Renfield Directs Ibsen’s Rosmersholm at City Center
Elinor Renfield, directing department chair at The New School for Drama, will direct Pearl Theatre Company’s production of Rosmersholm by Henrik Ibsen. The production, adapted by Mike Poulton, opens November 12 at New York City Center Stage II, and will feature actor Austin Pendleton.
In addition to her work at Drama, Renfield has directed extensively in New York and regionally. Her credits include Open Admission on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn at Goodspeed Opera House, The Seagull at Circle Rep, Passion Play at the Minetta Lane Theatre, and Suddenly Last Summer at Barrington Stage Company. Renfield began directing professionally in 1976 with The Sorrows of Frederick by Romulus Linney, a production that also featured Pendleton.
The Pearl’s Rosersholm will be the American premiere of a new version of Ibsen’s play as adapted by Poulton. Written in 1886, in the middle of his career, and regarded by some as Ibsen’s masterpiece, the play focuses on a free-thinking crusader named Rebecca West and a former priest, Johannes Rosmer, presiding owner of the Rosmersholm estate and a prominent figure in the community. Rosmersholm presents social and political idealism at odds with a traditional ruling class and an accompanying opportunistic culture.
For more information and tickets, visit the New York City Center website.