Randall Duk Kim to Lead Centenary Stage Company's TARTUFFE Reading, 9/16

Broadway veteran Randall Duk Kim will lead the cast in the new "Great Authors Our Loud Series" which will launch by Centenary Stage Company this fall with a free staged reading on September 16th at 3 PM of Molière's Tartuffe.

In this most famous of Moliere's provocative and hilarious satires - whose subjects of seduction, hypocrisy and greed sparked a ferocious scandal after its first reading - Tartuffe unmasks the true motives of religious impostors who have plagued and manipulated people throughout the ages. Pretending to be a religious devotee, the character of Tartuffe manages to bully his way into a rather normal household, disguising his own sexual appetite under a mask of righteousness. Moliere peppers this comedy with all the classic comedic characters, including the bossy maid, the easily duped husband, the controlling mother-in-law, a pair of absent minded young lovers, and the deviously self- righteous Tartuffe, who is not at all as religious as his host believes him to be.

Audiences can expect a lot more than just a staged reading, says Randall Duk Kim. As Kim recently told Broadway World author Gregory Allen, "We want the audience to spend a few hours getting to know these masters and the wonder of their work. They are some of the brightest lights in our cultural and intellectual heritage. They have served as guides in my own personal development besides providing me with joy, excitement, comfort, wonder, curiosity, and life-long challenge. We will endeavor to give the audience a clear and honest rendering of these plays in a relaxed atmosphere, hoping they will be surprised, stimulated, and well entertained."

Randall Duk Kim and Anne Occhiogrosso, together with Charles Bright, founded the classical American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin in 1981, where they worked together for 35 years. Winner of the OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence, Randall Duk Kim began his early career with the legendary Joe Papp and the New York Public Theatre's Shakespeare Festival, and continued to perform leading roles of the classics at some of America's finest regional theatres. He has been seen on Broadway in Flower Drum Song, Golden Child and The King and I, but perhaps is most recognized as The Keymaker in the film "Matrix Reloaded", and the voice of Oogway in the DreamWorks' animated film "Kung Fu Panda". After leading the Centenary Stage Company 2012 Summer Masters Class, Kim returns to Centenary Stage Company for the Great Authors Reading Series, which he and Occhiogrosso will direct, and which will feature four free presentations of the classics through the 2012-13 season. In addition to Tartuffe, upcoming plays will include Ibsen's An Enemy of the People and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice as well as an afternoon of Chekhov's one act plays.

Director Anne Occhiogrosso has received national recognition for her work with the American Players Theatre. She is an acclaimed director, dramaturge, acting coach and actor, whose primary focus has been classical theatre with a special emphasis on the works of William Shakespeare. While at American Players Theatre, she directed numerous Shakespearean productions, including Hamlet, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Merchant of Venice, as well as other classics, including Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters, Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, Chekhov's The Bear, The Wedding and Swan Song. She has also taught acting at the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting and the New York Shakespeare Festival and currently works with Classical Productions, Inc. where she coaches individuals in audition preparation, character development and script analysis for film, television and theater.

The reading of Tartuffe will be held Sunday, September 16th at 3:00PM in the Edith Kutz Black Box Theatre in the David and Carol Lackland Center on the campus of Centenary College in Hackettstown, NJ. Admission is free, but reservations are requested, and patrons interested in attending should reserve their seats by calling the CSC box office at (908) 979-0900.

The 2012-13 season of performing arts events at Centenary Stage Company is made possible (and affordable) through the generous support of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the NJ State Council on the Arts and CSC members and sponsors, including CSC Season Sponsor Heath Village Retirement Community, Series sponsor Fulton Bank of New Jersey, as well as Silver Sponsor Hackettstown Regional Medical Center, and Mama's and Café Baci.

Pictured Randall Duk Kim and Anne Occhiogrosso in the SITNIK Theater of Centenary Stage.

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