Burning Coal Theatre Company, a small professional, theatre based in Raleigh, North Carolina will present William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, directed by Rebecca Holderness. The production runs December 4 - 21, 2008 at Meymandi Theatre at the Murphey School, 224 Polk Street, Raleigh, NC.

All performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2 pm. All tickets are $20 or $15 (students, seniors 65+ and active military). Thursday tickets are $10, $5 student rush available 5 minutes before each performance. The first Sunday, December 7th at 2 p.m. will be ‘Pay What You Can'. The first Saturday, December 6th at 7:30 p.m. will be audio described for the visually impaired. For further information, visit www.burningcoal.org.

ABOUT TWELFTH NIGHT

William Shakespeare's season comedic romp tells the story of young Viola, a noble young woman cast upon the shores of a strange land following a ship wreck from which she and the ship's captain were the only survivors (or so she believes). In order to pass safely through the country, she dresses herself as a man. Arriving at the home of the country's Duke, Orsino, she secures employment with him and immediately falls in love with him. But she cannot reveal herself to him. Orsino is in love with the beautiful Olivia, who is currently in mourning for her recently deceased brother. When Orsino sends his page boy (Viola) to deliver to Olivia his message of love, she responds by falling in love with the young "boy". Some of Shakespeare's greatest comedic creations appear in Twelfth Night, including Sir Toby Belch, Malvolio the pompous, Feste the Clown, Maria the scullery maid and Sir Andrew Aguecheek.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Rebecca Holderness has directed at Burning Coal in ten of its twelve seasons. Past productions include Love's Labours Lost, Einstein's Dreams, Romeo & Juliet, Travesties, A Doll House, Miss Julie, James Joyce's ‘the Dead', and last season's Crowns. Ms. Holderness currently teaches at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. She has taught at NYU and Playwrights' Horizon's Theatre School in Manhattan and ran her own company in New York City for five years.

ABOUT THE CAST & CREW

The cast of Twelfth Night will include Jenn Suchanec (Olivia) and Ashlee Quinones (Viola) of Raleigh, David Dossey (Sir Toby Belch) of Washington, DC, Ian Finley (Malvolio), Yolanda Rabun (Feste) and Stephen LeTrent (Sir Andrew Aguecheek) of Raleigh. The lighting designer is Daniel Winters of Columbus, Ohio. The scene designer is Morag Charlton, a visual artist living and working in Raleigh. Sound will be designed by Raleigh's Al Singer.