THE BEST OF EDINBURGH

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press contact: Karen Greco/Casey Siegel

212-560-9868

The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation presents

THE BEST OF EDINBURGH

Carol Tambor Award brings the best plays from the largest arts festival in the world to New York for FIVE performances ONLY

New York, New York September 22, 2004—The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation, in conjunction with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, is proud to announce The Carol Tambor Award: The Best of Edinburgh, which features the US premiere of two of the best dramatic works from the 2004 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Rosebud (The Lives of Orson Welles) and Sisters, Such Devoted Sisters will be presented for FIVE performances only at The Michael Schimmel Center for the Performing Arts at Pace University (3 Spruce Street, at Gold Street), from Friday, November 5 – Tuesday, November 9. The performance schedule is Friday and Saturday at 8:00 PM; Sunday and Tuesday at 2:00 PM. There is a special Benefit and reception on Monday, November 8 at 6:30 PM. Tickets are $45. Tickets to the benefit and reception on Monday, November 8 are $100. To order tickets, the general public can call SmartTix at 212-868-4444 or visit www.smarttix.com. For more information about The Best of Edinburgh, please visit www.bestofedinburgh.org.

Winner of the Scotsman’s prestigious Fringe First Award, Rosebud (The Lives of Orson Welles) explores the multiple personas of Orson Welles from child prodigy to cultural legend to frozen pea salesman. Christian McKay gives a tour-de-force performance as this cultural icon whose over-reaching ambitions lead to magnificent failures. His achievements are well known: from the ‘live newscast’ radio adaptation of War of the Worlds to the movie Citizen Kane, considered one of the best films of the 20th Century. These career-defining triumphs were followed by decades of struggle. Exiled from Hollywood, his ambitions continually thwarted by powerful enemies, he spent the rest of his life battling to find (and fund) outlets for his creative genius. Written by Mark Jenkins (Playing Burton) and directed by Josh Richards, London’s Daily Telegraph called Rosebud (The Lives of Orson Welles), “Brilliant! Impassioned! A stellar production!”

Set in the seamy Glasgow underworld, Sisters, Such Devoted Sisters is an unnerving theatrical experience that is at once a shocking crime drama and a touching comic narrative about a young man creating an unlikely identity for himself. When drag queen Bernice Hindley witnesses a horrific murder, her harrowing life story begins to unfold. Hailed as “a hilarious and desperate narrative…filled with larger than life characters,” by London’s Guardian newspaper, Sisters, Such Devotes Sisters is written and performed by Russell Barr (West End production of Shopping and Fucking) and directed by Ben Wright (Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, West End and Broadway).

Carol Tambor is a portrait artist by trade and a theatre aficionado. For the past 8 years, she has traveled to Edinburgh to enjoy the Festival offerings. Last year, she decided to create an opportunity for Edinburgh’s best shows to be seen in New York City. She explains, “Every year I am amazed at the quality of plays I see in Edinburgh, and saddened that so few are seen again. I hope to give a chance for future life to at least one new, dramatic work each year by bringing it to NY and inviting as many producers as I can.”

This unique opportunity (called “Innovative! A good model for how to make the arts work!” by The Scotsman) was originally only for one of the winners of The Scotsman’s Fringe First Award, which The Scotsman, Scotland’s largest newspaper, hands out to six shows every week, for a total of 18 shows in the Festival. Ms. Tambor then picked the show that she wanted to bring over from the 18 award-winners, which was Rosebud (The Lives of Orson Welles). However, Ms. Tambor was so enthralled by Sisters, Such Devoted Sisters that she decided to bend her own rules announced both as winners. Sisters, Such Devoted Sisters was ineligible for a Fringe First Award because it received its UK premiere previous to showing at the Festival.

The Carol Tambor Award was announced at the closing night ceremonies of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on August 27 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has been ongoing since 1947. Fringe 2004 featured 1695 shows in 735 different venues throughout Edinburgh, selling more than 1,251,997 tickets to the three week festival. Edinburgh Festival Fringe has served as a launching pad for the careers of renowned stars such as Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Jude Law, Eddie Izzard and Tom Stoppard.