Sonnet Repertory Theatre Presents THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, Beg. Tonight, 8/9

Sonnet Repertory Theatre celebrates a decade of producing classic theatre for the modern planet with a world-premiere adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Michael Raver, directed by Quin Gordon. The Picture of Dorian Gray will begin performances tonight, August 9, with an official opening slated for Friday, August 10, at The Studio Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center.

In an era when social media, human transparency and blurring of sexual boundaries are ever-present, The Picture of Dorian Gray has prophetically become a thesis statement for a new generation. A pure soul ultimately destroyed by an obsession with self-image, Dorian Gray himself is almost a Victorian Narcissus, his infatuating charms radically poisoning all of London by way of his Faustian pact to remain young and beautiful.

The production features: Sam Underwood (Off-Broadway: Tennessee Williams' In Masks Outrageous and Austere, Culture Project, world-premiere; Regional: Equus, Guild Hall, opposite Alec Baldwin); Roger Clark (Off-Broadway: In Your Image, 59e59; To Pay the Price, Mint Theater; Anna Christie, Metropolitan Playhouse); William Connell (Broadway: A View From the Bridge, The Coast of Utopia; Regional: The Hour of Feeling, Humana); Ned Noyes (Off-Broadway: So Help Me God!, Mint Theatre, Drama Desk nomination, Best Revival; Regional: The Cherry Orchard, Steppenwolf; A Midsummer Night's Dream, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); Hanley Smith (Off-Broadway: Gloryana, The Public Theater; Frog Kiss, NYMF; Regional: In the Next Room (Or the Vibrator Play), Actors Theatre of Charlotte); and Sydney Shepherd.

Michael Raver brings this new adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray to the stage. Raver has written over thirty works, including a pre-WWII American adaptation of The Seagull, Persephone, and an adapted selection from Jhumpa Lahiri's Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of short stories, The Interpreter of Maladies, called Quiet Electricity.

Director Quin Gordon takes part in his first collaboration with Sonnet Repertory Theatre on this timely adaptation. In NYC, Gordon has directed productions for TheaterLab, Lincoln Center Institute, NY Fringe, 9Thirty Theatre Co., and Seeing Place Theater. He was assistant director to Austin Pendleton on Vieux Carre at the Pearl, and to Stuart Howard for the Mint Theatre's The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd.

Set design is by Keven Lock (Stage designs include: The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Sonnet Repertory Theatre; the 2000 Off-Broadway production of Godspell; the 30th anniversary production of Hair; Our Country's Good, Third Eye Rep; and art direction for "Good Morning America" since 1999). Lighting design is by David A. Sexton (Off-Broadway: Spring Fling 2012, F*It Club; Trousers, The Saddler; Cocaine: The Band-The Musical, NYMF). Sound design is by Janie Bullard (The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Twelfth Night, Sonnet Repertory Theatre; Keep Your Baggage with You, Theatre for a New City; underneathmybed, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre). Costume design is by Ryan Park (Twelfth Night, Sonnet Repertory Theatre; Nighttime Traffic, Fingers and Toes, NYMF; The Imaginary Invalid, The Studio NY; Game of Love, Fault Lines, Ruffled Feathers. Assistant design includes: L' Elisir d' Amore, Metropolitan Opera; Broadway's How to Succeed, On a Clear Day, Born Yesterday, Women on the Verge, Elling). Casting is by Karyn Casl (Twelfth Night and The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Sonnet Repertory Theatre; recent Broadway for Telsey + Company includes: Magic/Bird, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Best Man). Samantha Gallardo (Production Stage Manager), and Wiley Basho Gorn (Assistant Director) round out the production team.

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