André De Shields as Touchstone in the John Doyle Helmed AS YOU LIKE IT at Bay Street Theater through September 3

André De Shields​ as Touchstone and Hannah Cabell​ as Rosalind in AS YOU LIKE IT at Bay Street Theater​.
Copyright Lenny Stucker

Bay Street Theater is presenting As You Like It by William Shakespeare, with Tony Award winner John Doyle at the helm through September 3.  Currently in previews, As You Like It opens on August 12, 2017. The production stars two- time Tony nominee and Emmy Award nominee André De Shields (The Full Monty, Ain’t Misbehavin’, The Wiz) as Touchstone, Hannah Cabell (The Father, Men on Boats, Major Barbara) as Rosalind, and Academy Award, Emmy Award and Tony Award winner Ellen Burstyn (Same Time, Next Year, The Last Picture Show, The Exorcist) as Jacques.

The full company of AS YOU LIKE IT at Bay Street Theater. Photo by Lenny Stucker

The production also features Quincy Tyler Bernstine (In The Next Room, Small Mouth Sounds) as Celia, Kyle Scatliffe (The Color Purple, Les Miserables) as Orlando, Noah Brody (Co-Artistic Director of Fiasco Theater) as Oliver/Corin, Leenya Rideout (War Horse, Company, Cabaret) as Phoebe, Tony Award nominee Bob Stillman (Grey Gardens, Songbird, As You Like It) as Duke Frederick/ Duke Sr., Cass Morgan (Memphis the Musical, Mary Poppins) as Old Adam/Audrey and David Samuel (The Diamond in the Rough, To Kill a Mockingbird) as Silvius.

Tickets on sale at the Box Office at 631-725-9500 11 am – show time daily or online at www.baystreet.org.

André De Shields​ and Noah Brody in AS YOU LIKE IT at Bay Street Theater​.
Copyright Lenny Stucker

Three-time Academy Award winner and musical theater legend Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Godspell) has created an original, Jazz Era inspired score for the production and members of the cast play instruments.

John Doyle (The Color Purple, Sweeney Todd, Company) has designed the sets in addition to directing the production. The creative team will also include Ann Hould-Ward (Costume designer), Andrew Diaz (Props designer) and Shaughn Bryant (Sound Supervisor), Kat West (Production Stage Manager), and Stewart/Whitely (Casting). AS YOU LIKE IT is a co-production with Classic Stage Company in New York City.

Quincy Tyler Bernstine as Celia, Hannah Cabell as Rosalind and André De Shields as Touchstone in AS YOU LIKE IT at Bay Street Theater.
Copyright Lenny Stucker

In AS YOU LIKE IT, join Rosalind, one of Shakespeare’s greatest heroines, as she travels into the merry Forest of Arden leaving behind the politics of the city. Disguising herself as a man and accompanied by her cousin Celia she embarks on a hilarious and romantic journey where she finds love, laughter, and maybe even herself. Shakespeare’s beloved comedy will be brought to joyful new life in a production filled with Jazz Era inspired music performed by a masterful cast.

André De Shields​ as Touchstone in AS YOU LIKE IT at Bay Street Theater​.
Copyright Lenny Stucker

André De Shields (Touchstone) In a career spanning forty-eight years, André De Shields has distinguished himself as an unparalleled actor, director, choreographer and educator. He is the recipient of three Jeff Awards, one as Director for Victory Gardens’ 1987 production of The Colored Museum, and two as Featured Performer in a Musical for the Goodman Theatre productions of Play On! (1998) and Mary Zimmerman’s The Jungle Book (2013). In fact Mr. De Shields’ professional career began at Chicago’s Shubert Theatre, now the Bank of America Theatre, in the 1969 production of Hair. From there he moved on to The Me Nobody Knows at the Civic Opera House, and ultimately became a member of The Organic Theatre Company, where he created the role of Xander the Unconquerable, Ruler of the Sixth Dimension in the cult sensation Warp. A multiple Tony Award nominee, he is best known for his show-stopping performances in four legendary Broadway musicals: The Wiz, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Play On! and The Full Monty.

His numerous accolades include an Emmy Award for the NBC Special based on Ain’t Misbehavin’, the 2007 Village Voice OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance, the 2009 National Black Theatre Festival’s Living Legend Award, a 2012 Fox Foundation Fellowship in Distinguished Achievement, Florida Atlantic University’s 2014 Making Waves Award, the Theatre School at DePaul University 2015 Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Riant Theatre’s 2016 Pioneer of the Arts Award, the Black Theatre Network’s 2016 Winona Lee Fletcher Award, a 2016 Beinecke Fellowship at Yale School of Drama and nine AUDELCO Awards. and two Doctor of Fine Arts degrees honoris causa one each from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the State University of New York-College at Buffalo.

The 2017 Mainstage Season is sponsored in part by New York State through the generosity of Assemblyman Fred Thiele and State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle; the New York State Council on The Arts, a State Agency; Town of Southampton; The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust; The Shubert Foundation; and public funding by Suffolk County. Support for new work comes from The New Directions Fund and the Joseph SteinNew Musical Fund. Previews sponsored by Peconic Landing.

Classic Stage Company (CSC), now in its 49th Season, is committed to re-imagining classic stories for contemporary audiences. The company has been a home for New York’s finest established and emerging artists to grapple with the great works of the world’s repertory that speak directly to the issues of today. CSC serves an average of 35,000 audience members annually, including more than 4,000 students through its nationally-recognized CSC Education programs. Productions have been cited repeatedly by all the major Off-Broadway theater awards including the Obie, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work.

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is a year-round, not-for-profit professional theater and community cultural center which endeavors to innovate, educate, and entertain a diverse community through the practice of the performing arts. We serve as a social and cultural gathering place, an educational resource, and a home for a community of artists.

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Lia Chang, Photo by Garth Kravits

Lia Chang is an award-winning filmmaker, a Best Actress nominee, a photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and Hide and Seek. She is profiled in  Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.

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