Brooklyn 30 Lafayette Avenue Academy Brooklyn NY 1121 7- 1486 of Telephone: 718.636.4129 Music Fax: 718 .85 7 .2021 PressDepartment For FurtherPress Information William Murray or Heidi Feldman at 718.636.4129 BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC (BAM) PRESENTS SEBASTIANBARRY'S PLAY THESTEWARD OF CHRISTENDOM STARRINGDONAL MCCANN DIRECTEDBY MAX STAFFORD-CLARK FIVE-WEEKENGAGEMENT 32 PERFORMANCES SPONSOREDBY TIME WARNERINC . JANUARY 18 - FEBRUARY23 BAM MAJESTICTHEATER (First Press Night - Tuesday, January 21) Sebastian Barry's The Steward of Christendom, directed by Max Stafford-Clark, renowned for his work at London's Royal Court Theatre, stars the Irish actor Donal McCann (last seen in Bertolucci's film "Stealing Beau ty" and in New York in the off-Broadway, Gate Theater production of Juno and the Paycock) as Thomas Dunne, a Lear-like character based on the playwrights' own great­ grandfather. The Steward of Christendom opens its five week, 32 performance run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) on January 18 and will continue until February 23 at the BAM Majest ic Theater, 651 Fulton Street in Brooklyn , New York. "The play is beautifu l, evocat ive and full of feeling , the production brings the play to thrilling, theatrical life and Donal McCann 's performance just about splits you in two ," said Harvey Lichtenstein, BAM President and Execut ive Producer. "As a company committed to artistic excellence , and as a proud corporate citizen of New York, Time Warner is privileged to sponsor BAM's presentation of The Steward of Christendom. Here is theater at its best, a play of power and eloquence performed by a world-class actor , under a masterful director , on one of the world's renowned stages. This w ill be a highlight of the 1997 theatrical season," said Gerald M. Levin, Chairman and CEO , Time Warner Inc . BAM 135th Anniversary Season is sponsored by Philip Morris CompaniesI nc. Barry has wr itten a series of plays that are, he says, "looking for the lost, hidden, or seldom ment ioned people in one Irish family" - namely his own. The fifth and most recent of this cycle , The Steward of Christendom is about Barry's controversial and contentious great -grandfather Chief Superintendent Thomas Dunne, a Catholic who was the last head of the now defunct Dublin Metropolitan Police . The play takes place in 1932 in the County Wicklow mental home, in Baltinglass, where Dunne, now in his mid-seventies , resides . Remembering his proud years as superintendent at the Metropolitan Police , Dunne drif ts between the grim present of his confinement and the painful revelations of the past. Visited by his half-estranged daughters, haunted by the spirit of the son he lost in World War I, and supervised by the asylum 's warden and nurse, Dunne recalls his service as the last Catholic Chief Superintendent loyal to the King, before his countrymen ousted the British and Michael Collins, a soldier turned political leade r, ratified the treaty w ith London for Irish Independence. The surrender of the Dublin Castle to Collins in 1922 marks the end of Dunne's public life as well as his meaning in history. Dunne , is partly modelled after King Lear, a man who has lost a kingdom and now is dependent on his three daughters. Dunnes's world of loyality, order and certainty has given way, and his only comforts are sly bouts of mental instability that give him a sense of freedom. He flits in and ou t of lucid ity, and tragically becomes a man who cannot make sense of things because he cannot make sense of the changed world around him. John Lahr of The New Yorker wrote of The Steward of Christendom: "A great p lay , like a great punch , is sometimes hard to see coming, but you know when you've been hit. You are rocked to your toes; and long after the event your body carries the memory of that unforeseen power. The name Sebastian Barry is new to me , but it will not be soon forgotten ." Known as one of Ireland 's best contemporary writers, Sebastian Barry has written numerous plays, novels and poems. He is a member of Aosdana (affiliation of Irish actors , writers and composers), recipient of BBC Stewart Parker Award ( 1989) and a Writers Guild Award ( 1995), Writer-In-Association w ith Abbey Theatre ( 1989- 1990). He wrote several plays including Boss Grady's Boys, (1988/1989) , Prayer of Sherkin ( 1989), White Woman Street ( 1992), and The Only True History of Lizzie Finn (1995) . He is also the author of The Engine of Owl-Light , a novel (1987), Elsewhere , a chi ldren 's novel (1985), and Fanny Hawke Goes to the Mainland Forever, a poetry collection ( 1989). Donal McCann (Thomas Dunne) theater credits include: The Steward of Christendom (Out of Joint/Royal Court Theatre), A Prayer for My Daughter , Faith Healer , A Life, Juno and the Paycock, The Plough and the Stars, The Successor , Tea, Sex and Shakespeare , The Shaughraun , Tarry Flynn, Waiting for Godot , Miss Julie , A Month in the Country and Wonderful Tennessee. Films include: "The Dead," "The Miracle," "December Bride," "Poitin," "Budawanny," "Cal," "Stealing Beauty" and "The Nephew" (to be released in 1997). Max Stafford-Clark, Director. Following his Artistic Directorship of the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in 1974 , Max Stafford-Clark founded Joint Stock w ith William Gaskill. From 1979 to 1993 he was Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre. In 1993 he founded Out of Joint, and is currently an Associate Director of the Royal Court Theatre. His work as a director has been overwhe lming with new writing and he has commissioned and directed first productions of works by many of Britain's leading writers. These include Fanshen , The Speakers (both with William Gaskill), Light Shining in Buckinghamshire and Cloud Nine for Joint Stock; Operation Bad Apple, Top Girls, Rita Sue and Bob Too, Falkland Sound, Tom and Viv, Rat in the Skull, Aunt Dan and Lemon , Serious Money , Our Country's Good , lcecream , My Heart's A Suitcase , Hush and Three Birds Alighting On A Field for the Roya l Court; and The Queen and I. The Ubertine, The Steward of Christendom, The Break of Day and Shopping And Fucking for Out of Joint. In addition he has directed The Seagull, The Recruiting Officer and King Lear for the Royal Court; A Jovial Crew and The Wives' Excuse for the Royal Shakespeare Company; and The Man of Mode and Three Sisters for Out of Joint. He has also directed for the Abbey Theatre . Dublin and the Public Theatre here in New York. The Steward of Christendom written by Sebastian Barry, directed by Max Stafford­ Clark and starring Donal McCann, opens on January 18 at 7:00pm (First Press Night - Tuesday, January 21 at 8:00pm)and will run January 20 - 21. 23 - 25, 28 - 31, February 1, February 4 - 8, 11 - 15 and 18 - 22 at 8:00pm and January 19, 26 and February 2. 9, 16 and 23 at 3:00pm at the BAM, Majestic Theater at 651 Fulton Street in Brooklyn. Tickets are $50, 35 and 20 and may be purchased over the phone by calling Ticket master at 212.307 A 100 or in person at the BAM Box Office at 30 Lafayette Avenue. For information and reservations on the BAMbus, sponsored by Brooklyn Union, call 718.636.4100. BAM Prefers VISA. BAM 1997 spring season and 135th anniversary season are sponsored by Philip Morris Companies Inc. BAM Theater, Opera and Dance supporters: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust; The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.: The Norman and Rosita Winston Foundation, Inc .; The Howard Gilman Foundation; The Harkness Foundations for Dance: The Robert W. Wilson Foundation Inc.; The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation: Francena T. Harrison Foundation Trust: Morgan Stanley Group Inc.; Dow Jones Foundation; The MetroTech Downtown Fund; The Billy Rose Foundation Inc.; Wendy vanden Heuvel: Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City Council ; Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; National Endowment for the Arts: New York State Council on the Arts and the following endowed program funds: Michael Bancroft Goth Endowed Annual Performance Fund; The Charles and Valerie Diker Dance Endowment Fund: The Marion Petschek Smith Fund for Choreographers BAM Theater Major corporate sponsor: Time Warner Additional support provided by European American Bank. British Airways - Official Airline. christ.doc 12/5/96 .