 Forbes Avenue on the University of Pittsburgh campus in Oakland. Tickets are $20 to $50 and are available by calling ProArtsTickets at 412.394.3353 or online at www.proartstickets.org.

Special student matinee performances are scheduled for May 4th and 10th at 10 a.m. Teachers who are interested in bringing student groups can call Gale McGloin at 412.561.6000 x204 or email gmcgloin@picttheatre.org.

Free preshow discussions are scheduled for Wednesday May 11th and Thursday May 12th at 7 p.m., and a post-show talk-back with the company is scheduled for Sunday, May 8th.

For more information, visit the PICT website at www.picttheatre.org.

The Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre was founded in 1996 to diversify the region's theatrical offerings by providing Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania audiences with high-quality, text-driven, affordable productions of classical theatre and the works of classical and contemporary Irish playwrights and to significantly improve employment opportunities for local talent in all facets of theatrical presentation and production. PICT is a Small Professional Theatre (SPT) affiliated with Actors' Equity Association, and a constituent member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. PICT is the Professional Theatre in Residence at the University of Pittsburgh and PICT Productions at the Charity Randall and Henry Heymann Theatres are presented in cooperation with the University of Pittsburgh - Department of Theatre Arts.