'Stage & Screen' Series with Huntington and Coolidge Corner Cinema Begins 10/8

The Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Huntington Theatre Company announce that they are collaborating on a new series called Stage & Screen to explore the depictions of shared themes in upcoming Huntington productions and acclaimed films. Throughout the 2012-2013 season, Huntington artists will appear at the Coolidge to discuss the films that inspire and impact their work and the different ways in which film and theater can enlighten and inform audiences.

Stage & Screen will kick off at the Coolidge Corner Theatre on Monday, October 8 at 7pm with a 35-mm screening of Gore Vidal’s caustic, insightful political drama The Best Man, based on Vidal’s play of the same name. Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson star as political adversaries who square off during a presidential primary. William Russell (Fonda), the older, more idealistic of the two candidates, has a wife who is threatening to divorce him. His more opportunistic rival Joe Cantwell (Robertson) doesn't hesitate in using smear tactics if necessary. Lee Tracy plays the former president who hasn’t decided which candidate to endorse. Released during the 1964 political campaign, The Best Man kept many critics and filmgoers guessing which real-life politicians inspired the lead characters.

Michael Wilson, acclaimed director of the recent Broadway revival of The Best Man, helms the Huntington’s upcoming production of Christopher Shinn’s Now or Later, playing at the Huntington’s Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA October 12 - November 10, 2012. The play tackles timely themes of religion, freedom of expression, and personal responsibility in politics. On election night, the son of a presidential candidate sends his father’s political team into crisis mode when controversial photos of him at a college party spread over the Internet, potentially sparking an international incident. After the film, Wilson and Shinn will participate in a discussion with the audience.

Tickets to The Best Man are $10 general admission and $7 Coolidge members and Huntington Theatre Company subscribers (with member ID). Tickets may be purchased online at coolidge.org or at the Coolidge box office, located at 290 Harvard Street, Brookline.

Tickets to the Huntington’s production of Now or Later are available at huntingtontheatre.org/noworlater.

Additional Stage & Screen events will be announced at a later date. More information at coolidge.org/programs/stage-screen.

ABOUT THE COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE
The Coolidge Corner Theatre is one of the nation’s most prominent independently operated movie theatres, run by the not-for-profit Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation. A beloved movie house, the Coolidge has been pleasing audiences with the best in cinematic entertainment since 1933. In addition to contemporary art house and independent film, the Coolidge presents the prestigious annual Coolidge Award, Science on Screen, high-definition broadcasts of live opera, ballet, and theater performances, Big Screen Classics, midnight screenings of cult films, kids’ programs, and sneak previews and discussion of upcoming films as part of Talk Cinema. The Coolidge has won numerous awards and honors for its creative programming. For more information, visit coolidge.org.

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