(Red Bank, NJ) Plans are underway for a three-week festival celebrating the life and work of the literary giant Samuel Beckett, beginning in March of 2006. The festival, timed to coincide with Beckett’s centennial, will take place at Two River Theatre Company’s new state-of-the-art performance venue. The centerpiece of the festival will be a three-week production of his seminal comic masterpiece, Waiting for Godot. In addition, the festival will include eight of Beckett’s short plays (No I, Ohio Impromptu, Quad, Footfalls, Catastrophe, Play, What Where, Rockabuy), his radio play All that Fall, as well as symposia, readings, and a concert of new music inspired by Beckett. The festival will take place in TRTC’s new 350-seat theatre, as well as its 99-seat black box space. Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre will also participate by presenting Irish music.
A towering figure of modern drama, Beckett was born in April 1906. Beginning with his first professionally produced play, Waiting for Godot, Beckett continually broke through theatrical convention to create stunning, comical, and agonizing portraits of the human animal grappling with his existence. He wrote increasingly condensed and spare plays and in the process influenced dozens of contemporary playwrights, including Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, Edward Albee, and David Mamet. In 1969, Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He died in Paris in 1989.
“Samuel Beckett has always been one of my favorite playwrights,” said TRTC artistic director Jonathan Fox, “and we’re honored to be chosen as the New York area venue to host a festival celebrating his work. Who else could write a brilliant play about birth, sex, and death, with a running time of only 30 seconds?”
The festival will run from March 16 through April 9, 2006. TRTC’s new facility was designed by renowned architect, Hugh Hardy. Red Bank is located approximately one hour by train from New York’s Penn Station. For more information, please call (732) 345-1400.
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