The talk — part of LCT’s Platform Series — runs from 5 PM to 6:15 PM at the Kaplan Penthouse, in the 10th floor of the Rose Building, at 165 West 65th Street in Manhattan. Admission is free but limited. Passes will be available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 4 PM at the entrance to the Rose Building.
Platform Series speakers and schedules are subject to change. Call (212) 362-7600 to confirm on the day of the event.
Stoppard's plays include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Tony Award), Jumpers, The Real Inspector Hound, Travesties (Tony Award), Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Dirty Linen, Night and Day, The Real Thing (Tony Award), Artist Descending a Staircase, Hapgood, Arcadia, The Invention of Love, Indian Ink, After Magritte and Rock ‘n’ Roll, which recently opened in London.
His screenplays include "Brazil," "Empire of the Sun," "The Russia House," "Billy Bathgate," "Enigma" and "Shakespeare in Love" (Academy Award).
** The Coast of Utopia, at LCT's Vivian Beaumont Theater, tells the story of a group of 19th-century Russian intellectuals who debate politics and philosophy and struggle to change their political system over a 30-year period.
The first part of the trilogy, Voyage, which opened Nov. 27, is set in the Russian countryside and in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Part two, Shipwreck, which opened Dec. 21, begins outside Moscow 13 years after the first part and follows the characters to Paris, Dresden and Nice. Part three, Salvage, which begins previews Jan. 31 and will open Feb. 18., follows the characters to London and Geneva over the course of 12 years.
The three plays will be performed in rotation until the trilogy closes on May 13. There will be nine Saturday marathons, in which all three parts are performed in one day: Feb. 24, March 3, March 10, March 24, March 31, April 7, April 21, April 28 and May 5.
The eight-hour trilogy, directed by Broadway veteran Jack O'Brien (Hairspray, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), boasts a cast of 44, including Billy Crudup, Richard Easton, Jennifer Ehle, Josh Hamilton, David Harbour, Jason Butler Harner, Ethan Hawke, Amy Irving, Brían F. O'Byrne and Martha Plimpton.
The trilogy has sets by Bob Crowley and Scott Pask, costumes by Catherine Zuber, lighting by Brian MacDevitt (Voyage), Kenneth Posner (Shipwreck) and Natasha Katz (Salvage) and original music and sound design by Mark Bennett.
O'Brien previously directed LCT's productions of Stoppard's plays Hapgood and The Invention of Love. LCT also produced Stoppard's Arcadia.
The Coast of Utopia premiered at the National Theatre in London in 2002 in a production directed by Trevor Nunn.
For tickets or more information visit www.coastofutopia.com.
