Tony-winning TheatreWorks Gets Play By Pulitzer Nominee Writer

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — With a crescendo of a year filled with an upcoming 50-year milestone and a Tony award to air June 9, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley presents the Northern California premiere of "Archduke" — a play with its own Pulitzer award distinction.

Written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph, "Archduke" explores how one man in one moment can derail an entire century. Focusing on the cataclysmic 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, three hapless insurgents embark on a darkly comic quest for immortality and purpose, unaware that their actions will launch World War I.

Joseph came to national attention when his celebrated hit "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo" became a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and received an Outstanding New American Play Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. The show made its Broadway debut starring Robin Williams in March 2011.

"Archduke" represents another blockbuster hopeful with audiences in a long score of works that have evolved into regional, off-Broadway, and Broadway productions. Notably, the Best Musical Tony Award and Olivier award-winning Memphis premiered at TheatreWorks.

On June 9, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is up for a 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award for the Palo Alto-based groundbreaking collection of work at a localized level that the American Theatre Critics Association took note of. The awards show will air on CBS at 8 p.m. Pacific Standard Time from Radio City Music Hall.

"The work they produce celebrates the human spirit, they have helped develop hundreds of vibrant new plays and musicals that are now being performed in theaters across America, and they have pioneered education programs that inspire thousands of students each year, creating future generations of creative artists and enthusiastic audiences," Broadway League president Charlotte St. Martin and American Theatre Wing president Heather Hitchens said.

The honor did not go unnoticed by a humble Silicon Valley theater group centered around the southern San Francisco Bay Area Peninsula.

"I can think of no better way to begin TheatreWorks's 50th Anniversary Season than with this highest honor, a testament to the passion and imaginative spirit of the artists whose work has been presented on TheatreWorks's stages," said Theatre Works founding artistic director Robert Kelley, who created the company as a Stanford graduate.

For the latest in its long tenure of performances put on, "Archduke" was a hit at TheatreWorks’s 2016 New Works Festival and will be directed by TheatreWorks’ Director of New Works Giovanna Sardelli.

The production will run from June 5 to 30 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts at 500 Castro Street in Mountain View. Tickets range from $40 to $100, and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call 650-463-1960.

Starting July 10, TheatreWorks will also bring a stellar cast of acclaimed Broadway and TV stars for "The Language Archive," launching the Tony Award-winning theatre company’s celebratory 50th Anniversary season.

Written by Julia Cho, whose "Aubergine" captured rapturous praise and multiple awards, "The Language Archive" balances affection and adversity in a unique, quirky, comedic way. On Palo Alto's Lucie Stern Theatre stage, the story lays out the whimsical, life-affirming chronicle of a linguist fighting to preserve the dying languages of far-flung cultures, only to neglect the promise and passion of his own. The thought-provoking story running through Aug. 4 has won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for Women Playwrights.

Tickets range from $30 to $100 and may be obtained by visiting theatreworks.or or calling 650-463-1960.

With over 100,000 patrons per year, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley has captured a national reputation for artistic innovation and integrity, often presenting San Francisco Bay Area theatre goers with their first look at acclaimed musicals, comedies and dramas directed by award-winning directors and performed by professional actors cast from across the country, with an eye for local talent.