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October 24, 2007
SIGNATURE THEATRE COMPANY
ANNOUNCES
MERCEDES RUEHL
WILL APPEAR IN THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
EDWARD ALBEE'S OCCUPANT
DIRECTED BY PAM MacKINNON
MAY 6-JUNE 29, 2008
SIGNATURE THEATRE COMPANY (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) announces that Tony® and Academy Award®-winning actress Mercedes Ruehl will appear in the world premiere of EDWARD ALBEE'S OCCUPANT directed by Pam MacKinnon. Mr. Albee was Signature's 1993-1994 Playwright-in-Residence. EDWARD ALBEE'S OCCUPANT begins performances on May 6, 2008 and continues through June 29 at The Peter Norton Space located at 555 West 42nd Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues). Opening Night is May 29.
Signature Theatre Company caps off its 2007-2008 season with a Legacy Production as part of its Signature Series, in which former Playwrights-in-Residence return to revisit their landmark works. Originally produced at Signature in 2002 in a limited engagement, EDWARD ALBEE'S OCCUPANT is a portrait of acclaimed sculptor Louise Nevelson and a quest to capture a charismatic and complex artist and persona. What is the relationship between creator and creation? Who was Louise Nevelson? Only she knew.
Additional casting and creative team information for EDWARD ALBEE'S OCCUPANT will be announced at a later date. Tickets will go on sale in early March.
Through The Signature Ticket Initiative, which seeks to make great theatre accessible to the broadest possible audience, all regularly-priced single tickets ($65) are available for $20 during the regular runs of each production for the entire season and continues through Signature's 20th Anniversary Season (2010-2011).
The Signature Ticket Initiative is made possible by the lead sponsorship of Time Warner, Inc. Generous support for The Signature Ticket Initiative is provided by Margot Adams, in memory of Mason Adams. EDWARD ALBEE'S OCCUPANT is supported, in part, by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional funding for EDWARD ALBEE'S OCCUPANT is provided by the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.
BIOGRAPHIES
MERCEDES RUEHL (Louise Nevelson) last appeared on stage in Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (Drama Desk Award, Tony Award nomination). Her other stage credits include The Marriage of Bette and Boo (OBIE Award), Lost in Yonkers (Tony Award), and the one-woman play Woman Before a Glass (OBIE Award). Her many film credits include The Fisher King (Academy Award, Golden Globe Award), Married to the Mob, Big, Last Action Hero, What's Cookin', More Dogs Than Bones, Another You, Heartburn, The Warriors, Four Friends, Radio Days, 84 Charing Cross Road, Leader of the Band, The Secret of My Success, Slaves of New York, and Crazy People. Her television credits include "Mom at Sixteen" (Lifetime), "Bad Apple" (TNT), "Guilty by Association" (Court TV), "Widows"(ABC), "Mary Kay Letourneau: The All American Girl" (USA); the HBO original movies "Gia," "Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground," and "Indictment: The McMartin Trial;" as well as a recurring guest role as station manager Kate Costas on "Frasier."
EDWARD ALBEE (2007-2008 Legacy Playwright; 1993-1994 Playwright-in-Residence) was born on March 12, 1928, and began writing plays 30 years later. His plays include The Zoo Story (1958), The Death of Bessie Smith (1959), The Sandbox (1959), The American Dream (1960), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1961-62, Tony Award), Tiny Alice (1964), A Delicate Balance (1966, Pulitzer Prize; 1996, Tony Award), All Over (1971), Seascape (1974, Pulitzer Prize), Listening (1975), Counting the Ways (1975), The Lady from Dubuque (1977-78), The Man Who Had Three Arms (1981), Finding the Sun (1982), Marriage Play (1986-87), Three Tall Women (1991, Pulitzer Prize), Fragments (1993), The Play About the Baby (1997), The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (2000, 2002 Tony Award), Occupant (2001), Peter and Jerry (Act 1, Homelife; Act 2, The Zoo Story) (2004), and Me, Myself and I (2007). He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council, and President of The Edward F. Albee Foundation. Mr. Albee was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980. In 1996 he received the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts. In 2005, he was awarded a special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.
PAM MacKINNON (Director) is currently represented Off-Broadway by Edward Albee's Peter and Jerry (Second Stage). She recently directed Bruce Norris' The Unmentionables (Woolly Mammoth), John Fugelsang's All the Wrong Reasons (NYTW), Itamar Moses' Bach at Leipzig (NYTW) and The Four of Us (The Old Globe), David Mamet's Romance (Goodman Theatre). She directed Edward Albee's The Play About the Baby (Philadelphia Theater Company, Goodman Theatre), The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (Alley Theater, Vienna's English Theatre), and the world premiere of Peter and Jerry (Hartford Stage). Later this season she will direct Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's Good Boys and True (Steppenwolf Theatre), and Itamar Moses' The Four of Us (MTC). Pam is an Affiliated Artist with the downtown company Clubbed Thumb.
SIGNATURE THEATRE COMPANY (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) Signature Theatre Company, founded in 1991 by James Houghton, exists to honor and celebrate the playwright. Signature makes an extended commitment to a playwright's body of work, and during this journey, the writer is engaged in every aspect of the creative process. For the past 16 years, the Company has devoted an entire season to the work of a single playwright, including re-examinations of past writings as well as New York and world premieres. By championing in-depth explorations of a living playwright's body of work, the Company delivers an intimate and immersive journey into the playwright's singular vision.
Signature has presented entire seasons of the work of Edward Albee, Lee Blessing, Horton Foote, Adrienne Kennedy, Maria Irene Fornes, John Guare, Bill Irwin, Romulus Linney, Arthur Miller, Sam Shepard, Paula Vogel, August Wilson, and Lanford Wilson. Signature remains deeply committed to these season-long residencies, and during the company's tenth and fifteenth anniversaries, Signature introduced an additional residency, the Legacy Program. The Legacy Program invites past Playwrights-in-Residence back to Signature through two series: the Signature Series, which presents "signature," or more well-known works; and the Premiere Series, which presents New York and world premieres.
Since 2005, Signature has been committed to presenting world-class theatre at an affordable price through The Signature Ticket Initiative, which will offer subsidized $20 tickets through the Company's twentieth anniversary season in 2011. The seventeenth through twentieth seasons will include the work of Charles Mee, The Negro Ensemble Company, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Tony Kushner, as well plays by Edward Albee and other past Playwrights-in-Residence as part of Signature's Legacy Program. Signature, its productions and its resident writers have been recognized with a Pulitzer Prize, 20 Lucille Lortel Awards, seven OBIE Awards, eight Drama Desk Awards, 10 Drama League Awards, and six AUDELCO Awards among many other distinctions. The National Theatre Conference recognized the company as the 2003 Outstanding National Theatre of the Year.
ALSO THIS SEASON AT SIGNATURE THEATRE COMPANY
PARADISE PARK by Charles Mee (World Premiere)
February 12-April 6, 2008, Opens March 2, 2008
Directed by Daniel Fish
Welcome to Paradise Park, an amusement park that opens up into all of America and beyond. Meet the inhabitants of this bizarre carnival of life, including a ventriloquist, his dummy, and a teenage girl on the run. From Futureworld to Londonland, the Grand Canyon to Fred's Polynesian Dive Shop, step right up to this wild ride of fruit cake tosses, underwater ballets, square dances, and star gazing, too.
EDWARD ALBEE'S OCCUPANT
by 1993-94 Playwright-in-Residence Edward Albee
May 6-June 29, 2008, Opens May 29, 2008
Signature caps off its 2007-2008 season with a Legacy Production as part of its Signature Series, in which former Playwrights-in-Residence return to revisit their landmark works. Originally produced at Signature in 2002, in a limited engagement, Edward Albee's Occupant is a portrait of acclaimed sculptor Louise Nevelson-a quest to capture a charismatic and complex artist and persona. What is the relationship between creator and creation? Who was Louise Nevelson? Only she knew.
UPCOMING SEASONS
Signature's 2008-2009 Season will be an examination of a body of work from The Negro Ensemble Company's collective of writers, whose contributions have helped shape America's theatrical heritage. Ruben Santiago-Hudson will be the Associate Artist for the season.
Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks (Venus, Topdog/Underdog), who turns American history on its head with her bold and lyrical riffs on race, literature and politics, will be Signature's Playwright-in-Residence for the 2009-2010 Season.
Signature's 20th Anniversary season (2010-2011) will conclude with Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner (Angels in America; Caroline, or Change), one of the most celebrated and renowned contemporary writers of his generation.
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Signature productions and programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
This event is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.
Special thanks for The Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for supporting the development of new American plays at Signature Theatre Company.
Contact:
Chris Boneau / Steven Padla (212) 575-3030, spadla@bbbway.com
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