Classical Theatre of Harlem and Harlem Stage Present Three Sisters by Lia Chang

The Classical Theatre of Harlem’s new production of Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters, co-presented by Harlem Stage, has performances at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse through March 8.

Clockwise from top left: Roger Guenveur Smith, Sabrina LeBeauf, Reg E. Cathy, Earle Hyman, and Carmen de Lavallade

Directed by Christopher McElroen, the cast features Roger Guenveur Smith, Earle Hyman, Carmen de Lavallade, Sabrina LeBeauf, Reg E. Cathey, Amanda Mason Warren, Carmen Gill, Billy Eugene Jones, Jonathan Earl Peck, Josh Tyson, Daphne Gaines, Phillip Christian, Jonathan Ramey and Nathan Dame.

Considered by many to be one of the greatest plays ever written, Chekhov’s Three Sisters offers audiences a chance to consider the spiritual paralysis that keeps us from pursuing our dreams, the feeling of unlived lives and the longing for meaning. The result is an uncanny blend of the painful and trivial, the ordinary and the catastrophic. Conventional boundaries between comedy and tragedy are deliberately blurred, and things are seldom what they seem in one of the theatre’s most enigmatic and beautiful explorations of our pursuit of happiness.

Wednesday -Saturdays 7:30 pm | Sundays 3 pm
Harlem Stage Gatehouse -150 Convent Avenue @ 135th Street
Single Tickets: $40
Students & Theatre Industry: $26 (Id Required At Pick-Up)
Click Here To Purchase or Call 212.281.9240 Ext. 19 or 20 or visit www.harlemstage.org.

The Gatehouse is located at 150 Convent Avenue at West 135th Street across from Aaron Davis Hall.

Aaron Davis Hall (a three theater complex) is located on the campus of The City College of New York, between West 133rd and 135th Street on Convent Avenue.

Directions
By Bus
From the east side: M-101, M-100 to 135th St. & Amsterdam Ave.
From the west side: M-11 to 135th St. and Amsterdam Avenue; M-4, M-5 to 135th St. and Broadway.
Walk east one block to Convent and 135th Street. Entrance of both the Gatehouse and Aaron Davis Hall are located on Convent Ave.

By Subway
1 to 137th Street at Broadway. Walk south to 135th Street and walk east two blocks to Convent Ave. and 135th Street. Entrance of both the Gatehouse and Aaron Davis Hall is located on Convent Ave.
A, B, C, D to 125th Street at St. Nicholas Avenue. Walk east one block to Morningside Drive. and 125th Street. Walk north to 135th Street and Convent Ave (Morningside Drive. turns into Convent Ave. past 127th Street). Entrance of both the Gatehouse and Aaron Davis Hall are located on Convent Ave.

Lia Chang: André De Shields and Reg E. Cathey Star in Cato at The Flea

Andre de Shields as Cato. Photo by Lia Chang

Obie Award winners André De Shields (Prymate, The Full Monty, Black Nativity) and Reg E. Cathey (“The Wire,” The Green Bird, Talk, Blue Door, White Chocolate) star in the Flea Theater’s revival of Cato, by famed English essayist Joseph Addison, which will be directed by Jim Simpson.  Performances for the  limited engagement of Cato are from October 10 through November 1. Opening night is October 18.

Written in 1712, Cato was one of the most popular English plays of that period. It is based on the last days of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (95-46 B.C.), a Roman Statesman who took sides with Pompey in an unsuccessful civil war against Julius Caesar. The play takes place in the city of Utica, where Cato (played by De Shields) and a small Roman Senate stand ready to defend the last vestige of the Roman Republic against Caesar. The play delves into such themes as individual liberty vs. government tyranny, Republicanism vs. Monarchism, logic vs. emotion and Cato’s personal struggle to cleave to his beliefs in the face of death.

In addition to De Shields and Cathey, the production co-stars Christian Baskous (Two September), Anthony Cochrane (The Coast of Utopia, Cymbeline) and Brian O’Neill, along with five members of The Bat Theater Company, The Flea’s resident acting company. With costumes by Claudia Brown, set and lights by Zack Tinkelman and graphic design David Prittie.

Tickets to shows at The Flea Theater, 41 White St. (between Broadway and Church St.), are available by calling (212) 352-3101 or by visiting theflea.org. Subway accessibility from the A, C, E, N, R, Q, W, 6, J, M, Z to Canal Street or the 1 to Franklin Street.

Joseph Addison (Playwright)
Joseph Addison (May 1, 1672 – June 17, 1719) was an English essayist and poet. He was a man of letters, eldest son of Lancelot Addison, and later the dean of Lichfield. He founded The Spectator magazine with Richard Steele. Cato is his most famous work.