The Bridge Project’s Richard III starring Kevin Spacey to begin June 2011

Produced by The Old Vic, BAM and Neal Street

RICHARD III

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

DIRECTED BY SAM MENDES AND FEATURING KEVIN SPACEY IN THE TITLE ROLE

TO OPEN AT THE OLD VIC ON JUNE 29, 2011

TICKETS ON SALE JANUARY 31, 2011

The final season of The Bridge Project starring Kevin Spacey, Artistic Director of The Old Vic, in the title role of Richard III, will open at The Old Vic in London on June 29, 2011. The Bridge Project will then embark on an international tour, arriving at BAM’s Harvey Theater in New York in January 2012. The Bridge Project will again be directed by Academy Award-winner Sam Mendes with whom Spacey worked on the film American Beauty, for which they both won BAFTA and Academy Awards.

The Bridge Project is a unique three-year series of co-productions by The Old Vic, BAM and Neal Street, devoted to producing large-scale, classical theatre for international audiences.

The full company will again be drawn from leading American and British actors, with complete casting and international dates to be announced. Tickets will go on sale at The Old Vic from January 31, 2011 and at BAM in Fall 2011.

The Bridge Project concludes BAM engagement March 13

FINAL WEEK!  LIMITED ENGAGEMENT ENDS MARCH 13

Bank of America presents
THE BRIDGE PROJECT
Produced by Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Old Vic, & Neal Street

BAM engagement:
AS YOU LIKE IT playing though March 13th
THE TEMPEST playing though March 13th

By WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
DIRECTED BY SAM MENDES

“Both works (The Tempest & As You Like It) exude a generosity of spirit.” – Associated Press

The Bridge Project’s second season concludes its engagement at BAM on Saturday, March 13th at the BAM Harvey Theater.  The Bridge Project will next embark on an international tour visiting Asia and Europe before opening in London at The Old Vic in June 2010.

Following a critically acclaimed inaugural year, theater and Academy Award-winning film director Sam Mendes again directs a transatlantic company of actors for the second season of The Bridge Project, a unique three-year series of co-productions by BAM, The Old Vic, and Neal Street devoted to producing large-scale, classical theater for international audiences.

Year two features the intriguing double-bill pairing of Shakespeare’s witty pastoral comedy As You Like It and his late masterpiece The Tempest with another stellar British/American cast that includes Christian Camargo as Orlando and Ariel in As You Like It and The Tempest; Stephen Dillane as Jaques and Prospero; Ron Cephas Jones as Charles the Wrestler and Caliban; Alvin Epstein as Adam and Gonzalo; Juliet Rylance as Rosalind and Miranda; and Thomas Sadoski as Touchstone and Stephano; and Michelle Beck as Celia and Ceres.  Claire Béjanin is the international tour producer for The Bridge Project.

Tickets are on sale now for the The Bridge Project at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.  Tickets are available online at http://www.bam.org, by phone at (718)636-4100 or in person at the BAM box office (30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn NY).

# # # #

The Bridge Project’s THE TEMPEST reviewed by AP

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A generosity of spirit envelops ‘The Tempest’

By MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP Drama Critic

February 26, 2010

A circle of white sand occupies center stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater where Sam Mendes’ enchanting production of “The Tempest” is now on view.

This pristine beach represents the mystical island where Prospero, the deposed Duke of Milan, lives in rueful exile with his daughter Miranda. It’s an eerie, Eden-like environment that is perfectly captured in this Bridge Project production, running in rep (through March 13) with “As You Like It,” another of Shakespeare’s more fanciful plays.

Both works exude a generosity of spirit, but “The Tempest” especially is filled with a forgiveness that finds its most vivid expression in Prospero, played here by a shaggy, professorial Stephen Dillane. It’s lovely, understated performance, augmented with occasional flashes of anger when justice must be served.

Dillane has a deceptively easy way with Shakespeare’s verse, making it sound charmingly conversational. The more florid poetry is left to Ariel, the play’s ethereal creature, Ariel, the sprite who does Prospero’s bidding. Christian Camargo gives the role a sexually ambiguous spin, almost flirtatious in his willingness to win his freedom.

As Miranda, Juliet Rylance (a definitive Rosalind in “As You Like It”) reconfirms her talent at playing spirited Shakespeare heroines. Her scenes with Ferdinand (an ardent Edward Bennett) — moments of giddy romance — demonstrate why she is one of the best young classical actresses on either side of the Atlantic.

And that’s what the Bridge Project is all about: an amalgamation of actors from the United States and Great Britain under the direction of Mendes.

TO READ THE FULL REVIEW, CLICK HERE:  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/02/25/entertainment/e155301S70.DTL

 

The Bridge Project’s THE TEMPEST opens tomorrow Feb 25

THE TEMPEST OPENS TOMORROW THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25th!

Bank of America presents
THE BRIDGE PROJECT
Produced by Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Old Vic, & Neal Street

BAM engagement:
AS YOU LIKE IT currently playing
THE TEMPEST opens tomorrow, Thursday, February 25th
 
By WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
DIRECTED BY SAM MENDES

Season Two of The Bridge Project continues with The Tempest officially opening on Thursday, February 25th at the BAM Harvey Theater.

Following a critically acclaimed inaugural year, theater and Academy Award-winning film director Sam Mendes again directs a transatlantic company of actors for the second season of The Bridge Project, a unique three-year series of co-productions by BAM, The Old Vic, and Neal Street devoted to producing large-scale, classical theater for international audiences.

The Bridge Project again begins its international journey in New York, with As You Like It & The Tempest at the BAM Harvey Theater. It will then embark on an international tour visiting Asia and Europe before opening in London at The Old Vic in June 2010.

Year two features the intriguing double-bill pairing of Shakespeare’s witty pastoral comedy As You Like It and his late masterpiece The Tempest with another stellar British/American cast that includes Christian Camargo as Orlando and Ariel in As You Like It and The Tempest; Stephen Dillane as Jaques and Prospero; Ron Cephas Jones as Charles the Wrestler and Caliban; Alvin Epstein as Adam and Gonzalo; Juliet Rylance as Rosalind and Miranda; and Thomas Sadoski as Touchstone and Stephano; and Michelle Beck as Celia and Ceres.  Claire Béjanin is the international tour producer for The Bridge Project.

Tickets are on sale now for the initial engagement of The Bridge Project at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.  Tickets are available online at http://www.bam.org <http://www.bam.org/> , by phone at (718)636-4100 or in person at the BAM box office (30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn NY).

The complete acting company is as follows:  Ashlie Atkinson (Phoebe/Juno), Jenni Barber (Audrey/Iris), Michelle Beck (Celia/Ceres), Edward Bennett (Oliver/Ferdinand)*, Christian Camargo (Orlando/Ariel), Stephen Dillane (Jaques/Prospero)*, Alvin Epstein (Adam/Gonzalo), Jonathan Lincoln Fried (Le Beau/Alonso), Richard Hansell (Amiens/Sebastian)*,  Ron Cephas Jones (Charles the Wrestler/ Caliban), Aaron Krohn (Silvius/Adrian), Anthony O’Donnell (Corin/Trinculo)*, Juliet Rylance (Rosalind/Miranda)*, Thomas Sadoski (Touchstone/Stephano), Michael Thomas (Dukes Frederick and Senior/Antonio)*, Ross Waiton (Boatswain, Francisco, First Lord)* Production Stage Manager: Richard Clayton* Assistant Stage Manager:  Jenefer Tait* Assistant Stage Manager:  Sarah Ford.
 
*indicates British member of company
 
The British cast members are appearing with the permission of Actors’ Equity Association and the American cast members are appearing with the permission of UK Equity, incorporating Variety Artistes’ Federation, pursuant to an exchange program between American Equity and UK Equity. The Producers gratefully acknowledge Actors’ Equity Association and UK Equity for their assistance of these productions. Anne-Marie Duff, who was previously announced for the season, has had to withdraw due to illness in her family.

Creative team

Director                                  Sam Mendes
Set Designer                            Tom Piper
Costume Designer                   Catherine Zuber
Lighting                                  Paul Pyant
Sound                                     Simon Baker
Music                                      Mark Bennett
Choreography                         Josh Prince
Casting                                    Nancy Piccione and Maggie Lunn

BAM Engagement:
BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St)
Jan 12–Mar 13 (As You Like It)
Feb 14–Mar 13 (The Tempest)/ opening: Feb 25
Tickets: $35, 65, 85, 95
As You Like It: *$25, 55, 75, 85 *Jan 12-18, Tue-Thu only
The Tempest: *$25, 55, 75, 85 *Feb 16-25, Tue-Thu only

As You Like It performance schedule.
Mar 2-5 at 7:30pm
Mar 7 and 13 at 2 PM
March 6 at 2pm

The Tempest performance schedule. Note: opening Feb 25
Feb 23-28, Mar 6, Mar 9-12 at 7:30pm
Feb 28 at 2 PM
Mar 7, Mar 13 at 7:30 PM

The Old Vic engagement
June 12—August 21, 2010
 
International tour dates to be announced

The Bridge Project’s Rylance & Camargo in New Yorker

The Bridge Project is currently running at the Brooklyn Academy of Music where The Tempest opens officially on Thursday, February 25th.

NEW YORKER
March 1, 2010
 
TALK OF THE TOWN
“Alls Well”
By Rebecca Mead
 
Like many young women, Juliet Rylance, an English actor, imagined her wedding long before she identified her groom. “It was quite elaborate,” she said the other day. “It started with a very early dawn ritual at the Globe theatre.” (The Globe’s founding artistic director, the Shakespearean actor Mark Rylance, is Juliet’s stepfather.) “And then going over to Temple Church”—the twelfth-century church associated with London’s Inns of Court—“and getting married in the church,” she went on. “And then having a party in Middle Temple Hall. And then getting everybody in a boat, somehow, and sailing up to Oxford and staying in a barn, with lots of lights and candles, and everyone dancing. Camping out, fires. For a week.”
 
In the event, Rylance’s wedding was rather less theatrical: she and Christian Camargo, also an actor, were wed in November of 2008, at City Hall in New York. (Both are now appearing as part of the Bridge Project at BAM, in “As You Like It” and “The Tempest,” directed by Sam Mendes.) The other week, while sitting on a couch in their snug, well-curated apartment in Harlem, they explained that their courtship lasted a few months or thirteen years, depending on how you look at it. In 1997, during the Globe’s first season, Camargo appeared in an all-male production of “Henry V.” “I was the Dauphin, and then I came back as Isabelle, the French queen,” Camargo said. “I got to meet the real Queen of England dressed as the Queen of France. She said, ‘Oh, very nice dress, very nice dress.’ With the Queen, you are not allowed to speak, but if she asks you a question you are allowed to respond. I was like, ‘Really nice dress’—is that a question? And that is how I met Juliet—not in the dress but at the Globe.”
 
“I was eighteen, and he was twenty-six,” Rylance, who has short blond hair and a throaty voice, said. “I remember having a crush on him for about three days, and then he just became goofy old Christian.”
 
“I lasted three days!” Camargo, who is tall and slender, with floppy dark hair, said.
 
Rylance and Camargo reconnected in London in March of 2008. “He said, ‘If you are going to be in New York, let me know, because I am there a lot,’ ” Rylance said. “So I called and said, ‘I am going to be in New York on May 2nd.’ ”
 
Camargo, who lived on the West Coast, moved into gear. “So I called up a friend who has this amazing apartment down on Jane Street, and she happened to be out of town,” he recalled. “It was not a shag pad. But Juliet loves it down in the West Village.”
 
“We went to dinner at Pastis,” Rylance said. “And we spent the whole weekend together.”
 
That summer, Rylance was in London, appearing in “Romeo and Juliet” at Middle Temple Hall, while Camargo was appearing on Broadway in “All My Sons.” “He called and said, ‘I got this apartment, come and stay for a month,’ ” Rylance said. “So I came, and at the end of the month he proposed.” She squeezed Camargo’s arm. “You actually proposed about three different times until you got it right,” she said. “We were having dinner at Gennaro’s, and you said, ‘Obviously, if you are going to stay, you are going to need to work, so you will need a green card, so shall we get married?’ And I said, ‘I am not getting married for a green card.’ So you went quiet for a bit, and said, ‘This is the only way I am ever going to get married, so just say yes.’ ”
 
“That was strike one,” Camargo said.
 
“I said, ‘O.K., I will consider it, but only if you actually propose,’ ” Rylance said. “So about a week later he rolled me up a tinfoil ring.”
 
“That didn’t go over so well,” Camargo said.
 
“That was better,” Rylance said. “And then, finally, he called my dad—my real dad, in London—who flew over with my grandmother’s engagement ring.”
 
“I can’t remember how I gave it to you,” Camargo said.
 
“You kind of proposed and then flung it across the couch,” Rylance said.
 
They got married on the closing night of “All My Sons,” and at the after-party two of Camargo’s co-stars, John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest, sang a wedding song.
 
TO READ THE ENTIRE STORY CLICK HERE:
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2010/03/01/100301ta_talk_mead

For the most up to date press releases visit us at https://bbbblogger.wordpress.com 

# # # #

 

The Bridge Project’s THE TEMPEST begins previews Feb 14

THE TEMPEST BEGINS PREVIEWS SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14^th!

Bank of America presents

THE BRIDGE PROJECT

Produced by Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Old Vic, & Neal Street

BAM engagement:

AS YOU LIKE IT currently playing

THE TEMPEST begins previews February 14^th

By WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

DIRECTED BY SAM MENDES

Season Two of The Bridge Project continues with The Tempest beginning previews on Sunday, February 14^th at the BAM Harvey Theater.

Following a critically acclaimed inaugural year, theater and Academy Award-winning film director Sam Mendes again directs a transatlantic company of actors for the second season of The Bridge Project, a unique three-year series of co-productions by BAM, The Old Vic, and Neal Street devoted to producing large-scale, classical theater for international audiences.

The Bridge Project again begins its international journey in New York, with As You Like It followed by The Tempest at the BAM Harvey Theater. It will then embark on an international tour visiting Asia and Europe before opening in London at The Old Vic in June 2010.

Year two features the intriguing double-bill pairing of Shakespeare’s witty pastoral comedy As You Like It and his late masterpiece The Tempest with another stellar British/American cast that includes Christian Camargo as Orlando and Ariel in As You Like It and The Tempest; Stephen Dillane as Jaques and Prospero; Ron Cephas Jones as Charles the Wrestler and Caliban; Alvin Epstein as Adam and Gonzalo; Juliet Rylance as Rosalind and Miranda; and Thomas Sadoski as Touchstone and Stephano; and Michelle Beck as Celia and Ceres.  Claire Béjanin is the international tour producer for The Bridge Project.

Tickets are on sale now for the initial engagement of The Bridge Project at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.  Tickets are available online at www.bam.org, by phone at (718)636-4100 or in person at the BAM box office (30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn NY).

The complete acting company is as follows:  Ashlie Atkinson (Phoebe/Juno), Jenni Barber (Audrey/Iris), Michelle Beck (Celia/Ceres), Edward Bennett (Oliver/Ferdinand)*, Christian Camargo (Orlando/Ariel), Stephen Dillane (Jaques/Prospero)*, Alvin Epstein (Adam/Gonzalo), Jonathan Lincoln Fried (Le Beau/Alonso), Richard Hansell (Amiens/Sebastian)*,  Ron Cephas Jones (Charles the Wrestler/  Caliban), Aaron Krohn (Silvius/Adrian), Anthony O’Donnell (Corin/Trinculo)*, Juliet Rylance (Rosalind/Miranda)*, Thomas Sadoski (Touchstone/Stephano), Michael Thomas (Dukes Frederick and Senior/Antonio)*, Ross Waiton (Boatswain, Francisco, First Lord)* Production Stage Manager:  Richard Clayton* Assistant Stage Manager:  Jenefer Tait* Assistant Stage Manager:  Sarah Ford.

*indicates British member of company

The British cast members are appearing with the permission of Actors’ Equity Association and the American cast members are appearing with the permission of UK Equity, incorporating Variety Artistes’ Federation, pursuant to an exchange program between American Equity and UK Equity. The Producers gratefully acknowledge Actors’ Equity Association and UK Equity for their assistance of these productions. Anne-Marie Duff, who was previously announced for the season, has had to withdraw due to illness in her family.

Creative team

Director                                   Sam Mendes

Set Designer                             Tom Piper

Costume Designer                    Catherine Zuber

Lighting                                   Paul Pyant

Sound                                      Simon Baker

Music                                       Mark Bennett

Choreography                          Josh Prince

Casting                                     Nancy Piccione and Maggie Lunn

BAM Engagement:

BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St)

Jan 12–Mar 13 (As You Like It)/ opening: Jan 26

Feb 14–Mar 13 (The Tempest)/ opening: Feb 25

Tickets: $35, 65, 85, 95

As You Like It: *$25, 55, 75, 85 *Jan 12-18, Tue-Thu only

The Tempest: *$25, 55, 75, 85 *Feb 16-25, Tue-Thu only

As You Like It performance schedule.

Mar 2-5 at 7:30pm

Mar 7 and 13 at 2 PM

March 6 at 2pm

The Tempest performance schedule. Note: opening Feb 25

Feb 14, Feb 16-17*, Feb 18-21, Feb 23-28, Mar 6, Mar 9-12 at 7:30pm

Feb 28 at 2 PM

Mar 7, Mar 13 at 7:30 PM

*Spring Gala: BAM Patron Celebration

The Old Vic engagement

June 12—August 21, 2010

International tour dates to be announced

PRESS CONTACTS

BAM/exclusive U.S. engagement

Boneau/Bryan-Brown

Adrian Bryan-Brown, Jackie Green, Jessica Johnson

jgreen@bbbway.com, (212) 575-3030

The Old Vic and International Tour

Jo Allan

jo@joallan.co.uk / +44 207 243 6176 (o), +44 7889 905 850 (c)

http://www.boneaubryanbrown.com/TheBridgeProject.htm

Hear The Bridge Project on WNYC Radio

HEAR THE BRIDGE PROJECT on WNYC RADIO’s
LEONARD LOPATE SHOW

Christian Camargo, Juliet Rylance and Thomas Sadoski guests today

Christian Camargo, Juliet Rylance and Thomas Sadoski, three principals in The Bridge’s Project’s productions of AS YOU LIKE IT and THE TEMPEST were guests on WNYC Radio’s Leonard Lopate Show today.  
 
Hear their interview at the following link: WNYC – The Leonard Lopate Show: As You Like It (February 11, 2010) <http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;source=web&amp;ct=res&amp;cd=2&amp;ved=0CAkQFjAB&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wnyc.org%2Fshows%2Flopate%2Fepisodes%2F2010%2F02%2F11%2Fsegments%2F149885&amp;rct=j&amp;q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wnyc.org%2Fshows%2Flopate%2Fepisodes%2F>

Following a critically acclaimed inaugural year, theatre and Academy Award-winning film director Sam Mendes directs the transatlantic company of actors for the second season of The Bridge Project, a unique three-year series of co-productions by The Old Vic, BAM and Neal Street devoted to producing large-scale, classical theatre for international audiences.   
 
In AS YOU LIKE IT and THE TEMPEST, the actors play the following roles respectively, Christian Camargo (Orlando/Ariel), Juliet Rylance* (Rosalind/Miranda), Thomas Sadoski (Touchstone/Stephano).

The Bridge Project began its international journey in New York with the January opening of AS YOU LIKE IT;  THE TEMPEST begins performances on February 14 and opens on February 25. The Bridge Project is co-commissioned by and produced in association with Athens & Epidaurus Festival, Holland Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Singapore Repertory Theatre and Théâtre Marigny-Paris.
 
*indicates British cast member

British cast members are appearing with the permission of Actors’ Equity Association and the American cast members are appearing with the permission of UK Equity, incorporating Variety Artistes’ Federation, pursuant to an exchange program between American Equity and UK Equity. The Producers gratefully acknowledge Actors’ Equity Association and UK Equity for their assistance of these productions.

http://www.boneaubryanbrown.com/TheBridgeProject.htm 

# # # # 

“The Bridge Project on WNYC Radio Today at Noon”

THE BRIDGE PROJECT on WNYC RADIO’s
LEONARD LOPATE SHOW TODAY

Christian Camargo, Juliet Rylance and Thomas Sadoski guests
at Noon on 820 AM/93.9 FM

Christian Camargo, Juliet Rylance and Thomas Sadoski, three principals in The Bridge’s Project’s productions of AS YOU LIKE IT and THE TEMPEST will be guests on WNYC Radio’s Leonard Lopate Show today at Noon. The show is broadcast on 820 AM and 93.9 FM and can be heard on http://www.wnyc.org <http://www.wnyc.org> .
 
Following a critically acclaimed inaugural year, theatre and Academy Award-winning film director Sam Mendes directs the transatlantic company of actors for the second season of The Bridge Project, a unique three-year series of co-productions by The Old Vic, BAM and Neal Street devoted to producing large-scale, classical theatre for international audiences.   

In AS YOU LIKE IT and THE TEMPEST, the actors play the following roles respectively, Christian Camargo (Orlando/Ariel), Juliet Rylance* (Rosalind/Miranda), Thomas Sadoski (Touchstone/Stephano).

The Bridge Project began its international journey in New York with the January opening of AS YOU LIKE IT;   THE TEMPEST begins performances on February 14 and opens on February 25.

The Bridge Project is co-commissioned by and produced in association with Athens & Epidaurus Festival, Holland Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Singapore Repertory Theatre and Théâtre Marigny-Paris.
 
*indicates British cast member

British cast members are appearing with the permission of Actors’ Equity Association and the American cast members are appearing with the permission of UK Equity, incorporating Variety Artistes’ Federation, pursuant to an exchange program between American Equity and UK Equity. The Producers gratefully acknowledge Actors’ Equity Association and UK Equity for their assistance of these productions.

http://www.boneaubryanbrown.com/TheBridgeProject.htm 

* * * 

The Bridge Project’s AS YOU LIKE IT reviewed by AP

ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
Wintry ‘As You Like It’ finds warmth in Juliet Rylance, a spirited Rosalind
By MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP Drama Critic
January 27, 2010

 

Wear a sweater. Who knew the Forest of Arden, the setting for much of Shakespeare’s bucolic “As You Like It,” could be so chilly?
But that’s the take director Sam Mendes has chosen for The Bridge Project’s brooding yet effective revival of the Bard’s romantic comedy, now on view at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater.

The play may have plenty of laughs, but “As You Like It” is also a tale of separation: the gulf between parent and child, brother and brother and, most importantly, its two young lovers. And Mendes, director of such films as “American Beauty” and “Revolutionary Road,” has found the darker elements in a play usually awash in sunnier production values.

What softens Mendes’ wintery ideas (including a forest of bare trees by set designer Tom Piper) is the warm, thoroughly entrancing presence of Juliet Rylance, who plays Rosalind. She is one of Shakespeare’s most spirited heroines, and the actress is a delight, whether swooning over a surprisingly gloomy Orlando or scampering about in male drag as an adventurer named Ganymede.

Rosalind is banished to Arden after her usurping uncle takes over from her exiled father. Yet for her cross-dressing, woodland adventure, Rosalind gets a companion, her cousin Celia, an equally lively young woman played by Michelle Beck.

Christian Camargo’s Orlando is severely moonstruck, yet there is a touch of melancholy to his performance, a man adrift until he finally is reunited with his true love.

But Orlando is edged out in the sadness department by Jacques, the courtier entrusted with one of Shakespeare’s most famous speeches: His recitation of the “Seven Ages of Man,” which begins with “all the world’s a stage.” A superb Stephen Dillane delivers this exquisite meditation on life with a disquieting matter-of-factness that makes it all the more touching.

TO READ THE FULL STORY CLICK HERE:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5iU3OkAu9qRfJSLCHrwSbNdkbjqSw 

# # # #

The Bridge Project’s AS YOU LIKE IT opens tonight 1/26

“AS YOU LIKE IT” OPENS TONIGHT!

Bank of America presents
THE BRIDGE PROJECT
Produced by Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Old Vic, & Neal Street

BAM engagement:
AS YOU LIKE IT opens tonight January 26th
THE TEMPEST begins previews February 14th
By WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
DIRECTED BY SAM MENDES

Season Two of The Bridge Project opens tonight January 26th with As You Like It at the BAM Harvey Theater.

Following a critically acclaimed inaugural year, theater and Academy Award-winning film director Sam Mendes again directs a transatlantic company of actors for the second season of The Bridge Project, a unique three-year series of co-productions by BAM, The Old Vic, and Neal Street devoted to producing large-scale, classical theater for international audiences.

The Bridge Project again begins its international journey in New York, with As You Like It followed by The Tempest at the BAM Harvey Theater. It will then embark on an international tour visiting Asia and Europe before opening in London at The Old Vic in June 2010.

Year two features the intriguing double-bill pairing of Shakespeare’s witty pastoral comedy As You Like It and his late masterpiece The Tempest with another stellar British/American cast that includes Christian Camargo as Orlando and Ariel in As You Like It and The Tempest; Stephen Dillane as Jaques and Prospero; Ron Cephas Jones as Charles the Wrestler and Caliban; Alvin Epstein as Adam and Gonzalo; Juliet Rylance as Rosalind and Miranda; and Thomas Sadoski as Touchstone and Stephano; and Michelle Beck as Celia and Ceres.  Claire Béjanin is the international tour producer for The Bridge Project.

Tickets are on sale now for the initial engagement of The Bridge Project at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.  Tickets are available online at http://www.bam.org <http://www.bam.org/> , by phone at (718)636-4100 or in person at the BAM box office (30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn NY).

The complete acting company is as follows:  Ashlie Atkinson (Phoebe/Juno), Jenni Barber (Audrey/Iris), Michelle Beck (Celia/Ceres), Edward Bennett (Oliver/Ferdinand)*, Christian Camargo (Orlando/Ariel), Stephen Dillane (Jaques/Prospero)*, Alvin Epstein (Adam/Gonzalo), Jonathan Lincoln Fried (Le Beau/Alonso), Richard Hansell (Amiens/Sebastian)*,  Ron Cephas Jones (Charles the Wrestler/  Caliban), Aaron Krohn (Silvius/Adrian), Anthony O’Donnell (Corin/Trinculo)*, Juliet Rylance (Rosalind/Miranda)*, Thomas Sadoski (Touchstone/Stephano), Michael Thomas (Dukes Frederick and Senior/Antonio)*, Ross Waiton (Boatswain, Francisco, First Lord)* Production Stage Manager: Richard Clayton* Assistant Stage Manager:  Jenefer Tait* Assistant Stage Manager:  Sarah Ford.
 
*indicates British member of company
 
The British cast members are appearing with the permission of Actors’ Equity Association and the American cast members are appearing with the permission of UK Equity, incorporating Variety Artistes’ Federation, pursuant to an exchange program between American Equity and UK Equity. The Producers gratefully acknowledge Actors’ Equity Association and UK Equity for their assistance of these productions. Anne-Marie Duff, who was previously announced for the season, has had to withdraw due to illness in her family.

Creative team
Director                                  Sam Mendes
Set Designer                            Tom Piper
Costume Designer                   Catherine Zuber
Lighting                                  Paul Pyant
Sound                                     Simon Baker
Music                                      Mark Bennett
Choreography                         Josh Prince
Casting                                    Nancy Piccione and Maggie Lunn

BAM Engagement:
BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St)
Jan 12–Mar 13 (As You Like It)/ opening: Jan 26
Feb 14–Mar 13 (The Tempest)/ opening: Feb 25
Tickets: $35, 65, 85, 95
As You Like It: *$25, 55, 75, 85 *Jan 12-18, Tue-Thu only
The Tempest: *$25, 55, 75, 85 *Feb 16-25, Tue-Thu only

As You Like It performance schedule. Note: opening Jan 26
Jan 12-17, Jan 19-23, Jan 26-30, Feb 2-6, Mar 2-5 at 7:30pm
Mar 7 and 13 at 2 PM
Jan 24, Jan 31, Feb 7 at 3pm
March 6 at 2pm

The Tempest performance schedule. Note: opening Feb 25
Feb 14, Feb 16-17*, Feb 18-21, Feb 23-28, Mar 6, Mar 9-12 at 7:30pm
Feb 28 at 2 PM
Mar 7, Mar 13 at 7:30 PM
*Spring Gala: BAM Patron Celebration

The Old Vic engagement
June 12—August 21, 2010
 
International tour dates to be announced

# # # #