The Berlin Requiem and The Seven Deadly Sins

Alvin Epstein is a former artistic director of the Guthrie Theater and associate director of Robert Brustein's Yale Repertory Theatre. He has directed over twenty productions (five at the American Repertory Theater, including the inaugural A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1980) and performed in over one hundred (over fifty at the A.R.T.). His A.R.T. roles include Old Man in Lysistrata, the Herald in Marat/Sade, Dionisio Genoni in Enrico IV, John of Gaunt/First Gardener in Richard II, Erich Honecker in Full Circle, McLeavy in Loot, Shabelsky in Ivanov, and Lee Strasberg in Nobody Dies on Friday; Mr. Epstein has also appeared in The Doctor's Dilemma, Antigone, Three Farces and a Funeral, The Winter's Tale, Charlie in the House of Rue, The Merchant of Venice, In the Jungle of Cities, The Bacchae, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, When the World Was Green (A Chef's Fable), Slaughter City, Tartuffe, The Tempest, Beckett Trio, The Threepenny Opera, and Waiting for Godot, among many others. His twenty Broadway and off-Broadway productions include his debut with Marcel Marceau, the Fool in Orson Welles's King Lear, Lucky in the American premiere of Waiting for Godot, Clov in the American premiere of Endgame, Peachum in The Threepenny Opera (co-starring with Sting), and the world premiere of Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin's When the World Was Green (A Chef's Fable). For twenty years he and Martha Schlamme performed A Kurt Weill Cabaret on tour in the U.S. and South America and a year's run on Broadway. He has performed at many resident theaters throughout the U.S., in films and on television. Awards include Most Promising Actor ('56 Variety Poll), Brandeis Creative Arts Award ('66), Obie for Dynamite Tonight! ('68), Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence ('96), and the IRNE Award for Best Supporting Actor as Shabelsky in Ivanov ('99). Mr. Epstein teaches acting at the American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.

Michael Yeargan designed sets for King Stag, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Threepenny Opera, The Juniper Tree, The Seven Deadly Sins, and Sganarelle at the A.R.T. He is resident designer for the Yale Repertory Theatre and Professor of Stage Design at Yale School of Drama. Mr. Yeargan has designed extensively in American resident theatres and on Broadway, and for opera companies throughout the U.S. and Europe, with designs for the Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, and Covent Garden, Frankfurt Opera and Australian Opera. His U.S. credits include the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, and Houston Grand Opera.

Cardenio (Lighting Design). A.R.T.: Resident lighting designer, 1981–1984: Ghosts (directed by Robert Brustein), Orlando (directed by Peter Sellars), Marsha Norman's 'Night, Mother and Traveler in the Dark, Jules Fieffer's Grownups, Sganarelle (directed by Andrei Serban), the first Hasty Pudding season (True West and Robert Auletta's Rundown), Waiting for Godot (directed by Andrei Belgrader), The Boys from Syracuse, The Marriage of Figaro, The Seven Deadly Sins (all directed by Alvin Epstein). Recent seasons: A Midsummer Night's Dream (directed by Martha Clarke), The Children of Herakles (directed by Peter Sellars), The Seagull (directed by Ron Daniels), Once in a Lifetime (directed by Anne Bogart), Major Barbara, Larry Gelbart's Mastergate. Recent: New Works Festival (ten new pieces for San Francisco Ballet), Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cellphone (Steppenwolf Theatre Company/Chicago), King Arthur (directed and choreographed by Mark Morris at New York City Opera), Kaija Saariaho’s Adriana Mater (directed by Peter Sellars at Finnish National Opera), Coppelia (Dutch National Ballet). He often collaborates with Melanie Rios and the Saint Joseph Ballet.

Harry S. Murphy, who returns to play Christopher Sly in The Taming of the Shrew and Collie Couch in In the Jungle of Cities, spent many seasons at the American Repertory Theater and appeared in over a dozen productions here, including The King Stag, Angel City, Platonov, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, As You Like It, The School for Scandal, Alcestis, The Balcony, Sganarelle, Six Characters in Search of an Author, and The Marriage of Figaro. His Broadway credits include Macbeth, Othello, Big Time, and The Good Times are Killing Me. He also appeared in such musicals as The Boys from Syracuse and Happy End (at the A.R.T ), as well as Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well . . . and Good Sport. Other resident credits include Room Service, Henry V, Hedda Gabler, Phaedre, Romeo and Juliet, and Twelfth Night. Mr. Murphy appeared in the feature films Calendar Girl, Eddie Macon's Run, and The Return, and his television credits include Cosby, Law and Order, Spenser for Hire, True Blue, and New York Undercover.

Tony Shalhoub most recently appeared at the American Repertory Theater in the role of Bobby in The Old Neighborhood, having appeared previously in eighteen A.R.T. productions over four seasons. His roles included He in Diderot's Rameau's Nephew (which he also played off-Broadway), Pozzo in Waiting for Godot (1983), Joseph Surface in The School for Scandal, Angelo in Measure for Measure, Solyony in Three Sisters, Spear in the premiere of Rundown, and The Son in Six Characters in Search of an Author. A 1980 graduate of the Yale School of Drama, he performed in seven productions at the Yale Repertory Theatre, appearing as Vince in Buried Child, and Crotch and General Laskey in Ubu Rex. Tony has appeared on Broadway in The Heidi Chronicles and Conversations with My Father (Tony Award nomination), in Zero Positive and For Dear Life at the Public Theater, and Richard III and Henry IV, Part I at Shakespeare-in-the-Park. Other resident credits include Progress at the Long Wharf Theatre, and Rum and Coke at Coconut Grove. Film credits include the highly acclaimed Big Night opposite Stanley Tucci, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Honeymoon in Vegas, Barton Fink, Longtime Companion, and Quick Change. On television, Mr. Shalhoub played Ian Stark on the NBC series Stark Raving Mad, and was a regular cast member on the long-running series Wings.  He has also appeared in The Equalizer, Spencer for Hire, and numerous TV movies including Day One, in which he portrayed Enrico Fermi.

A.R.T.: 119 productions, including R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Myster) OF THE UNIVERSE (R. Buckminster Fuller), Cabaret (Fraulein Schneider), Endgame (Clov), The Seagull (Dorn), Oliver Twist (also at Theatre for a New Audience and Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Birthday Party (Stanley), Highway Ulysses (Ulysses), Uncle Vanya (Vanya), Marat/Sade (Marquis de Sade), Richard II (Richard). Broadway: Jackie: An American Life (23 roles). Off-Broadway: Johan Padan (Johan), Big Time (Ted).  Tours with the Company across the U.S., with residencies in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and throughout Europe, Canada, Israel, Taiwan, Japan and Moscow, and has recently been performing Julius Caesar in France. Other: I Am My Own Wife, Boston TheatreWorks; Approaching Moomtaj, New Repertory Theatre; Twelfth Night and The Tempest, Commonwealth Shakespeare Co.; London’s Battersea Arts Center; five productions at Houston’s Alley Theatre, including Our Town (Dr. Gibbs, directed by José Quintero); and many theatres throughout the U.S. Awards: 1994 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence, 2000 and 2004 IRNE Awards for Best Actor, 1997 Los Angeles DramaLogue Award (for title role of Shlemiel the First). Television: Julie Taymor’s film Fool’s Fire (PBS American Playhouse), "Unsolved Mysteries," "Del and Alex" (Alex, A&E Network). Film: Mystic River (directed by Clint Eastwood), The Pink Panther II. He is on the faculty of the A.R.T. Institute, teaches acting at Harvard University and Emerson College, and is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

Irina Nikolayevna Arkadina in The Seagull. A.R.T.: founding member, sixty-six productions including Elena Ceausescu in The Communist Dracula Pageant, When It's Hot, It's Cole, Luisa in Cardenio, Margrethe Bohr in Copenhagen, Kitty Farmer in Donnie Darko, A Marvelous Party!, Mrs. Bumble in Oliver Twist (also at Theatre for A New Audience and Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Island of Slaves, the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Estelle in No Exit, Ellen in Olly's Prison, Anna in Dido, Queen of Carthage, Madamoiselle in The Provok'd Wife, Frosine in The Miser, Meg in The Birthday Party, Hippolyta/Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, several roles in Highway Ulysses, Kalonika in Lysistrata, Simonne Evrard in Marat/Sade, Emilia in Othello, the Duchess of Gloucester and Duchess of York in Richard II, the title role in Mother Courage, and Madam Yelena Popov/Nastasya in Three Farces and a Funeral. She has also appeared as Paulina in The Winter's Tale, Translator/Ursula in Full Circle, Zinaida in Ivanov, Anaïs Nin in The Idiots Karamazov, The Maid in Charlie in the House of Rue, Eileen in The Cripple of Inishmaan, Enone in Phaedra, Margaret Brennan in The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Female Interviewer in Valparaiso, Beline in The Imaginary Invalid, the Chorus Leader in The Bacchae, Mrs. Darling in Peter Pan and Wendy, Mrs. Pierson in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Gena in The Wild Duck, Smeraldina in The King Stag, Karen in Six Characters in Search of an Author, and in Big River, School for Scandal, and Baby With the Bathwater. New York: Roundabout Theatre, Second Stage, Playwright's Horizons, and Actors' Playhouse. Regional: The Misanthrope (Arsinöe, Berkshire Theatre Festival), Infestation (Mother, Boston Playwrights Theatre), Twelfth Night (Maria, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Maureen) and The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Boo, Vineyard Playhouse), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Martha, Elliot Norton Award) and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Frankie, Merrimack Repertory Theatre), As You Like It (Rosalind, Shakespeare & Co), Shirley Valentine (Shirley, Charles Playhouse). Other: Alley Theatre (Company member), the Goodman Theatre, the Wilma Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Geva Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Buffalo Studio Arena, Cincinnati Playhouse, Philadelphia Festival of New Plays.