Alabama Shakespeare Festival News

Shakespeare Festival St. Louis will present a free production of OTHELLO from 5/25 to 6/17, 2012 at Shakespeare Glen, Forest Park nightly at 8pm with previews 5/23-24.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents Man of La Mancha, the musical staging of the epic tale of Don Quixote through tonight, May 19, 2012.

Stage and screen stars Brooke Shields and Richard Chamberlain will take on the iconic roles of Chris MacNeil and Father Merrin in playwright John Pielmeier's world premiere of The Exorcist at the Geffen Playhouse. Helmed by acclaimed director John Doyle, who won a Tony Award for his striking reimagining of Sweeney Todd, this stage adaptation of William Peter Blatty's famous 1971 novel transforms the unsettling battles of good versus evil, faith versus fact and ego versus ethos into a uniquely theatrical experience as sophisticated as it is suspenseful.

TheatreSquared today announced the lineup for the 2012 Arkansas New Play Festival, the theatre's fourth annual celebration of new works for the stage. The festival will feature staged reading performances of four professional plays, a showcase of ten-minute plays by Arkansas high school students, and Northwest Arkansas's sixth annual 24-Hour Play-Off. In partnership with the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, T2's lineup of new works will also be presented at Oxford American Magazine's new venue in Little Rock (1300 Main Street, May 17-18). The lineup of events in Northwest Arkansas will take place at Walton Arts Center's Nadine Baum Studios (505 W. Spring St., Fayetteville). Each new play reading will be followed by a conversation with the playwright, director and cast.

TheatreSquared today announced the lineup for the 2012 Arkansas New Play Festival, the theatre's fourth annual celebration of new works for the stage. The festival will feature staged reading performances of four professional plays, a showcase of ten-minute plays by Arkansas high school students, and Northwest Arkansas's sixth annual 24-Hour Play-Off. In partnership with the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, T2's lineup of new works will also be presented at Oxford American Magazine's new venue in Little Rock (1300 Main Street, May 17-18). The lineup of events in Northwest Arkansas will take place at Walton Arts Center's Nadine Baum Studios (505 W. Spring St., Fayetteville). Each new play reading will be followed by a conversation with the playwright, director and cast.

Meet the Sycamores - the delightfully eccentric family at the center of the action in the madcap comedy classic, You Can't Take It With You. They revel in day-to-day occurrences such as collecting snakes, making fireworks in the basement, and practicing ballet steps in the parlor. When their daughter Alice, decides to invite her conservative boyfriend's family to dinner, they promise to be on their best behavior. However...! Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and adapted into an Academy Award winning film, this beloved comedy has been a perennial favorite to theatre-goers for more than 70 years.

Paul Gross, one of Canada's acclaimed actors, leads the cast of Are You There, McPhee? a world premiere by John Guare at McCarter Theatre Center. Directed by Sam Buntrock, the production runs now through June 3, 2012.

After extending twice in Los Angeles, and a sold-out run at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, Psittacus Productions brings its critically acclaimed show CYCLOPS: A Rock Opera to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery, Alabama. Join us in the Octagon for a special, one-night-only concert version of the show's original rock music on May 19 at 11 PM. Tickets are on sale now for only $25 at http://www.cyclopsrocks.com/ or by calling the ASF box office at 1.800.841.4273.

Florida Studio Theatre previously announced its annual Richard and Betty Burdick Play Reading Series, which presents three new plays by contemporary, American Playwrights. The series takes place in the Keating Theatre, tonight, May 7 at 7:00pm, Saturday, May 12 at 2:00pm, and Monday, May 21 at 7:00pm, and is part of FST's Sarasota Festival of New Plays. Tickets for the series are 3 plays for $25, or individual play readings for $10. They may be purchased by calling the FST Box Office at (941) 366-9000 or by visiting http://www.floridastudiotheatre.org.

Meet the Sycamores - the delightfully eccentric family at the center of the action in the madcap comedy classic, You Can't Take It With You. They revel in day-to-day occurrences such as collecting snakes, making fireworks in the basement, and practicing ballet steps in the parlor. When their daughter Alice, decides to invite her conservative boyfriend's family to dinner, they promise to be on their best behavior. However...! Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and adapted into an Academy Award winning film, this beloved comedy has been a perennial favorite to theatre-goers for more than 70 years.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents Man of La Mancha, the musical staging of the epic tale of Don Quixote, tonight, May 4 through May 19, 2012.

Paul Gross, one of Canada's acclaimed actors, leads the cast of Are You There, McPhee? a world premiere by John Guare at McCarter Theatre Center. Directed by Sam Buntrock, the production runs tonight, May 4 through June 3, 2012. (Opening Night: Friday, May 11.)

Shakespeare Festival St. Louis will present a free production of OTHELLO from 5/25 to 6/17, 2012 at Shakespeare Glen, Forest Park nightly at 8pm with previews 5/23-24.

TheatreSquared today announced the lineup for the 2012 Arkansas New Play Festival, the theatre's fourth annual celebration of new works for the stage. The festival will feature staged reading performances of four professional plays, a showcase of ten-minute plays by Arkansas high school students, and Northwest Arkansas's sixth annual 24-Hour Play-Off. In partnership with the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, T2's lineup of new works will also be presented at Oxford American Magazine's new venue in Little Rock (1300 Main Street, May 17-18). The lineup of events in Northwest Arkansas will take place at Walton Arts Center's Nadine Baum Studios (505 W. Spring St., Fayetteville). Each new play reading will be followed by a conversation with the playwright, director and cast.

Continuing its 25th Anniversary Season, the Shakespeare Theatre Company presents Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Strange Interlude. Directed by STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn, Strange Interlude runs at the Company's Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) through tonight, April 29, 2012.

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres (CDT) and the University of Minnesota - Duluth (UMD) will announce the creation of the "The Chanhassen Dinner Theatres and the UMD Department of Theatre Educational and Professional Alliance."

The Old Globe's 2012-13 Season will feature the World Premieres of two new musicals: Allegiance - A New American Musical by Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione and A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder by Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak. The season also includes George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion in celebration of the classic play's 100th anniversary and the World Premiere of a new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House by Anne-Charlotte Hanes Harvey and Kirsten Brandt. Two recent Broadway hits will make their San Diego debuts at the Globe: David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People and Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities. Rounding out the season are the West Coast Premiere of Bekah Brunstetter's Be a Good Little Widow and the Southern California Premiere of Tarell Alvin McCraney's The Brothers Size.

John Davidson, who starred as Matt in the 1964 Hallmark Hall of Fame version of The Fantasticks, will join the cast of the Off-Broadway production of The Fantasticks for a limited engagement in the role of Henry, The Old Actor.