Arguendo: complete cast announced

The Public Theater has announced the complete cast for their world premiere of Elevator Repair Service's Arguendo, opening at the Public's Luesther Hall on 24 Sep 2013, following previews from 10 Sep 2013 and running through to 06 Oct 2013.

Directed by John Collins, the cast of Arguendo will feature Maggie Hoffman, Mike Iveson, Vin Knight, Susie Sokol and Ben Williams.

A Co-production between The Public and Elevator Repair Service, Arguendo is a playful riff on the 1991 Supreme Court case Barnes v. Glen Theatre. In this provocative case, a group of exotic dancers, citing the First Amendment, challenged a ban on public nudity.

Every performance of Arguendo on Wednesdays and Sundays will be followed by talkbacks with ERS Artistic Director John Collins, and constitutional law scholars and journalists who write about the Court. These talkbacks will not only give audiences a chance to learn more about the history of the case, they will give them a chance to participate themselves, in the discussion that the Court itself has begun.

Arguendo features set design by David Zinn, costume design by Jacob A. Climer, lighting design by Mark Barton, sound design by Matt Tierney and projection design by Ben Rubin.

Arguendo was co-commissioned by The Public Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, ArtsEmerson, The World on Stage, and Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University. Development support provided by the Vineyard Arts Project.

Bios:

Maggie Hoffman (Performer) co-founded the avant-punk performance ensemble Radiohole. She has performed in all eleven of Radiohole's original productions, which have toured nationally and internationally, and she co-manages Radiohole's performance venue, The Collapsable Hole, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Her other performance credits include 'The Appeal' (Young Jean Lee's Theater Company) and 'Major Bang' (The Foundry Theatre). She also designs graphics for ERS and Clubbed Thumb, among others.

Mike Iveson (Performer). With ERS, Iveson's credits include 'Fondly,' 'Collette Richland,' 'The Select (The Sun Also Rises),' 'Shuffle,' 'The Sound and the Fury' and 'Gatz.' His select stage credits include 'Crime or Emergency,' 'Dot' and 'So Much to Go Crazy.' He tours with Sarah Michelson, NYC Players, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Dancenoise, and many others. He is the recipient of PS122's 2013 Ethyl Eichelberger Award.

Vin Knight (Performer). With ERS, Knight's credits include 'Fondly,' 'Collette Richland,' 'The Select (The Sun Also Rises),' 'Shuffle,' 'The Sound and the Fury,' 'No Great Society,' and 'Gatz.' His other credits include 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,' 'Marie Antoinette' at A.R.T. and Yale Rep, 'The Temperamentals,' 'U.S. Drag,' and over two dozen productions with adobe theater company. His film and television credits includeLouie, "Robot Stories," "Love God" and "Dumped!"

Susie Sokol (Performer) is a second-grade teacher at St. Ann's School in Brooklyn where she has taught since 1996. Susie began performing with ERS in 1992. Since then, she has appeared in all ERS productions. She has also worked with theater artists Katherine Profeta, Sibyl Kempson and Tina Satter.

Ben Williams (Performer) has worked for ERS as an actor and sound designer since 2004. His credits with ERS include 'Fondly,' 'Collette Richland,' 'The Select (The Sun Also Rises),' 'Shuffle,' 'The Sound and the Fury,' 'No Great Society' and 'Gatz.' His additional recent credits include 'Grimly Handsome,' 'Ich,' 'Kurbisgeist' and 'When a Priest Marries a Witch.' His other collaborations include The Wooster Group, New York City Players, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Diller Scofidio + Renfro. His awards for Sound Design include the 2012 Obie, 2012 Lucille Lortel, and 2013 LADCC. He is the Editor of Performance Texts for BODY, an online literary journal.