Epic's RICHARD III Will Now Open 4/20

The Award-Winning Epic Theatre Ensemble, now in their 12th year presents William Shakespeare's RICHARD III: Born With Teeth, part of Shakespeare for a New Generation, a national program of the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest. The production, directed by Ron Russell, begins previews Off-Broadway on Tuesday, April 16th and opens Saturday, April 20th at 8:00 PM at the Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street). The play will run through May 4th. Epic Theatre Ensemble's tickets are $25 for this production. Student Rush is also available. For tickets, please visit www.Ticketcentral.com or call (212) 270-4200. For more information, visit www.epictheatreensemble.org/R3.

In RICHARD III: Born With Teeth, Epic Theatre Ensemble wraps Shakespeare's words in a contemporary setting where you'll enter the world along side and through the eyes of Shakespeare's most charming, funny and seductively evil actors: Richard III, himself.

Featured in the cast of 10 is James Wallert, in the title role; Peter Jay Fernandez; Melissa Friedman; Devin E. Haqq; Rhett Henckel; Lanna Joffrey; Michael Kirby; James Joseph O'Neil; Carra Patterson and Godfrey L. Simmons.

The design team for RICHARD III: Born With Teeth is comprised of Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams (sets), Cat Tate Starmer (lighting), Margaret E. Weedon (costumes) and Ron Russell (sound).

Every performance of RICHARD III: Born With Teeth will be immediately followed by a post performance forum lead by scholars, authors, and thinkers connected to the content of the show.. This series is sponsored by the New York City Council on the Humanities. Speakers already confirmed for the series include journalist and author Jonathan Alter (April 18th "Political Manipulation"), playwright and producer Keith Josef Adkins (April 19th "Diversity in the American Theatre") and author and profession John McWhorter (April 26th, "The Language of Political Manipulation"). Past participants have included author Chris Hedges, former Senator Bob Kerry, James Shapiro, and other noted Shakespeare scholars. www.epictheatreensemble.org/R3

Founded in 2001, Epic Theatre Ensemble is a company of artists and activists dedicated to creating socially minded Off-Broadway productions, and to connecting these theatrical events to NYC Public Schools through rigorous in school and after-school residencies. Epic aims to inspire vital dialogue about social, ethical, and political issues and to build thoughtful citizenship in local communities. Epic's past productions include: the critically acclaimed New York premiere of Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play; Nilaja Sun's No Child... (commissioned, developed and premiered by Epic prior to its commercial transfer and national tour); the premieres of Beauty on and Martin by Kate Fodor (featuring David Strathairn), Einstein's Gift by Vern Thiessen (featuring Aasif Mandvi and Shawn Elliott), Habitat by Judith Thompson; and the revivals of George Bernard Shaw's Widowers' Houses (with Peter Jay Fernandez), Henrik Ibsen's Little Eyolf, and J.B. Priestley's Time and the Conways. Epic Theatre Ensemble was founded by Zak Berkman, Melissa Friedman, Teri Lamm, Ron Russell and James Wallert, and additional Producing Artists Godfrey L. Simmons Jr. and Sarah Winkler have since joined the founding team. Epic is the proud recipient of OBIE, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics and OTTO Awards, the 2009 "Coming Up Taller" Award from the President's Council for the Arts and Humanities for their flagship educational program, Shakespeare Remix, as well as citations from Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg.