Pearl Theatre Company: 2011 - 2012 season

The Pearl Theatre Company has announced its 2011/2012 Season which will present four plays: The Bald Soprano by Eugène Ionesco; Richard II by William Shakespeare; The Philanderer by Bernard Shaw; A Moon For The Misbegotten by Eugene O'Neill.

"We are excited about this line-up of classic works and very pleased to be returning for a third season at New York City Center," according to Pearl artistic director J. R. Sullivan. "Bizarre and beautiful, hilarious or sublime, these are great plays that land with compelling urgency in our own time."

The plays will be presented in the following season order:

The Bald Soprano
by Eugène Ionesco
Directed tba
Cast:tba
Venue: NY City Center
Preview: 13 Sep 201.
Opens: 25 Sep 2011
Closes: 23 Oct 2011

Synopsis: Portrays an evening visit between Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Mr. and Mrs. Martin. With the Smiths' maid Mary and her lover, the fire chief, the night of nonsensical stories and poems carries the characters right back to the beginning.

Eugene Ionesco (Playwright), 1912-1994, is one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd. The Bald Soprano was his first play. His work includes 'The Lesson' (1951), 'The Killers' (1958), 'Rhinoceros' (1959), 'Exit the King' (1962), 'Notes and Counternotes' (1962), 'A Stroll in the Air' (1963), 'Hunger and Thirst' (1964), 'Fragments of a Journal' (1966), 'Journeys Among the Dead' (1980) and the novel 'Le Solitaire' (1973).

Richard II
by William Shakespeare
Directed tba
Cast:tba
Venue: NY City Center
Preview: 8 Nov 2011
Opens: 20 Nov 2011
Closes: 24 Dec 2011

Synopsis: Charts the descent of one leader and the meteoric rise of another with the crown of England as prize and the future of the nation pitched perilously in the balance.

Wilaim Sheakespeare (Playwright), 1564-1616, is regarded as one of the greatest playwrights in the English Language. His plays are classified as Comedies, Tragedies and Histories. Richard II (Approx: 1595) is one of 10 history plays he wrote about English Monacrchs. The others being 'Henry VI, Part 1' (Approx: 1591), Henry VI, Part 2 (Approx: 1591), Henry VI, Part 3 (Approx: 1591), Richard III (Approx: 1591)'King John' (mid-1590s), 'Henry IV, Part 1' (Approx: 1597), 'Henry IV, Part 2' (between 1596 and 1599), 'Henry V' (Approx: 1599) and Henry VIII (Approx: 1613).

The Philanderer
by George Bernard Shaw
Directed tba
Cast:tba
Venue: NY City Center
Preview: 10 Jan 2012
Opens: 22 Jan 2012
Closes: 19 Feb 2012

Synopsis: Follows the misadventures of one Leonard Charteris, the title character whose simultaneous involvements with two women threaten his equilibrium while sharpening his power of speech.

George Bernard Shaw (Playwright), 1856-1950, was an Irish dramatist, literary critic, a socialist spokesman, and a leading figure in the 20th century theater. Shaw was a freethinker, a supporter of women's rights and an advocate of equality of income. In 1925 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He wrote over 60 plays, many of which addressed the social issues of the day on which Shaw was so passionate. The Philanderer (1898) was one of three plays published under the title 'Plays Unpleasant' in 1898 - the other two being 'Widowers' Houses' (1892) and 'Mrs Warren's Profession' (1893). Though written in 1893 British censorship laws meant its first public performance did not take place until 1902.

A Moon For The Misbegotten
by Eugene O'Neill
Directed tba
Cast:tba
Venue: NY City Center
Preview: 6 Mar 2012
Opens: 18 Mar 2012
Closes: 15 Apr 2012

Synopsis: Centeers on the self-destructive James Tyrone, the character modeled on O'Neill's own older brother, and the passionate and lonely Josie Hogan.

Eugene O'Neill (Playwright), 1888-1953, is considered one of America's premier playwrights. He was awarded a Nobel Laureate in Literature in 1936. He wrote 32 full-length and 19 one-act plays. Four of his plays 'Horizon' (1920); 'Anna Christie' (1922); 'Strange Interlude' (1928); and 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' (1957), won Pulitzer prizes.