The Off-Broadway company, devoted to plays that fall under the umbrella of "classic" (a long list, to be sure) announced its new season Aug. 3.
Anne Bogart's new production of Death and the Ploughman, by Johann van Saaz, translated by Michael West, will launch the season in November, followed by Kate Mulgrew and David Strathairn in staged readings of "masterworks from the German classic theatre."
The German plays represent a return of The First Look Festival from last season.
Lea DeLaria and David Greenspan will star in the Worth Street Theatre staging of Samuel Beckett's Happy Days directed by Jeff Cohen at the CSC space.
In Death and the Ploughman, "Bogart and her internationally-acclaimed SITI company will take audiences on a mystical journey from the depths of the underworld to the vaults of heaven as a simple ploughman, maddened by the loss of his wife, accosts Death and forces him to explain his purpose," according to the announcement. The First Look Festival is billed as "a program of one-night only staged readings of rarely seen classics, performed by notable actors." This season's slate includes staged readings of Mary Stuart, performed by Kate Mulgrew, written by Friedrich Schiller, translated by Michael Feingold and directed by Erica Schmidt; and Urfaust, performed by David Strathairn, written by Johan Wolfgang Goethe, translated by Howard Brenton and directed by Michael Sexton.
The First Look Festival will be presented on the last two Monday evenings in November.
Happy Days "is Beckett's testament to the human spirit – a scathingly hilarious portrait of a very ordinary couple, Winnie and Willie, in the extraordinary circumstance of being buried alive."
In March 2005, Academy Award-winner F. Murray Abraham returns to CSC in The False Servant, translated by Kathleen Tolan. "Lust, avarice and a healthy dose of cross-dressing are all on fine display in this sly 18th century romp where a young girl dresses as a man to learn more about her husband to be," according to CSC. "What she discovers bends everything from gender to our most cherished notions of love."
The False Servant will be performed from late March until early May. Abaraham appeared in the 1997 Broadway musical, Triumph of Love, based on the Marivaux play. The original play by Marivaux received a staging at CSC several seasons back, with Michael Mayer directing.
The 2004-2005 season will also include the launch of a new free event in April 2005: Monday Night Hamlet, co-presented by CSC and The Shakespeare Society, which will take audiences behind the scenes for Monday night open rehearsals of Hamlet.
"Join a distinguished company of seasoned actors and directors as they work their way through Shakespeare’s singular masterpiece, exploring an act an evening for five consecutive Monday evenings. Be a part of the discovery process of this deeply mysterious work which reveals more and more of itself with each encounter."
For usbscription or ticket information, call (212) 677 4210, ext. 13, or visit the theatre in person at 136 E. 13th Street, or visit www.classicstage.org.
CSC executive director is Jessica R. Jenen. The 2004-04 season is CSC's 37th.
