Photo Flash: Dog Run Rep's TARTUFFE

Performances began Friday, March 6 and continue Saturday, April 5. Opening Night is Monday, March 9 (7 p.m.).

Tartuffe is one of Moliere's funniest and most controversial comedies. Although it was banned by the Church and led to the playwright's imprisonment, Moliere, as he did in many of his comedies, wrote the play as an indictment of the bourgeoisie, not religion.

According to press notes, Tartuffe is a swindler who could have donned the mantle of any role to dupe his victims. That he picked religion in this instance is due to how easily his bourgeois victim - Orgon - is duped by his pious charade. It is Orgon who Moliere is bent on skewering, not the Church.

Cohen's new American adaptation, written in verse and rhyming couplets, sets the play in New York City in an earlier depression-era - the 1930s. His adaptation seeks to employ a particularly American idiom - transposing Moliere's social satire to its American equivalent. In our own present time of outlandish wealth, dashed fortunes, and George Madoff-like swindlers, what better era to look back on than the Great Depression of the 1930s. Moliere spun his comedy from the stock characters of Commedia, and Mr. Cohen spins his from the golden era of American comedians and films.

The production stars Keith Buterbaugh (Company, Phantom of the Opera) as Orgon, Christina DeCicco (National Tour of Wicked, 2008 Barrymore Award Recipient) as Elmire, and Tom Ford (Broadway and National Tour of By Jeeves, 2000 Best Actor Award NY Int'l Fringe Festival).

Rounding out the cast are Katia Asche, Aaron Costa Ganis, Mark DeFrancis, Deanna Henson, Susan Jeffries, Brian Linden, Rob Maitner, and Jasper Soffer.

The production features scenic design by Alexis Distler, costume design by Vanessa Leuck, and lighting design by Jay Scott. Donavan Dolan is the stage manager.

TARTUFFE plays the following schedule through Saturday, April 5:

Monday, March 9 @ 7 p.m.
Friday, March 13 @ 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 14 @ 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 15 @ 7 p.m.
Wednesday, March 18 @ 8 p.m.
Friday, March 20 @ 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 21 @ 2 p.m.
Sunday, March 22 @ 7 p.m.
Wednesday, March 25 @ 8 p.m.
Friday, March 27 @ 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 28 @ 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 29 @ 7 p.m.

Tickets for all performances are $18. There is also a "Seaport Season Pass" for $40, which is good for admission to every performance at the South Street Seaport Winter Theatre Season and can be purchased at www.dogrunrep.org.

For tickets, call Smarttix at 212-868-4444 or on the web at www.smarttix.com.

For information and a complete performance schedule, go to the Dog Run Rep website at www.dogrunrep.org.

DOG RUN REP (producer) is a non-profit company thrilled to be contributing to the cultural revitalization of Lower Manhattan. Formerly known as Worth Street Theater Company, Dog Run Rep has presented award-winning new plays, classics and revivals and has been an important breeding ground for new and important voices in the theater.

Winter Theatre at South Street Seaport is part of Seaport Semester, an eclectic series of classes, performances and programming created for infants, families and seniors, alike, and made possible with the support of General Growth Properties in conjunction with an array of community-based partners, including, but not limited to, Church Street School for Music and Art, Dog Run Rep Theater, Downtown Babies, Montauk Theater Productions, Seaport Music Radio and Tada! Youth Theater. The Seaport Semester activities run through June 2009.

Photos by Erica Parise