Actors Theatre of Louisville's ROMEO AND JULIET Begins Previews Tonight, 9/4

Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein have announced the cast and creative team for Actors Theatre's 2012-2013 season opener Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. This high-octane and energetic contemporary retelling of one of the greatest love stories ever told features a dynamic cast of thirteen, a stellar team of designers and is directed by Louisville native and Drama Desk nominee Tony Speciale. Romeo and Juliet plays only 30 performances in the Pamela Brown Auditorium at Actors Theatre of Louisville as part of the Brown-Forman Series.

It begins previews tonight, September 4, opens September 6 and runs through September 24. Single tickets are on sale now and can be purchased online at ActorsTheatre.org or by calling 502-584-1205. The Bingham Signature Shakespeare is made possible by the Mary and Barry Bingham Senior Fund. Additional funding provided by Hilliard Lyons, Production Sponsor, and GE Appliances, Education Sponsor.

Two star-crossed lovers from bitterly feuding families risk everything to be together, as a new generation strains against the limits of a world their parents have defined in one of the most famous love stories ever written with all of the immediacy, danger and romance that have made it endure for centuries.

We are excited reintroduce the talents of director Tony Speciale to the town that launched his career. Speciale is a Louisville native, YPAS graduate, alumni of the 1998-1999 Acting Apprentice Company at Actors Theatre and 2012 New York Drama Desk Nominee for Outstanding Director.

Praised by the New York Times for his "propulsive staging" of Shakespeare classics, Speciale has earned a reputation for lively and exciting adaptations. His production at Actors Theatre promises to attack Shakespeare's masterful coming-of-age story with the same fervor shining the light on themes that speak straight to today's headlines: bullying, peer pressure and absentee parenting.

Romeo and Juliet features an ensemble of 13 talented actors, with additional support from members of Actors Theatre's Acting Apprentice Company. The cast will feature recent Julliard School graduate Grantham Coleman as Romeo in his Actors Theatre debut. The role of Juliet will be played by Elvy Yost who returns to Actors Theatre where she played Belle and Fred's wife in A Christmas Carol in 2009. Also making their first appearance at Actors Theatre are Brendan Averett as Friar Laurence, Matt Citron as Escalus, Jordan Dean as Tybalt, Ben Diskant as Benvolio, Nate Miller as Mercutio, Raynaldo Piniella as Balthasar and Matthew Stucky as Paris.

Lord and Lady Capulet will be played by Bruce McKenzie,who returns to Actors Theatre where he previously starred in the title role in Hamlet, Noises Off, Othello, Polaroid Stories, Aloha Say the Pretty Girls, At the Vanishing Point and The Blue Room and Amy Morse who will be appearing at Actors Theatre for the first time. We are thrilled to welcome back Myra Lucretia Taylor as The Nurse. Taylor's previous credits at Actors include The Three Cuckolds, Vital Signs and July 7, 1994. Other notable theatre credits include Wicked and Nine (2003 Tony Award, Best Revival) on Broadway. Yvette Ganier will be making her Actors Theatre stage debut as a single parent in Speciale's re-envisioning of Lady Montague. An award-winning actress (OBIE), she recently wrapped up the film Must Be the Music (2012) starring opposite Charles Dutton. Other theatre credits include The Miracle Worker, King Hedley ll on Broadway and Royal National Theatre's Jitney.

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