December 3, 2004

Philadelphia Theatre Company will present a three-day master class with Tony-Award winning actor and leading physical theater artist BILL IRWIN December 7-9 at the Ethical Society in Philadelphia. This master class precedes the PBS broadcast of "Bill Irwin: America's Clown Prince" on the Great Performances program on December 15 aired locally by WHYY-TV at 8:00 PM. Participating in the master class will be some of Philadelphia's finest movement-based artists, many of whom participated in an earlier master class with Bill Irwin in October when he was appearing in Philadelphia Theatre Company's critically-acclaimed production of Trumbo by Christopher Trumbo. During this three-day session, Irwin will share his experience and expertise in physical theater and characterization through the body and movement.

The master class is made possible by a generous grant from the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative, funded by Pew Charitable Trusts, administered by Drexel University.

"We are so pleased to be bringing Bill back to Philadelphia to share his time and talents with our own theater community," said Sara Garonzik, Producing Artistic Director of Philadelphia Theatre Company. "Trumbo began a wonderful relationship between Philadelphia Theatre Company and Bill Irwin which we hope will deepen over time."

Bill Irwin is a leading theater artist whose award-winning and varied performance career runs the gamut of physical theater, dance, clown arts and traditional theater performance. The Tony Award-winner for Fool Moon, starred opposite Sally Field in the 2002 Tony Award-winning play Edward Albee's The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? In March of 2005, he will star opposite Kathleen Turner in the Broadway revival of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. New York's Signature Theatre's 2003/04 Season was dedicated entirely to his original work for which he served as writer, director, and star. His other Broadway work includes his original work, Largely New York, which received five Tony Award nominations and won Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and New York Dance and Performance Awards. In the fall of 2000, Irwin directed and performed his own adaptation of Samuel Beckett's prose work Texts for Nothing at the Classic Stage Company, for which he received a nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance by the Outer Critics Circle. Irwin has appeared on numerous television shows including The Closing Ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta in which he starred, directed, and choreographed; Northern Exposure, Saturday Night Live, the Tonight Show, the Cosby Show, HBO's Bette Midler: Mondo Beyondo, PBS' Great Performances 20th Anniversary Special, and Sesame Street. His feature films include: Love Conquers All!, Igby Goes Down, the Laramie Project for HBO, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey, John Turturo's Illuminata, Scalpers with Andy Garcia and Mike Hoffman's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Michelle Pfeiffer, Kevin Klein and Rupert Everett. In 1983, Irwin was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Choreographer's Fellowship, and in 1984 was named a Guggenheim fellow and was awarded a five-year MacArthur Fellowship.

Philadelphia Theatre Company, now in its 29th season, is Philadelphia's only non-profit professional theater dedicated to producing regional and world premieres of works by contemporary American playwrights. Under the artistic direction of Sara Garonzik, Philadelphia Theatre Company has had ever-increasing national impact with over 100 new American plays. Recent world premiere productions include: Bruce Graham's According to Goldman; Jeffrey Hatcher's A Picasso; Daniel Stern's comedy Barbra's Wedding; John Henry Redwood's No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs; J.T. Roger's White People; David Ives' Lives of the Saints; three-time Tony Award-winning Master Class by Terrence McNally; Bunny Bunny by Alan Zweibel; and the American premiere of Birdy by Naomi Wallace. Philadelphia Theatre Company was chosen Best Theatre Company 2003 by Philadelphia Magazine. Since 1995, Philadelphia Theatre Company has received 83 nominations and 24 awards from Philadelphia's Barrymore Awards, most recently for The Last Five Years (Overall Outstanding Production of a Musical, 2002-2003) and A Picasso (Outstanding New Play, 2002-2003). Philadelphia Theatre Company has been in residence at the historic Plays & Players Theater since 1982.

For further information, please call 215-985-1400 or visit www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org.

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