Every day is opening night.

Contact:
Rick Miramontez / Elizabeth Wagner / Chelsea Nachman
rick@oandmco.com / elizabeth@oandmco.com / chelsea@oandmco.com
212-695-7400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

New York, NY – (September 8, 2011) LAByrinth Theater Company (Co-Artistic Directors Stephen Adly Guirgis, Mimi O’Donnell, Yul Vázquez, and Managing Director Danny Feldman) has announced that stage and screen star, and LAByrinth Theater Company member, Ellen Burstyn (Tony Award, Emmy Award, and Academy Award-winner) will lead the cast of the World Premiere Production of The Atmosphere of Memory by David Bar Katz. Burstyn was last seen on the LAByrinth stage in Stephen Adly Guirgis’ The Little Flower of East Orange. Performances begin Saturday, October 15th with Opening Night scheduled for October 30th at LAByrinth’s new home, the Bank Street Theater (155 Bank Street) for a limited engagement through Sunday, November 13th.

Tickets are available starting September 7th for LABpass Members and go onsale to the general public on Wednesday, September 14th.

The Atmosphere of Memory opens LAByrinth’s 2011/12 season and tells the story of playwright Jon Stone, who has recently found the courage to write his masterpiece: a play about his upbringing. But when his actual mother is cast to play his mother on stage and his estranged father remembers the family history differently, Jon is forced to rewrite, not only his play, but his past as well. With twists hilarious and heartbreaking, playwright Katz (Philip Roth in Khartoum, Freak) turns Williams and O'Neill on their heads by imagining a world where the boundaries between life and art, fact and fiction, are as blurry as The Atmosphere of Memory itself.

As previously announced, Pam MacKinnon will direct the production, with Scenic Design by David Gallo, Costume Design by Emily Rebholz, Lighting Design by Dans Sheehan, and Sound Design by Brendan Connelly.

Additional casting will be announced shortly.

Following the successful Broadway engagement of the Tony-nominated Best Play, The Motherf**ker with the Hat by Stephen Adly Guirgis, LAByrinth has found a new home for its 20th season, taking up residence at the newly rechristened, Bank Street Theater (155 Bank Street), a Greenwich Village landmark, formerly known as The Cherry Pit.

LAByrinth Theater Company offers an opportunity for theater patrons to become part of one of New York’s most exciting theater companies with our LABPASS Membership. For just $35, LABPASS Members enjoy a host of exclusive benefits including steep discounts and pre-sale opportunities for all productions, advanced reservation privileges to our free Barn Series readings, Members only workshop performances of new plays, as well as invitations to special Member events throughout the year.

For additional information, or to order a LABPASS Membership, please visit the website at www.labtheater.org

Bios

Ellen Burstyn is a member of LAByrinth Theater Company. Her illustrious acting career encompasses film, stage and television. She became a “triple crown winner” when she won an Emmy for her guest appearance in “Law & Order: SVU” (2009) to add to her Oscar win for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) and her Tony Award for Same Time, Next Year (1974) on Broadway. Ellen has been nominated for an Academy Award five other times for The Last Picture Show (1972), The Exorcist (1973), Same Time, Next Year, (1979), Resurrection (1981), and Requiem for a Dream (2000). Her many theater credits include the Broadway production of 84 Charing Cross Road (1982), the acclaimed one-woman play Shirley Valentine (1989) and Sacrilege (1995). She received glowing reviews in Stephen Adly Guirgis’ play The Little Flower of East Orange (2008), directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman at The Public Theater in New York. Earlier this year, Ellen appeared in London’s West End in Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour to rave reviews. Ellen was the first woman elected president of Actors Equity Association (1982-85), and served as the Artistic Director of the famed Actors Studio where she studied with the late Lee Strasberg. She continues to be active there as co-president with Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel. Academically, Ellen holds four honorary doctorates, one in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts, a Doctor of Humane Letters from Dowling College, a doctorate from the New School for Social Research, and a doctorate from Pace University where she teaches in The Actors Studio M.F.A. program. Ellen lectures throughout the country on a wide range of topics, and became a national best-selling author with the publication in 2006 of her memoir, Lessons in Becoming Myself, published by Riverhead Press. In addition to a continuing and thriving acting career, Ellen is writing a screenplay, as well as planning a book of her photography accompanied by her favorite poetry.

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