We are proud to announce that our production of Ohio State Murders, called “one of the top ten Off-Broadway shows of 2007” by The New York Times, has been nominated for two Lucille Lortel awards!

Ohio State Murders, by Adrienne Kennedy and directed by Evan Yionoulis, was nominated for Outstanding Revival, and LisaGay Hamilton received a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress. Congratulations to the entire company!

The 2008 Lucille Lortel Awards will take place on May 5, 2008 at the Union Square Theatre.

Above: Cherise Booth(l) and Lucille Lortel Award Nominee LisaGay Hamilton in Ohio State Murders. Photo by Gerry Goodstein.

Now through May 2, see one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, Antony and Cleopatra, playing at The Duke on 42nd Street.

Under the direction of Darko Tresnjak, Laila Robins (Cleopatra) “has all the right gifts for the role,” and Marton Csokas (Antony) has a “dexterous grasp of the language.” says The New York Times. The Star-Ledger calls it an “Intriguing” production.

For tickets and information, visit http://duke.new42.org/ or call Ticket Services at (646) 223-3010.

Above left: John Douglas Thompson as Enobarbus.
Above right: Marton Csokas and Laila Robins as Antony and Cleopatra. Photos by Gerry Goodstein.

On Monday, April 1, friends and supporters gathered at Etcetra Etcetra Restaurant to meet award-winning director Darko Tresnjak and hear about his vision for Antony and Cleopatra. Founding Artistic Director Jeffrey Horowitz led a Q&A which provided insight into the production and history of the play.

Following a delicious meal, guests headed to The Duke on 42nd Street for a preview performance of the stunning production. For more photos from the event, click here. 
 

Above left: Brooklyn friends Zsuzsanna Karasz and Greg and Liza Taylor.
Above right: Director Darko Tresnjak with Joshua Pearson.

Amy Arbus is a New York City-based photographer and author of several photo books. Her most recent, “The Fourth Wall” (2008), features actors from recent Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, remaining in costume and in character as they step outside the fiction of the play and into the reality of the world beyond. Ms. Arbus has photographed many of Theatre for a New Audience’s productions and some are featured in the book, including Bill Camp and Laila Robins in Sore Throats (2006), Mark Rylance, Edward Hogg, and Peter Shorey in Measure for Measure (2005), and Michael Gotch in Švejk (2004). Photographs from the book are currently on view at The Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery at The Walter Reade Theater, through April 30.

Ms. Arbus is a contributing photographer to New York Magazine’s theater section. Her photographs have appeared in over 200 periodicals around the world, including The New Yorker, Aperture, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times Magazine. She has exhibited worldwide, and her photographs are a part of the collection at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Ms. Arbus’ other books include “On the Street” (2006), “The Inconvenience of Being Born” (1999) and “No Place Like Home” (1986).

Brooklyn’s Dreamers, a growing group of engaged and enthusiastic New Yorkers who are paving the way for Theatre for a New Audience’s move to Brooklyn, enjoyed a recent Sunday matinee performance of Antony and Cleopatra, followed by a private party with members of the cast.

For more photos, click here.
  

Above left: Actor Laila Robins with Dreamer Debra Kresh-Garcia and friend Terri Brandmueller.
Above right: Actor Michael Rogers, who plays Alexas, with guest Taylor Beidler.

Mark your calendars! On Wednesday, June 18, Brooklyn’s Dreamers will take on Fort Greene, Brooklyn, for a fun and fabulous roof deck party at the Forté Condos, overlooking the site of Theatre for a New Audience’s future home. Visit our website for more information in the coming weeks!

www.tfana.org/brooklynsdreamers

From left: George Morfogen with Kate Forbes in All’s Well That Ends Well, 2006; Laila Robins in her award-nominated performance in Sore Throats, 2006; John Douglas Thompson, Toi Perkins, and Christen Simon in Oroonoko. 

New York’s Off-Broadway community is surprisingly close-knit, with actors, designers, directors, and producers working together to produce theatre in many different roles over years, and sometimes decades.

In its 28 seasons, Theatre for a New Audience has worked with myriad artists, and our upcoming production of Antony and Cleopatra will include many of those long-time collaborators. Director Darko Tresnjak returns after staging last year’s acclaimed The Merchant of Venice with F. Murray Abraham. He also directed our 2006 production of All’s Well That Ends Well.

Laila Robins, who plays Cleopatra, returns after playing Judy in the 2006 production, Sore Throats. Her performance earned her a nomination for a 2007 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress.

Other returning performers include Greg Derelian (Oliver Twist, Oroonoko), George Morfogen (All’s Well That Ends Well), Michael Rogers (Julius Caesar, Troilus and Cressida, King John, The Comedy of Errors, Othello), Matthew Schneck (The Merchant of Venice, The Jew of Malta), Christen Simon (The Merchant of Venice, The Jew of Malta, Oroonoko), John Douglas Thompson (Oroonoko), and Lisa Velten Smith (All’s Well That Ends Well).

Antony and Cleopatra opens for previews at The Duke on 42nd Street on March 22.  Visit http://duke.new42.org for tickets and show information.

You’re invited to an exclusive behind-the-scenes event: see a matinee performance of Antony and Cleopatra at The Duke on 42nd Street, then join Brooklyn’s Dreamers for an exclusive after-party with members of the cast. Enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, and converse one-on-one with the fantastic performers that bring Shakespeare’s Rome and Egypt to life.

Sunday, April 6, 3:00pm

Visit www.tfana.org/brooklynsdreamers for tickets and more information.

Darko Tresnjak, director of last season’s acclaimed production of The Merchant of Venice, returns this season to direct Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. 

The theme of Theatre for a New Audience’s season is “Africa, Europe, America: Exploring the Connections,” and Mr. Tresnjak’s production sets the drama in the late 19th century, when Italy viewed Africa as a prize for conquest—much as Ancient Rome did Egypt.

Born in Zemun, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), Mr. Tresnjak emigrated to the United States at the age of 10. He studied English Literature at Swarthmore College and went on to earn his M.F.A. in Directing from Columbia University. Since then, he has directed at many venues and festivals, and has won many awards for his work. He was recently appointed Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.

For Theatre for a New Audience, he has staged All’s Well that Ends Well (2006) and The Merchant of Venice, which opened in New York City and then toured to Stratford-upon-Avon to play in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Complete Works Festival – a Festival in which every word of the Bard was performed over one year by theatre companies from all over the world.

On April 14, in our final installment of this season’s Literary Supplement, we will read The Swamp Dwellers by the Nobel Prize-winning Nigerian novelist, poet and playwright Wole Soyinka (1934 – ). 

A taut, mordant drama that reworks the parable of the Prodigal Son’s return, The Swamp Dwellers has often been seen as an allegory of the conflicting forces at work in Africa today. Celebrated here as the author of such plays as Kongi’s Harvest and Death and the King’s Horsemen, Soyinka has himself been a notable spokesman for peace in resolving Africa’s conflicts, at times suffering political imprisonment or exile for his views. He is one of the formative figures in modern African literature.

The Literary Supplement series will be held at The Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerce Street, New York, NY.

For reservations or more information please call 212-229-2819 x10.