Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in Engaging Career Conversations with New York Performance Community

January 28, 2014

NEW YORK (January 28, 2014) –This afternoon at 2:30 p.m., the SAG Foundation, BroadwayWorld.com, and the New School for Drama will present a 90-minute career Conversations with legendary actors Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, starring together in Broadway’s No Man’s Land and Waiting for Godot. Moderated by BroadwayWorld.com’s Richard Ridge, McKellen and Stewart will share experiences from their prolific careers on stage and screen and their current collaboration for a packed house of more than 600 union actors and drama students at the New School for Drama’s John L. Tishman Auditorium. Seats and wait list are full for this event.

“The SAG Foundation is delighted to partner with BroadwayWorld.com and the New School for Drama to present a career Conversations with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. It’s a unique opportunity for New York actors to hear directly from these two masters of the craft,” said Jill Seltzer, Executive Director of the SAG Foundation. “We host more than 200 Conversations with celebrated actors annually and this is definitely a special occasion for us.”

The event will take place at the New School’s brand new John L. Tishman Auditorium, part of the 16-story University Center that opened its doors on January 23, 2014. The New School’s University Center now provides thousands of new square footage for academic and recreational endeavors to its entire student body.

“The New School for Drama is honored to be partnered with the SAG Foundation and BroadwayWorld.com to host these remarkable actors in our new University Center. This is an extraordinary opportunity for our students to participate in a conversation with two of the most preeminent performing artists of our time,” said Pippin Parker, Director of the New School for Drama.

Over the last two years, the SAG Foundation and BroadwayWorld.com have partnered on several successful Conversations events featuring prominent theatre actors, including Ellen Burstyn, David Hyde Pierce, Judy Greer, Cherry Jones, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jim Parsons, Keith Carradine, Michael Urie, Billy Porter and more.

“We’ve loved every minute of our partnership with the SAG Foundation, and our dual mission of creating informative and entertaining programming. Today’s once in a lifetime opportunity at the New School for Drama is one that no one in the theatre world will dare to miss!” said Robert Diamond, CEO/Editor-in-Chief of BroadwayWorld.com.

For those unable to attend, the event will be filmed and uploaded to the SAG Foundation’s website (www.sagfoundation.org), and a thirty minute segment will be available for viewing on BroadwayWorld.com (Backstage with Richard Ridge).

Media interested in attending, must RSVP with Caroline O’Connor, SAG Foundation Director of Communications, at (213) 400-8401 or coconnor@sagfoundation.org. Only CONFIRMED media will be able to attend.

Ian McKellen (Spooner in No Man’s Land and Estragon in Waiting for Godot) has over 40 international awards for his half-century on screen and stage.   He has worked regularly for Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre of Great Britain and on the West End stage in Shakespeare and a wide range of classic and new plays.  In New York, he won every available award for Amadeus (1981). His solo show Acting Shakespeare packed theatres across the States and is now a teaching aid throughout the country. In 2001, he returned to Broadway in Dance of Death and hosted Saturday Night Live. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2004. Most recently, he played King Lear for the RSC at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. McKellen has starred in more than 40 movies: Richard III, Stephen King’s Apt Pupil, Gods and Monsters, The Da Vinci Code, four X-Men films, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. View McKellen’s full career at mckellen.com.

Patrick Stewart (Hirst in No Man’s Land and Vladimir in Waiting for Godot). Theater: Macbeth (Tony nomination), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Young Vic. London Fringe Best Actor Award), The Ride Down Mount Morgan (Broadway), The Tempest (Shakespeare in the Park, Broadway), Othello (Washington, DC), A Christmas Carol (LA, Broadway, London, Olivier for Best Entertainment, Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performer, What’s On People’s Choice Award for Best Solo Performance), and over forty productions with The Royal Shakespeare Company. Television: Hamlet (Emmy nomination, Great Performances), Star Trek: The Next Generation (SAG Award nomination), Extras (Emmy nomination), The Lion in Winter (Golden Globe nomination), A Christmas Carol (Emmy and SAG nominations), Moby Dick (Golden Globe, Emmy, SAG nominations).  Stewart’s latest film project, X-Men: Days of Future Past, will be released in 2014.  Stewart was knighted by The Queen in the 2010 New Year Honours for Services to Drama.

About the Screen Actors Guild Foundation
The Screen Actors Guild Foundation provides vital assistance and educational programming to the professionals of SAG-AFTRA while serving the public at large through its signature children’s literacy programs. Founded in 1985, the SAG Foundation is a national non-profit organization, independent from SAG-AFTRA, and relies solely on support from grants, corporate sponsorships, and individual contributions to maintain its programs and create new ones. For more information, visit sagfoundation.org. Follow SAG Foundation on Twitter (twitter.com/SAGFoundation), Facebook (facebook.com/SAGFoundation), YouTube (youtube.com/SAGFoundation) and Instagram (instagram.com/sagfoundation).

About BroadwayWorld.com
BroadwayWorld.com is largest theatre site on the Internet covering Broadway, the West End and beyond including 100 US cities, and 30 countries worldwide. The site delivers complete up-to-the-minute Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional theatre news, in-depth interviews, extraordinary photo coverage, entertaining video features, lively message boards, ticket discounts, reviews, and much more. For more information, visit broadwayworld.com.

About The New School
Founded in 1919, The New School was born out of principles of academic freedom, tolerance, and experimentation. Committed to social engagement, The New School today remains in the vanguard of innovation in higher education, with more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students challenging the status quo in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, management, the arts, and media. The New School welcomes thousands of adult learners annually for continuing education courses and calendar of lectures, screenings, readings, and concerts. Through its online learning portals, research institutes, and international partnerships, The New School maintains a global presence. Learn more at newschool.edu.