| RED BULL THEATER presents A KING AND NO KING directed by José Zayas featuring Robert Cuccioli, Chukwudi Iwuji, Socorro Santiago and more on Mon Dec 14 | |
| Last Edit: Official_Press_Release 01:52 pm EST 12/02/20 | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 01:49 pm EST 12/02/20 | |
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| "A dynamic producer of classic plays" - Ben Brantley, The New York Times "The most exciting classical theater in New York" - Time Out NY RED BULL THEATER Presents A Benefit Reading of A KING AND NO KING by Francis Beaumont & John Fletcher Directed by José Zayas Featuring Rajesh Bose, Robert Cuccioli, Edmund Donovan, Franchelle Stewart Dorn, Topher Embrey, Chukwudi Iwuji, Teresa Avia Lim, Cara Ricketts, Socorro Santiago, Reagan Tankersly, Craig Wallace, and CJ Wilson Monday, December 14th at 7:30PM EST RED BULL THEATER (Jesse Berger, Founder and Artistic Director | Jim Bredeson, Managing Director) today announced that its fall offerings will continue with a benefit reading of A King and No King by Francis Beaumont & John Fletcher, directed by José Zayas and featuring Rajesh Bose, Robert Cuccioli, Edmund Donovan, Franchelle Stewart Dorn, Topher Embrey, Chukwudi Iwuji, Teresa Avia Lim, Cara Ricketts, Socorro Santiago, Reagan Tankersly, Craig Wallace, and CJ Wilson, on Monday December 14th at 7:30 PM EDT. "One of my personal favorite house playwrights for Red Bull is actually two playwrights -- the much talked about but rarely performed duo of Beaumont & Fletcher, who together quilled some of the most delightful and surprising plays of the Shakespearean era. Alongside the natural pleasures of a surprisingly funny tragedy, A King and No King also offers some particularly piquant allegory for this time of transition from one administration to the next. With a wildly wonderful cast under the top-notch direction of José Zayas, I think we're all in for a wonderful holiday treat - the kind of festive play only the Jacobeans can offer!," said Artistic Director Berger. Absolute power corrupts absolutely in this delicious Jacobean tragicomedy. Arbaces, the King of Iberia, conquers Tigranes, King of Armenia, and offers him noble treatment -- and his sister, Panthea, for a wife. But it's been awhile since Arbaces has seen Panthea, and when he does, he is seized with incestuous passion. Arbaces resists this forbidden love with all his might -- until Panthea professes she loves him too! But now, what to do about Tigranes? This event will premiere LIVE at 7:30 PM EDT on Monday, December 14th. A recording of the livestream will be available until 7PM EDT on Friday, December 18th - then it disappears forever. This is a free event, but advance reservations are recommended. Make a tax-deductible donation today to support Red Bull and invest in the vitality of classical theater for a contemporary audience. Red Bull Theater is committed to continuing connection during this historic time. Your support will help make that possible. A donation of $25 or more per viewer is suggested. O n Thursday December 17th at 7:30 PM EDT, there will be a free post-performance Bull Session, an interactive discussion of the play and its themes with director José Zayas, scholar Mario DiGangi, and some of the other artists involved. Registrants will receive a link to participate. Scholar Mario DiGangi offers, "For many twentieth-century critics, A King and No King (1611) is the prime example of a Beaumont and Fletcher play: a certain kind of sensationalistic, artificial, and amoral tragicomedy that depicts extreme sexual scenarios and provides implausible resolutions for seemingly intractable problems. In The Pattern of Tragicomedy in Beaumont and Fletcher (1952), Eugene Waith finds in A King and No King all the defining formal characteristics of seventeenth-century tragicomedy, including stylized language, intricate plots, protean characters, and a focus on strong passions. For other critics, scandalous themes and exaggerated characters make tragicomedy a 'decadent' genre, a falling off from the tragic grandeur and dignified romance of late Shakespeare. Writing in 1960, Robert Ornstein compared Fletcher's thematically daring plays not to the edgy, urbane drama of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller but to Hollywood hackwork that indulged the 'housewife's escapist desire for romance and adventure.' More recent scholarship has taken tragicomedy more seriously, illuminating how Beaumont and Fletcher engaged with pressing contemporary social and political issues such as militarism, monarchical government, and changing gender roles." Francis Beaumont (1584-1616) and John Fletcher (1579-1625) were the famous "double act" of Jacobean playwriting. They began their careers independently, but by 1606 they produced their first collaboration, The Woman Hater, a satire on London life. Together, they would write at least twelve plays, including their two most successful, Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding (1608) and The Maid's Tragedy (1611). Although Beaumont retired from the theater in 1613, Fletcher continued writing for the stage until his death. He wrote plays alone and with other partners (including Shakespeare, whom he replaced as the leading playwright for the King's Men), but it was his collaboration with Beaumont that endured in the public memory. Together, they made popular the tragicomedy, a mixed form that audiences adored. Red Bull Theater is committed to continuing connection during this historic time. Red Bull's online readings offer the unique opportunity to hear rarely-produced classic plays, and brand new plays in conversation with the classics, performed by the finest actors in New York. All of Red Bull Theater's fall offerings are FREE, but advance reservations are recommended. Tax-deductible donations are encouraged to support Red Bull and invest in the vitality of classical theater for a contemporary audience. Red Bull Theater wishes to express its gratitude to the Performers' Unions: ACTORS' EQUITY ASSOCIATION, AMERICAN GUILD OF MUSICAL ARTISTS, AMERICAN GUILD OF VARIETY ARTISTS, and SAG-AFTRA through Theatre Authority, Inc. for their cooperation in permitting the Artists to appear on these programs. Red Bull Theater, hailed as "the city's gutsiest classical theater" by Time Out New York, brings rarely seen classic plays to dynamic new life for contemporary audiences, uniting a respect for tradition with a modern sensibility. Named for the rowdy Jacobean playhouse that illegally performed plays in England during the years of Puritan rule, Red Bull Theater is New York City's home for dynamic performances of great plays that stand the test of time. With the Jacobean plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries as its cornerstone, the company also produces new works that are in conversation with the classics. A home for artists, scholars and students, Red Bull Theater delights and engages the intellect and imagination of audiences, and strives to make its work accessible, diverse, and welcoming to all. Red Bull Theater believes in the power of great classic stories and plays of heightened language to deepen our understanding of the human condition, in the special ability of live theater to create unique, collective experiences, and the timeless capacity of classical theater to illuminate the events of our times. Variety agreed, hailing Red Bull's work as: "Proof that classical theater can still be surprising after hundreds of years." Since its debut in 2003 with a production of Shakespeare's Pericles starring Daniel Breaker, Red Bull Theater has served adventurous theatergoers with Off-Broadway productions, Revelation Readings, and the annual Short New Play Festival. The company also offers outreach programs including Shakespeare in Schools bringing professional actors and teaching artists into public school classrooms; Bull Sessions, free post-play discussions with top scholars; and Classical Acting Intensives led by veteran theater professionals. In partnership with The Drama League, Red Bull Theater offers The Classical Directing Fellowship, which immerses a director in the life of a company working in the classical canon, and is designed to bring diverse voices into the productions and institutions dedicated to this work. Red Bull Theater strives to be a home for all artists and theatergoers. Red Bull values and is dedicated to practicing inclusiveness on our stage, in our audience, on our staff, and within our leadership. We are committed to making antiracism a core value of our theater. We know that simply making these statements is not enough. We are committed to ongoing actions to increase racial justice and equal opportunity at our theater-doing our part to help realize a more racially and socially just theater community, city, and country. "The classics-shaking Red Bull Theater," as Time Out NY has called it, has presented 20 Off-Broadway productions and nearly 200 Revelation Readings of rarely seen classics, serving a community of more than 5,000 artists and providing quality artistic programming to an audience of over 65,000. The company's unique programming has received ongoing critical acclaim, and has been recognized with Lortel, Drama Desk, Drama League, Callaway, Off Broadway Alliance, and OBIE nominations and Awards. For more information visit redbulltheater.com. |
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| Link | http://redbulltheater.com |
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