Kevin Kline and Meryl Streep to Star in a Benefit Evening of Shakespeare

Kevin Kline and Meryl Streep will perform an evening of Shakespeare as a benefit for The Acting Company, the Juilliard offshoot in which Kline got his start more than 35 years ago. Conceived and directed by the Oscar-winning actor, The Lover and the Poet: An Evening of Shakespeare will be held at the 400-seat Florence Gould Hall on November 2.

“My four years touring the country with The Acting Company was worth 20 on the New York stage,” Kline said a statement. “It completely shaped who I am as an actor and it must continue.” Others who began their careers on tour with The Acting Company, founded in 1972 by John Houseman and Margot Harley, include Patti LuPone, Rainn Wilson, Frances Conroy, Jeffrey Wright, Jesse L. Martin, David Ogden Stiers, Hamish Linklater and Harriet Harris.

In addition to performing for under-served and disadvantaged communities across the country, The Acting Company presents an annual New York season that most recently brought Henry V to the New Victory Theatre, co-produced with the Guthrie. This year’s plans include a November opening of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, directed by Doug Hughes and co-produced with New York Theatre Workshop. In February 2010, a co-production of Romeo and Juliet with the Guthrie will play the Baruch Performing Arts Center.

Kline has starred in major New York stagings of King Lear, Hamlet, Henry V, Henry IV and Richard III. Streep (his co-star in the feature film Sophie’s Choice and Mother Courage and The Seagull in Central Park) began her career performing Shakespeare at the Public Theater, notably in Central Park productions of The Taming of the Shrew and Measure for Measure.

Tickets for performance only are available by calling 212-307-4100. Tickets for theater plus dinner with the cast are available by calling 212-258-3111.