GEVA CONGRATULATES ALUM JOSH BROLIN

                                              Media Contact: Dawn Kellogg

                                                            Communications Manager

(585) 232-1366 ext. 3059

dkellogg@gevatheatre.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GEVA CONGRATULATES ALUM

JOSH BROLIN ON OSCAR

 NOMINATION

January 27, 2009. Rochester, N.Y. – Geva Theatre Center Alum Josh Brolin has been nominated for an Academy Award in the best supporting actor category for his performance in Milk. Brolin was a regular player on the Geva Theatre Center Mainstage from 1990 to 1994.  His performance in Milk has already earned him the New York Film Critics Circle Best Supporting Actor award and he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award in the Best Supporting Actor category.

“We are so happy for Josh,” said Geva’s Artistic Director Mark Cuddy. “He has been very gracious to include his time at Geva Theatre Center in his public interviews about the acting profession. He was a fixture here for several years and Rochester remembers him fondly. Geva has been the artistic home for many, many fine actors and the inspiration for some growing up here such as Philip Seymour Hoffman and Taye Diggs. It’s what professional regional theatre is all about.”

Throughout his tenure at Geva, Brolin appeared in several plays in “Reflections: A New Plays Festival” including Pitz and Joe, Forgiving Typhoid Mary, Peephole, Lincoln Park Zoo, Hard Hearts and Strangers of the Heart.

In a recent interview for Inside the Actors’ Studio, Brolin recalled his time at Geva as “the best thing he ever did for sure.”  “It opened up my own life to acting, it finally made me really want to be an actor and not be ashamed that I loved acting, I loved story telling. It opened up psychology, it opened up sociology, it opened up everything.”

GEVA THEATRE CENTER

Geva Theatre Center is Rochester’s leading professional theatre and the most attended regional theatre in New York State. Founded in 1972, Geva attracts over 160,000 patrons annually, including more than 16,000 students. The 552-seat Elaine P. Wilson Mainstage offers a wide variety of shows, from musicals to American and world classics.

The 180-seat Ron & Donna Fielding Nextstage is home to Geva’s own series of cutting-edge drama, comedy and musical theatre; Geva Comedy Improv; Geva’s New Play Reading Series and the Hornet’s Nest - an innovative play-reading series facilitating community-wide discussion on controversial topics. The Nextstage also hosts visiting companies of both local and international renown.

Geva Theatre Center offers a wide variety of educational, outreach and literary programs, nurturing audiences and artists alike. For the past thirteen years the organization has been led by Artistic Director Mark Cuddy.

*ENDS*