A world premiere translation of Sophocles’ The Oedipus Cycle by award-winning translator Peter Constantine, will mark the inaugural production of The Pearl Theatre Company’s (Shepard Sobel, Artistic Director; Shira Beckerman, Managing Director) 2008/2009 Silver Anniversary Season. Performances will begin Monday, October 27, and go on until Sunday, November 16.

This groundbreaking production offers a once in a lifetime chance to experience the complete story of Oedipus and his family’s struggle for grace and wisdom through suffering and loss. Peter Constantine’s raw, bold translation of Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone has been specially adapted for this unique three-hour Pearl event, directed by The Pearl Theatre Company’s founder and artistic director Shepard Sobel.

This is Mr. Constantine’s second season at The Pearl Theatre Company. He adapted and translated last season’s The Mandrake. In 1998 he received the PEN Translation Prize for his translation of Thomas Mann's Six Early Stories, chosen by the New York Times as a Notable Book of the Year. He was also awarded the National Translation Award for The Undiscovered Chekhov: Thirty-Eight New Stories (1999). Mr. Constantine received a Koret Jewish Book Award and a National Jewish Book Award citation for his translation of The Complete Works of Isaac Babel, edited by Nathalie Babel.

The cast of The Oedipus Cycle is a remarkable lineup including Resident Acting Company members Jolly Abraham (Coram Boy, Bombay Dreams), Dominic Cuskern (Inherit the Wind, A Perfect Ganesh), TJ Edwards (Lincoln Center Theatre’s King Lear) and guest actors John Livingstone Rolle (Measure for Measure at the The Public/New York Shakespeare Festival), Susan Heyward (I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to me by a Young Lady from Rwanda at St Peter’s Theatre), and Jay Stratton.

The Oedipus Cycle production and design team is a collection of world-class artists whose work has been seen at venues all over the city and regionally. The scenic design is by Harry Feiner; costume design is by Devon Painter; lighting design is by Stephen Petrilli; sound design is by Mark Huang; Dassance Resler is the stage manager; Kate Farrington is the dramaturge; and it is helmed by The Pearl’s founder and artistic director Shepard Sobel.

Founded in 1984, The Pearl Theatre Company is an Off-Broadway classical theatre that nurtures an on-going resident company of actors, a structure which is both important and rare. Tickets could be obtained by contacting the box office at 212-598-9802 or in person at The Pearl Theatre Company located at the historic Theatre 80 on the corner of 1st Avenue and St. Marks Place in New York’s vibrant East Village.