The New Victory Theater Presents
Fiasco Theater’s
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
By William Shakespeare
World Premiere February 28 – March 16, 2014
New York, NY (January 23, 2014) – New York’s Fiasco Theater sheds new light on one of Shakespeare’s darkest comedies in the world premiere of Fiasco Theater’s MEASURE FOR MEASURE by William Shakespeare; the show runs Off-Broadway at The New Victory Theater from February 28 – March 16, 2014.
Fiasco Theater will illuminate complex characters and perplexing plots with live music and moxie in this tale of morality and manipulation. When the lax Duke of Vienna installs a deputy to enforce the city’s strict laws and walks in disguise among his people, he learns the perils of blind justice. With a brilliant talent for devising new interpretations of classic works, this distinctive ensemble explores the relationship between the powerful and the powerless in MEASURE FOR MEASURE by double-casting performers: Jessie Austrian will play Escalus and Marianna, Noah Brody will play Claudio and Pompey, Paul L. Coffey will play Angelo and Elbow, Ben Steinfeld will play Lucio and Froth, Emily Young will play Isabella and Mistress Overdone and Andy Grotelueschen will play Duke Vincentio.
Co-directed by Noah Brody and Ben Steinfeld, Fiasco’s MEASURE FOR MEASURE will feature set design by Tony Award-winning designer Derek McLane (Ragtime, 33 Variations, Pajama Game), costume design by Whitney Locher (Into the Woods and Cymbeline, Fiasco Theater) and lighting design by Tim Cryan (Cymbeline and Twelfth Night, Fiasco Theater). Steinfeld will also direct the music for the production, which will draw from both the church and the beer hall, and will be performed live by the actors on stage.
“MEASURE FOR MEASURE is fascinating to us as Shakespeare specifically set his story in an urban environment, and explored the dilemmas that face a city’s populace and government,” says Noah Brody, co-artistic director of Fiasco Theater; he continues, “It can only happen where all strata of society exist in the same place and depend upon one another, though they occupy different spheres and have conflicting agendas.” This play about city life feels especially significant to the company as they prepare to return to The New Victory Theater in Times Square (Cymbeline, Theatre for a New Audience 2011). Brody adds, “Performing at The New Victory, where they share in Fiasco’s mission to make theater affordable and accessible to everyone, offers us the unique opportunity to perform for a range of new audiences.”
In anticipation of the world premiere at The New Victory, Fiasco Theater participated in the NEW VICTORY LabWorks residency program, which provided the company with rehearsal space and support as they explored a new model of development that involved the whole ensemble from concept to production.
Performance Schedule: 12 performances
Friday 2/28 7pm
Saturday 3/1 1pm and 7pm
Sunday 3/2 3pm
Friday 3/7 7pm
Saturday 3/8 1pm and 7pm
Sunday 3/9 3pm
Friday 3/14 7pm
Saturday 3/15 1pm and 7pm
Sunday 3/16 3pm
MEASURE FOR MEASURE has an anticipated running time of two hours, including one
intermission, and is recommended for everyone ages 13 and older.
General Ticket Information
Tickets for MEASURE FOR MEASURE at The New Victory Theater (209 West 42nd Street) are $25,
$18, $12 and $9 for Members based on seat locations, with full price tickets starting at $14.
Theater-goers who buy tickets for three or more NEW VICTORY shows qualify for free
Membership, with benefits including 35-percent savings on tickets all season long and unlimited
free ticket exchanges. Purchase tickets online or by phone at 646-223-3010. The New Victory
Theater box office (209 West 42nd Street) is open Sunday and Monday from 11am-5pm and
Tuesday through Saturday from 12pm-7pm. For more information, visit the NEW VICTORY
website.
About Fiasco Theater
Fiasco Theater is an ensemble theater company created by graduates of the Brown
University/Trinity Rep M.F.A. acting program. The mission of Fiasco Theater is to offer dynamic,
joyful, actor-driven productions of classic and new plays, and to offer high-level theatrical
training through classes and workshops. Their goal is to create a new model of fiscal
sustainability whereby they remunerate artists for their valuable work and offer performances
and training at low or no cost to audiences and students. Past shows include their lauded 10-
actor, one-piano version of Into the Woods at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, Cymbeline and
Twelfth Night, as well as a workshop production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Cymbeline,
presented by Theatre For A New Audience, ran twice Off-Broadway (The New Victory Theater
and Barrow Street Theatre) for nearly 200 performances, and was honored with the Off-
Broadway Alliance Award for best revival of 2011/2012. Later this year they will present a new
production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona at the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C., and
their reimagining of Into the Woods will be presented by The Old Globe in San Diego.
About The New Victory Theater
The New Victory Theater introduces extraordinary performing artists from around the world to
extraordinary audiences in New York City, bringing kids to the arts and the arts to kids. Created
in 1995 for young New Yorkers, their families and schoolmates, The New Victory Theater
presents a diverse season of international companies at low ticket prices year after year.
Through the theater’s award-winning education programs, The New Victory continues to provide
access to schools and communities of New York City who seek to experience and engage with
the work on our stages, often for the very first time. The theater’s contributions to the cultural
landscape of the city were celebrated by the prestigious New York critics’ organization, The
Drama Desk, which presented The New Victory Theater with a Special Award for “providing
enchanting, sophisticated children’s theater that appeals to the child in all of us, and for nurturing a love of theater in young people.”
About The New 42nd Street
Building on the foundation of seven historic theaters, The New 42nd Street leads the dynamic evolution of the reinvented 42nd Street, cultivating a unique New York City cultural and entertainment destination through its three projects: The New Victory Theater, a performing arts theater devoted to kids and families; the NEW 42ND STREET Studios, a state-of-the-art, 10-story performing arts complex for rehearsal, performance and arts administration; and The Duke on 42nd Street, an intimate black-box theater. An independent, nonprofit organization, The New 42nd Street is committed to the transformational power of the arts.
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Contacts:
Allison Mui Mitchell, Director of Public Relations
[email protected]
(646) 223-3067
Arielle Katz
[email protected]
(646) 223-3065
