Armin Shimerman

KING LEAR

What do SHAKESPEARE, STAR TREK and SWEETWATER HS have in common?KING LEAR at the SD REP! SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE SEASON continues with SHAKESPEARE’S Masterwork KING LEAR, with Artistic Director SAM WOODHOUSE in the title role, and ARMIN SHIMERMAN of "STAR TREK" fame as The Fool

SAN DIEGO REP Awarded NEA-SHAKESPEARE In AMERICA GRANT of $25,000!LEAR ON THE BORDER to Bring Shakespeare’s Masterpiece to 2000 SD Area Students

San Diego REPertory Theatre’s 2004-2005 Season continues with KING LEAR by William Shakespeare; directed by Todd Salovey; featuring San Diego REP Artistic Director Sam Woodhouse in the title role; and Armin Shimerman of "Star Trek" fame as The Fool; co-Starring REP favorites Jonathan McMurtry, Peter Van Norden, Linda Libby and Karole Foreman. KING LEAR begins performances on Saturday, March 19, Opening Friday, March 25; running through April 17 on the Lyceum Stage.

Asking what King Lear is about is like asking what life itself is about. A masterwork by a genius, an experiment in extremity and the definitive story about parents and children. A loving father is lost in the wilderness of his blind ego. His daughters’ betrayal and their thirst for absolute power bring a nation to the brink of disaster. Perhaps the greatest play in the English language.

The company also features J. Todd Adams, Hassan El-Amin, Thomas Haine, Matthew Hennerson, Marielle Heller, Trevor Hollingsworth, Lisa H. Payton, Brennan Taylor, and Ruff Yeager. The creative staff includes Giulio Perrone (set and costume designs), Jennifer Setlow (lighting design), Stephanie Robinson (composer/sound designer) and Colleen Kelly (fight director).

Sam Woodhouse was last on the REP’s stage in the 2003-2004 season as the father in Proof, after an eight-year acting hiatus - he appeared at the REP previously in Hamlet as the Ghost of Hamlet’s Father and The Gravedigger, as Elvis Presley in Are You Lonesome Tonight?, Ronald Reagan in Rap Master Ronnie by Gary Trudeau and as a fearless mountaineer in the REP’s acclaimed K2.

Armin Shimerman has appeared at the Old Globe in Richard III, Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Merry Wives of Windsor; on Broadway in The Three Penny Opera, St. Joan, Broadway, I Remember Mama.; in LA at Matrix Theater in Birthday Party (LA Drama Critic’s Circle nom.); LATC in Petrified Forest; Odyssey in Standup Shakespeare; Mark Taper Forum in Richard II; and extensively in regional theater. He has been on nearly 100 different television series and MOWs, including Principal Snyder on Buffy the Vampire Slayer; and is probably best known as series regular Quark on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

The performance schedule: in previews (3/19 -3/24), Tuesday evening at 7PM, March 22 only; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30PM; Sundays at 7PM; Opening Night Friday, 3/25 at 7:30PM; after opening, add Sunday matinees at 2PM (except Easter, March 27); Saturday matinee at 2PM, April 2 only; through Sunday April 17. Sam’s Salon on Wednesday, March 30 at 6:30PM; Forums/actor talkbacks following performances on Wednesdays: March 30, April 6 and April 13. Ticket prices: single tickets range from $26.50 - $32.50 (in previews); $32.50 -$41.50 after opening; student/senior/teacher/military discounts available. Subscriptions will be on sale at that time for the 2005-2006 season; price tbd; to include guaranteed seats at a significant discount, free parking, free ticket exchange privileges, and discounts on individual tickets and restaurants. Tickets can be purchased at the REP’s box office, 79 Horton Plaza in San Diego or by calling (619) 544-1000 or online at www.sandiegorep.com. Groups of 10 or more can purchase tickets at a discounted rate. For more information, please see our website at www.sandiegorep.com.

SAN DIEGO REP Awarded NEA-SHAKESPEARE In AMERICA GRANT of $25,000! LEAR ON THE BORDER to Bring Shakespeare’s Masterpiece to 2000 SD Area Students As Part of NATIONAL ENDOWMENT for the ARTS’ Distinguished "SHAKESPEARE in AMERICAN COMMUNITIES" initiative: "SHAKESPEARE For a NEW GENERATION"

San Diego Repertory Theatre is one of only twenty-two theatre companies across the country, and one of three in California, selected to participate in the "Shakespeare for a New Generation" program. This program is the second phase of the National Endowment for the Arts Shakespeare Initiative: Shakespeare in American Communities Phase 2: Shakespeare for a New Generation. The program was designed to provide middle and high school students in underserved communities across the US the opportunity to see professional productions of Shakespeare plays.

The REP has been awarded $25,000 for a program dubbed "Lear on the Border". In Lear On The Border, the REP will partner with Sweetwater Union High School District to share the glory of Shakespeare’s King Lear with 2000 San Diego students. These students will get a first-hand, up-close and personal experience of how Shakespeare’s most revered story is translated from the page onto the REP’s stage. More importantly, through vivid explorations of the play’s timeless themes and issues, these young students of San Diego’s border communities will get a once in a lifetime perspective of how Shakespeare continues to be relevant as one of the theatre’s leading voices.

Lear On The Border will consist of a unique program of extensive In-School workshops with students and professional actors, and five special "Day at the REP" performances on the mainstage. It will include specially tailored Lear on the Border study guides, student performances of excerpts from King Lear and pre- and post-show seminars with REP artists and area scholars. San Diego REP Artistic Director Sam Woodhouse says "We are enormously honored - and challenged - by the Endowment to create this new initiative with students of our border community that unveils the contemporary issues and powerful stories in King Lear that speak directly to the multicultural students of our border community.

San Diego REP presents KING LEAR by William Shakespeare; directed by Todd Salovey; featuring San Diego REP Artistic Director Sam Woodhouse in the title role. Performances begin March 19, 2005; Opening Friday March 25; continuing through April 17 on the LYCEUM STAGE in Horton Plaza. Asking what King Lear is about is like asking what life itself is about. A masterwork by a genius, an experiment in extremity and the definitive story about parents and children. A loving father is lost in the wilderness of his blind ego. His daughters’ betrayal and their thirst for absolute power bring a nation to the brink of disaster. Perhaps the greatest play in the English language.

Shakespeare in American Communities Phase II: Shakespeare for a New Generation is an initiative of the National Arts Endowment administered by Arts Midwest, a regional arts organization based in Minneapolis, Minn. The initial phase of Shakespeare in American Communities represented the largest tour of Shakespeare’s plays in American history. With the partnership of the Sallie Mae Fund, the initiative involved seven professional theater companies touring five plays to small and mid-sized communities, including military bases, in all 50 states, with educational activities and teacher’s resource packets. Shakespeare in American Communities launched in New London, Conn. on September 20, 2003 and ended in November 2004.