FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

PRESS CONTACT: Brett Singer (212)575-0263

The Peccadillo Theater Company To Present

Counsellor-At-Law

Written by Elmer Rice, Directed by Dan Wackerman

Starring Tony Award Winner John Rubinstein

Performances Begin Thursday, May 6th

At Bank Street Theatre (155 Bank Street)

The Peccadillo Theater Company will present a production of Elmer Rice’s 1931 legal drama Counsellor-At-Law.  Performances will be at Bank Street Theatre (155 Bank Street), and will begin on Thursday, May 6th, continuing through Sunday, May 30th.

Elmer Rice's Counsellor-At-Law is a tightly plotted melodrama about a cynical attorney's struggle to avoid disbarment. Having bootstrapped his way out of the Jewish ghetto, George Simon finds himself at the mercy of an anti-Semitic rival, who knows that, years earlier, George perjured himself to save a friend from the old neighborhood. Ironically, George's "crime" was also an act of compassion and serves to highlight exactly how far this apparently successful man has strayed from the liberal values of his youth.

The cast for Counsellor-At-Law will be led by John Rubinstein, who made his Broadway debut in Pippin and won a Tony Award for Children of a Lesser God; he was most recently seen on Broadway in Ragtime.  Television audiences remember him from his role on “Family”, among many other appearances.  Mr. Rubinstein is also an accomplished composer (like his father, Arthur Rubinstein), having written the scores to numerous films, as well as the themes to the television shows “Family” and “China Beach”.  He won the Drama-Logue and L. A. Drama Critics Circle Awards for his portrayal of George Simon in Counsellor, and he is pleased to work with The Peccadillo Theater Company to bring this play to New York.

The cast will also include Madeleine Martin (last season’s revival of A Day In The Death of Joe Egg on Broadway), as well as her brother Joseph (Madeleine is 11 and Joseph is 14).  Rounding out the company will be D. Michael Berkowitz, Dennis Burke, Beth Glover, Nell Gwynn, James M. Larmer, David Lavine, Mark Light-Orr, Lanie MacEwan, Racheline Maltese, Sal Mistretta, Robert O’Gorman, Ginger Rich, Tara Sands, Letty Serra, Brian Taylor, and Ashley West.  Peccadillo Artistic Director Dan Wackerman will direct.

The Peccadillo Theater Company was founded in 1994 with the goal of producing forgotten American classics – “forgotten” in the sense that most of the work the company does is rarely revived in New York City, and “classic” in the sense of enduring theatrical value.  Their first production was Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude, more recently, the company presented a highly acclaimed revival of John Colton’s The Shanghai Gesture and a new production of Dorothy Parker’s The Ladies of the Corridor.

Counsellor-At-Law will begin performances on Thursday, May 6th and will continue through Sunday, May 30th.  Opening is scheduled for Sunday, May 9th.  The schedule will be Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00pm, and Sundays at 3:00pm.  Tickets are $15 and may be purchased by calling Smarttix at (212) 868-4444, or online at www.smarttix.com.  Photos will be available for download at www.brettsinger.com/clients/peccadillo.html.

Counsellor-At-Law

Written By Elmer Rice, Directed by Dan Wackerman

Presented by The Peccadillo Theater Company

Bank Street Theatre, 155 Bank Street (between Washington and West Streets)

SCHEDULE: Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00pm, Sundays at 3:00pm

Performances begin Thursday, May 6th

Opening: Sunday, May 9th at 3pm

Through Sunday, May 30th

TICKETS:  $15.00; Call (212) 868-4444 or visit www.smarttix.com