Alabama Shakespeare Festival News

Premiere Stages at Kean University will launch its much-anticipated 10th Anniversary Season with a free staged reading of Vincent Delaney's fascinating new play, The Ansel Intimacy, June 20 - 22 in Kean's Murphy Dunn Theatre. Selected from over 400 submissions, The Ansel Intimacy is the first of two scripts scheduled for expanded development as part of the 2014 Premiere Stages Play Festival. The Festival is an annual competition for unproduced scripts by playwrights with ties to the greater metropolitan area (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut), and perfectly embodies the theatre's passionate and longstanding commitment to supporting emerging artists through the development and production of new plays. Mr. Delaney has received an honorarium and the opportunity to further develop his play through a professional, 29-hour rehearsal process culminating in three public readings. The Ansel Intimacy, directed by Padraic Lillis, will feature Eric Troy Miller as Tate, Scott Hudson as Ansel, and Kelley O'Donnell as Iris.

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 16th Not Your Typical Season with Collected Stories. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Donald Margulies and directed by James O'Neil, Collected Stories is a two-person play featuring Susan Clark (Emmy Winner - 'Babe Zaharias,' 'Webster,' Shaw Festival and the Taper) as a brilliant, direct writing professor and Meghan Andrews (Frost/Nixon and The Grapes of Wrath on Broadway) as her eager-yet-talented student. Opening tonight, May 28th at 7:00 p.m., Collected Stories runs Wednesdays through Sundays until June 21st.

A curse lies upon the land of Thebes and its ill-fated rulers that reiterates generation upon generation. Casey Stangl directs the world premiere of The Curse of Oedipus, written by Kenneth Cavander and developed by The Antaeus Company. Opening weekend for the fully double-cast production runs June 19 -22 at the Antaeus Theater in NoHo, with previews beginning June 12.

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 16th Not Your Typical Season with Collected Stories. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Donald Margulies and directed by James O'Neil, Collected Stories is a two-person play featuring Susan Clark (Emmy Winner - "Babe Zaharias," "Webster," Shaw Festival and the Taper) as a brilliant, direct writing professor and Meghan Andrews (Frost/Nixon and The Grapes of Wrath on Broadway) as her eager-yet-talented student. Opening May 28th at 7:00 p.m., Collected Stories runs Wednesdays through Sundays until June 21st.

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 16th Not Your Typical Season with Collected Stories. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Donald Margulies and directed by James O'Neil, Collected Stories is a two-person play featuring Susan Clark (Emmy Winner - "Babe Zaharias," "Webster," Shaw Festival and the Taper) as a brilliant, direct writing professor and Meghan Andrews (Frost/Nixon and The Grapes of Wrath on Broadway) as her eager-yet-talented student. Opening May 28th at 7:00 p.m., Collected Stories runs Wednesdays through Sundays until June 21st.

Working Artists Theatre Project, in collaboration with the David Lynch Foundation, presents a staged play reading benefit of James McLure's companion comedies Lone Star and Laundry and Bourbon under the title '1959 Pink Thunderbird', featuring a cast of Broadway talent. All proceeds will benefit the Operation Warrior Wellness Project in teaching War Veterans with PTSD Transcendental Meditation.

To close its 47th Season, Marin Theatre Company will produce the West Coast premiere of Failure: A Love Story by the 'hugely talented Chicago writer' (Chicago Tribune) Philip Dawkins. Directed by MTC's artistic director Jasson Minadakis, this 'enchanted and enchanting' play about love and loss will feature five actors playing multiple characters, using puppets and playing live music both original (by MTC's frequent collaborator Chris Houston, a Berkeley-based composer and musician) and from the era of the play - 1920s Chicago.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the leadership of Diane Paulus, Artistic Director and William Russo, Managing Director; presents the last production of its 2013/14 Season, THE TEMPEST, adapted and directed by Aaron Posner and Teller from the play by William Shakespeare, with magic by Teller, music by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, and movement by Matt Kent of Pilobolus.

Court Theatre closes its 2013-2014 season with the Chicago premiere of M. Butterfly written by David Henry Hwang and directed by Artistic Director Charles Newell, with choreography by Jamie Guan. M. Butterfly will run today, May 8 - June 8, 2014 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue. Press Opening is Saturday, May 17, 2014 at 8:00PM.

San Jose Repertory Theatre presents the Bay Area premiere of the critically-acclaimed The Big Meal, by Dan LeFranc, the 2010 New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award Winner. This razor sharp portrait of a modern American family runs today, May 8 through June 1, and is directed by Kirsten Brandt, San Jose Rep's Associate Artistic Director.

Shirley Jo Finney, director of the Fountain Theatre's multiple award-winning production of In the Red and Brown Water in 2012, returns to direct the second play in Tarell Alvin McCraney's 'Brother/Sister Plays' trilogy. The Los Angeles premiere of The Brothers Size opens June 7 at the Fountain for a limited engagement that must close July 27.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater's Artistic Director Molly Smith announces that theater artist Robert Barry Fleming has joined the company as Director of Artistic Programming as of April 2014. Fleming has worked extensively with theaters across the country as a director, writer, choreographer, producer and performer and has held positions at the University of San Diego and the University of Memphis. He returns to Arena Stage following his previous collaboration with Smith as assistant director for The Music Man.

Court Theatre closes its 2013-2014 season with the Chicago premiere of M. Butterfly written by David Henry Hwang and directed by Artistic Director Charles Newell, with choreography by Jamie Guan. M. Butterfly will run May 8 - June 8, 2014 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue. Press Opening is Saturday, May 17, 2014 at 8:00PM.

On Monday, April 21 Shrunken Shakespeare Company held their 2014 Fundraiser Gala at New York's TGB Theatre. The gala featured actor Paul Sorvino's 'Lear' Adaptation. Scroll down to see some photos from the event!

From today, April 24 through June 1, one of William Shakespeare's most famous histories 'Richard III' gets an innovative PNT treatment in this boldly re-imagined tale of power, treachery, seduction, and fate.

Charity Hope Valentine is a dancehall girl who dreams of love and believes the man of her dreams is just around the corner. A great score, including the songs 'Hey Big Spender!' and 'If My Friends Could See Me Now,' incredible dancing - originally choreographed by Broadway legend Bob Fosse - and one of the most memorable heroines of the past sixty years combine to make Sweet Charity a must-see show. Never before produced at PTC, Sweet Charity is a razzle-dazzle closer for the 2013-14 season.

San Jose Repertory Theatre presents the Bay Area premiere of the critically-acclaimed The Big Meal, by Dan LeFranc, the 2010 New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award Winner. This razor sharp portrait of a modern American family runs May 8 through June 1, and is directed by Kirsten Brandt, San Jose Rep's Associate Artistic Director.

The Muny announced principal casting for the first show of its spectacular 96th season, Billy Elliot the Musical, directed by Steven Minning, choreographed by Alison Levenberg, with music direction by Colin Welford. Billy Elliot the Musical is sponsored by BMO Harris Bank.