(via Bruce Cohen)
Previews Begin Sunday (11/06) at 7:30pm for Theatre for a New Audience’s production of THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS By Carlo Goldoni
Adapted by Constance Congdon, Translated by Christina Sibul
Further adapted by Christopher Bayes and Steven Epp
Featuring Steven Epp
Directed by Christopher Bayes
Off-Broadway Premiere in English Opens November 16, at 7:30pm
BROOKLYN – Previews begin Sunday, November 6, at 7:30pm at Polonsky Shakespeare enter, 262 Ashland Place, for Theatre for a New Audience’s production of The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni adapted by Constance Congdon from a translation by Christina Sibul and featuring Steven Epp. Directed by Christopher Bayes, The Servant of Two Masters opens Wednesday, November 16, and is scheduled to run through Sunday, December 4.
Performing in The Servant of Two Masters are Liam Craig (Brighella), Aidan Eastwood (Waiter), Steven Epp (Truffaldino), Andy Grotelueschen (Dottore), Eugene Ma (Silvio), Allen Gilmore (Pantalone), Orlando Pabotoy(Florindo), Adina Verson (Clarice), Liz Wisan (Beatrice), Sam Urdang (Waiter), and Emily Young (Smeraldina). Original music is performed by Aaron Halva and Christopher Curtis.
Written in 1745, The Servant of Two Masters is one of the great dramatist Carlo Goldoni’s most popular plays, preserving in scripted form the antic energy, ribald humor and improvisational immediacy of commedia dell’arte.
Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director, Theatre for a New Audience, says “Christopher Bayes‘s and Steven Epp‘s hilarious adaptation has been hailed as the wittiest and cleverest English-language version in decades. These veterans of America’s celebrated Theatre de la Jeune Lune company honor the tradition of commedia by rendering it contemporary, through improvisation, and a spirit of playfulness.”
The Servant of Two Masters has been produced only once before in English in New York City, Off-Off Broadway in the 1970s. Theatre for a New Audience’s production is the first major Off-Broadway production in English. One Man, Two Guvnors, a modern adaptation, played on Broadway in 2012. Giorgio Strehler (1921-1997), one of the 20th century’s greatest theater and opera directors, was principally responsible for raising Servant‘s profile in the modern era. He directed six different productions over four decades, several of which toured internationally. A version titled Arlecchino, Servant of Two Masters played in Italian at Lincoln Center in 2005.
This adaptation of The Servant of Two Masters had its world premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre in 2010. It subsequently played at the Shakespeare Theatre, Washington D.C., and won a Helen Hayes Award for Steven Epp (Best Actor) and a Helen Hayes nomination for Christopher Bayes (Best Director). The Servant of Two Masters has also played at the Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis (2012), ArtsEmerson, Boston (2013, Elliot Norton Award nominations for Outstanding Production and Outstanding Actor) and Seattle Rep (2013).
The creative team includes set designer Katherine Akiko Day, costume designer Valérie Thérèse Bart, lighting designer Chuan-Chi Chan, sound designers Charles Coes and Nathan A. Roberts, original music by Aaron Halvaand Christopher Curtis, hair and makeup designer Dave Bova, properties supervisor Eric Reynolds, fight director Rick Sordelet, casting director Deborah Brown, and production stage manager Sonja Thorson.
Endowment support for The Servant of Two Masters is provided by The Howard Gilman Foundation Fund for Classic Drama.
Box Office
Single tickets for The Servant of Two Masters are $85-$95. A limited number of premium seats are available for $110 each. New Deal tickets for ages 30 and under or full-time students of any age are priced at $20 each with valid ID.
Subscriptions for Theatre for a New Audience’s 2016-2017 season include a Four-Play Package for $220, various Three-Play Packages for $174 each, and a Flex Pass Package for $240. Subscriptions may be purchased atwww.tfana.org/season or by calling (212) 229-2819, ext. 10, Tuesday-Saturday, 1:00pm-6:00pm.
Theatre for a New Audience
Founded in 1979 by Jeffrey Horowitz, Theatre for a New Audience is a modern classic theatre. It produces Shakespeare alongside other major authors from the world repertoire, such as Harley Granville Barker, Edward Bond, Adrienne Kennedy, Wallace Shawn, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Theatre for a New Audience has played Off- and on Broadway and toured nationally and internationally.
In 2001, Theatre for a New Audience became the first American theatre invited to bring a production of Shakespeare to the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Stratford-upon-Avon. Cymbeline, directed by Bartlett Sher, premiered at the RSC; in 2007, Theatre for a New Audience was invited to return to the RSC with The Merchant of Venice directed by Darko Tresnjak starring F. Murray Abraham. In 2011, Mr. Abraham reprised his role as Shylock for a national tour.
After 34 years of being itinerant and playing mostly in Manhattan, Theatre for a New Audience moved to Brooklyn and opened its first permanent home, Polonsky Shakespeare Center, in October 2013. Built by The City of New York in partnership with Theatre for a New Audience and located in the Brooklyn Cultural District, Polonsky Shakespeare Center was designed by Hugh Hardy and H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture with theatre consultants Akustiks, Milton Glaser, Jean-Guy Lecat, and Theatre Projects. Housed inside the building are the Samuel H. Scripps Mainstage (299 seats) — the first stage built for Shakespeare and classical drama in New York City since Lincoln Center’s 1965 Vivian Beaumont — and the Theodore C. Rogers Studio (50 seats).
The Theatre’s productions have been honored with Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, Drama League, Callaway, Lortel and Audelco awards and nominations and reach an audience diverse in age, economics and cultural background.
The Theatre created and runs the largest in-depth program in the New York City Public Schools to introduce students to Shakespeare, and has served more than 128,000 students since the program began in 1984. The Theatre’s economically accessible New Deal ticket program includes one of the lowest reserved ticket prices for youth in the city: $20 for any show, any time for those 30 years old and under or for full-time students of any age.
From top: Orlando Pabotoy and Eugene Ma, Orlando Pabotoy, and cast. Rehearsal photos photographer credit: Gerry Goodstein.
