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Friday, November 26, 2010

STNJ CLOSES 2010 SEASON WITH AMERICAN REGIONAL PREMIERE OF BELOVED BRITISH CLASSIC

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey will close its 2010 Season with the American East Coast and regional premiere of British author Dodie Smith’s I Capture The Castle, a stage adaption of Smith’s 1948 popular coming-of-age novel. I Capture The Castle provides a perfect holiday outing opportunity for the whole family.


I capture castle STNJ I CAPTURE THE CASTLE
By Dodie Smith
Directed by Cameron Watson


WHEN: December 1, 2010, through January 2, 2011. There are no performances on December 25 or January 1.
WHERE: The F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre is located at 36 Madison Avenue (at Lancaster Road), in Madison
TICKETS: call the box office at 973.408.5600 or visit www.ShakespeareNJ.org.    

Born in Lancashire, England in 1896, playwright and author Dodie Smith is best known for her children’s book The Hundred And One Dalmatians. Her first novel, I Capture The Castle, was written while she was living in the United States writing screenplays for Paramount. Smith adapted I Capture The Castle into a stage play in 1952. She is the author of more than 20 plays, novels and screenplays. Several of her works were adapted into films, including Autumn Circus, Call It a Day, Dear Octopus, and The Hundred and One Dalmatians. I Capture The Castle was made into feature film starring Bill Nighy and released in 2003. Also in 2003, the British public voted I Capture The Castle one of the nation’s 100 best-loved novels as part of the BBC’s The Big Read

I Capture The Castle is the story of a seventeen-year-old budding writer, Cassandra and her eccentric family, who live in a crumbling 17th century English castle. This captivating romantic comedy is a perfect coming-of-age classic for family audiences and is full of colorful bohemian characters, wonderful wit and wry wisdom.

“We are thrilled to present the first major American production of this British classic on our stage,” said artistic director Bonnie J. Monte. “Director Cameron Watson brought this play to us after a very successful production in Los Angeles, and I knew it would be a beautiful, heartwarming story for the holidays and for our family audiences.”