The Gallery Players Presents "The School for Scandal", Greatest Comedy of Manners in the English Language, By Richard Brinsley Sheridan February 19 – March 6, 2005

The Gallery Players, Brooklyn’s premiere Off-Off Broadway theater, continues its 38th eclectic season of plays and musicals with the riotous comedy "The School for Scandal" by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Thursday, February 19 through March 6, 2005. Henry Wishcamper directs.

NEW YORK, NY (PRWEB) February 11, 2005 -- The Gallery Players, Brooklyn’s premiere Off-Off Broadway theater, continues its 38th eclectic season of plays and musicals with the riotous comedy "The School for Scandal" by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Thursday, February 19 through March 6, 2005. First produced at London's Drury Lane Theater in the spring of 1777, "The School for Scandal" brings to life the story of the wealthy, middle-aged bachelor, Sir Peter Teazle, who has married the young and comely daughter of a country squire. Lady Teazle finds that the society of which she's now a part is full of malicious gossip that no one can escape. Thought to be the greatest comedy of manners in the English language (Encyclopedia Brittanica), "The School for Scandal" satirizes our insatiable “need to know”. Centuries before Jerry Springer, Ricki Lake, and The National Enquirer appeared on the scene, Sheridan gave us such gossip-mongers as Lady Sneerwell, Snake, Mrs. Candor, and Benjamin Backbite.

Henry Wishcamper, who helmed The Keen Company’s acclaimed production of Thornton Wilder’s "Pullman Car Hiawatha" earlier this season, directs. Of "The School for Scandal", Wishcamper says: “It is a great play with great dramatic structure, numerous juicy parts for actors, very easily accessible humor, and a surprisingly modern sensibility. It is rare for a young director to have the opportunity to direct a classic like "The School for Scandal" in New York and I am grateful to The Gallery Players for entrusting it to me. I believe that Sheridan - the manager of a repertory theater, the Drury Lane - would find it very appropriate that The Gallery Players would present his play as part of a slate that includes such varied offerings as "Hair", "Cloud Nine", "The Spitfire Grill", "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)", and "The Full Monty".”

Shawn Reese is Producer. Set design for "The School for Scandal" is by Carrie Mossman; lighting by Sarah Jakubasz; costumes by Sarah Rizza; Aaron Meicht is Sound Designer; Sasha Nyary is Production Stage Manager. The cast includes Sofia Antelo, Larry Arancio, Joshua Bevans, Brooke Delaney, James Glenn, Wilbur Henry, Matthew Humphreys, Alexis Hyatt, Christopher Keogh, Lael Logan, Susan Pellegrino, Peter Russo, and Marcos Sanchez.

Performances take place Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8PM; Sundays at 3PM. Further information can be found at www.galleryplayers.com. Individual tickets for each performance are $15 for Adults and $12 for Children 12 and under and Senior Citizens. Reservations can be made by calling (718) 595-0547. The Gallery Players is located at 199 14th St., between 4th and 5th Aves. in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Take the F Train to 4th Ave.; R Train to 9th St. By car: BQE to Hamilton Avenue to 14th Street.

Henry Wishcamper (Director) is an Artistic Associate with the Keen Company, for whom he directed a 2004 production of Thornton Wilder’s "Pullman Car Hiawatha", of which The New York Post wrote, “Brilliantly directed by Henry Wishcamper and beautifully acted…” and The New York Daily News wrote, “Deeply moving…Director Henry Wishcamper has blended the realistic and the mythical as artfully as a symphonic conductor.” Other directing credits include "The Good Thief" for Portland Stage Company; "‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore" at HERE; "Romeo & Juliet", "As You Like It", and "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" for the Maine Summer Dramatic Institute, a group for which he was Artistic Director from 1996-1999; among others in NYC, California, Maine, and Connecticut. He was Assistant Director for "Iron" at Manhattan Theatre Club, "Match" at the Plymouth Theater, "Princess Turandot" at Blue Light Theater, and others. Mr. Wishcamper holds a B.A. with distinction in Theater Studies and American Studies from Yale. "The School for Scandal" marks his debut with The Gallery Players.

Located in Park Slope, Brooklyn, but beloved on both sides of the Bridge, The Gallery Players have been called “local heroes” by TIME OUT NEW YORK and “one of New York’s secret treasures” by author and composer Rupert Holmes. An Equity Showcase house, The Gallery Players’ exciting productions and nurturing atmosphere have attracted the best actors, directors, designers, and musicians in New York, many of whom have gone on to prominent careers on the stage, as well as in film and television. Among the well-known alumni of The Gallery Players are actor and author Harvey Fierstein (Hairspray, Torch Song Trilogy), John Rando (director of Broadway’s Urinetown), Diedre Goodwin (Chicago, Never Gonna Dance, Nine), Jennifer Barnhart (Avenue Q), and many other artists. The Gallery Players has premiered over 200 new works as part of its mainstage season and the annual Black Box New Play Festival, and it has given the first New York revivals of many cutting-edge plays and musicals, including "Love! Valour! Compassion!", "Assassins", "Kiss of the Spider Woman", and "Floyd Collins".

Still to come this season: whether familiar with the Bard’s oeuvre or not, families can’t get enough of the raucous clowning of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)" which runs March 26 - April 10; Neal Freeman directs. The mainstage season finale is the First New York City Revival of Terrence McNally and David Yazbek’s hilarious musical "The Full Monty", directed by Vice President of The Gallery Players, Matt Schicker, in which six out-of-work and out-of-shape steel workers find that desperate times call for desperate measures! "The Full Monty" runs from April 30-May 22.

The Gallery Players’ mainstage season, comprised of revivals of classic and contemporary plays and musicals, is complimented by the annual Black Box New Play Festival. Over 170 full-length and one-act plays have received their World Premiere performances as part of the Black Box Festival. This year’s Festival runs from June 2-26, 2005. The wide variety of themes and styles of the Black Box plays draws a whole spectrum of New York theater-goers, from the discriminating theater aficionado to first-timers just discovering the thrill and excitement of live performance.