Alliance Theatre News

Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) continues its 2013-14 season with Absence by award-winning playwright Peter M. Floyd. Running from February 6 through March 2, the drama will be directed by Megan Schy Gleeson.

Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman's long in-development musical HARMONY is set for a Los Angeles production in March and tickets are now available.

Tony-nominated composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Andy Jones (Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella), Heidi Blickenstaff (The Little Mermaid), Ashley Brown (the original Mary Poppins), Merle Dandridge (Tarzan, Aida), Josh Strickland (the original Tarzan), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Newsies), and Alton Fitzgerald White (The Lion King), will join 4,500 students and teachers representing 93 groups from 26 states and the District of Columbia at the 2014 Junior Theater Festival, it was announced today by Timothy Allen McDonald, founding Chairman of iTheatrics and the Junior Theater Group. The Junior Theater Festival is being held January 17, 18 and 19 at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) will host a one-night-only staged reading of the hit off-Broadway play, UNNATURAL ACTS, to benefit The Trevor Project on Monday, January 27, 2014. The special event will be held at 7pm at NYTW (79 East Fourth Street, between Bowery & Second Avenue) and will feature the entire original off-Broadway cast. A brief panel discussion to follow.

UP Comedy Club announces the addition of its new revue The Second City's Incomplete Guide to Everything to its winter lineup. The Second City's Incomplete Guide to Everything features some of the best material from The Second City's archives. Incomplete Guide to Everything is directed by Jeff Award winning director Ryan Bernier with musical direction by Vinne Pillarella. Incomplete Guide to Everything begins February 13, 2014 and runs at the UP Comedy Club, located at 230 W. North Ave 3rd Floor of Piper's Alley Chicago, IL 60614.

After conducting a thorough national search, the Alliance Theatre has announced that Mike Schleifer has been chosen as the new General Manager of the Alliance Theatre, beginning March 3, 2014. Schleifer steps into the position left vacant by Max Leventhal, who served the Alliance for 10 seasons before transitioning to the role of Owners' Representative to the Woodruff Arts Center in September, 2013. Schleifer brings to his new role 19 years of theatre management experience in a variety of company leadership and stage management positions.

Profiles Theatre continues its 25th Anniversary Season with the Midwest premiere of Gidion's Knot by Johnna Adams, directed by Artistic Director Joe Jahraus and featuring Amy J. Carle and Laura Hooper. The production runs January 17 - March 9, 2014 at The Alley Stage, 4147 N. Broadway. Please note the new opening date: The press opening is Saturday, January 25 at 8:00pm.

Atlanta's nationally acclaimed Alliance Theatre will present Shrek the Musical, based on the beloved Dreamworks film character and William Steig's 1990s book, February 22 through March 16, 2014 as part of its Alliance Stage Family Series. Rosemary Newcott, the Sally G. Tomlinson Artistic Director of Theatre for Youth and Families, directs this enchanting production which ran for 12 months on Broadway and is now adapted to a family friendly one-act experience.

This is Avenue Q, a very different neighborhood, no less fun, but not for children! Stage West is importing the long-running Theatre 3 production of this mega-hit from Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx (Music & Lyrics) and Jeff Whitty (Book), featuring a brand-new set, for a 6-week run at Stage West beginning tonight, January 9.

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE presents THE FAIRYTALE LIVES OF RUSSIAN GIRLS by Meg Miroshnik, directed by Rachel Chavkin, January 31-February 22 at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street). Opening Night is Thursday, February 6. The cast of THE FAIRYTALE LIVES OF RUSSIAN GIRLS is Sofiya Akilova, Celeste Arias, Stephanie Hayes, Jessica Jelliffe, Felicity Jones, and Emily Walton.

Votes are cast, polls are closed, and results have been tabulated! This was our BIGGEST year yet! After a record number of voters in over 50 regions worldwide, BroadwayWorld is VERY excited to announce the 2013 Atlanta Winners! Thanks to all who voted and HUGE congrats to all the winners!

The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park will launch a reading series of new works by playwrights with Cincinnati connections. Readings will take place on Monday evenings beginning Jan. 27 and continuing through Feb. 17.

East West Players (EWP), the nation's largest producing organization of Asian American artistic work and the longest-running professional theatre of color in the country, continues its 48th Anniversary Season Making Light, with the world premiere of "A Nice Indian Boy," written by Madhuri Shekar and directed by Snehal Desai.

New Repertory Theatre announces the New England Premiere of THE WHIPPING MAN, January 25 through February 15, 2014. Directed by Benny Sato Ambush, THE WHIPPING MAN performs in the Charles Mosesian Theater at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, in Watertown, MA.

Now celebrating its 10th anniversary season, the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition continues to spotlight the best emerging playwrights with a full production for the competition winner and staged readings for four competition finalists. IN LOVE AND WARCRAFT, the 10th competition winner, will premiere on the Hertz Stage January 31 - February 23, 2014. Opening night is February 5, 2014. IN LOVE AND WARCRAFT is written by Madhuri Shekar, a recent graduate of the MFA program at the University of South California, and will be directed by Laura Kepley, Artistic Director of the Cleveland Play House.

'Harmony', a new musical with music by Barry Manilow Book and lyrics by Bruce Sussman, is being directed by Tony Speciale in a co-production with the Alliance Theatre, Atlanta. The show will begin previews at Center Theatre Group's Ahmanson Theatre on March 4, 2014, with an opening night slated for March 12. The show will run through April 13. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast in action below!

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University announced today the cast and creative team for the world premiere production of Witness Uganda, created by Matt Gould and Griffin Matthews, directed by A.R.T. Artistic Director Diane Paulus, with choreography by Darrell Grand Moultrie. The production begins performances at the Loeb Drama Center at 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge on February 4, and will run through March 16. It is available for press viewing from Wednesday, February 12, at 7:30pm.

Guest conductor James Feddeck will lead the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) in Schubert's Third Symphony February 6, 2014, at 8:00 p.m. and February 8, 2014, at 7:30 p.m. in Atlanta Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Arts Center. Mr. Feddeck will also lead the ASO in Elgar's captivating musical portrait of his closest friends, Enigma Variations.

Guest conductor James Feddeck will lead the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) in Schubert's Third Symphony February 6, 2014, at 8:00 p.m. and February 8, 2014, at 7:30 p.m. in Atlanta Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Arts Center. Mr. Feddeck will also lead the ASO in Elgar's captivating musical portrait of his closest friends, Enigma Variations.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre announces the world premiere of The House that will not Stand, a historical comedic drama commissioned from award-winning poet-playwright and Oakland native Marcus Gardley. Sensuous, witty, heartbreaking, and uplifting - The House that will not Stand unearths a story about free women of color in 1836 New Orleans, where black Creole women entered into common-law marriages with affluent white men. When her wealthy lover mysteriously dies, Beartrice Albans' foundation of security hangs precariously by a thread. She is left to fend for her three unwed daughters in a world where freedom must be carefully negotiated. Told in a rich and lyrical river of words, this new play was developed through The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep's Center for the Creation and Development of New Work. It's helmed by Patricia McGregor, whose many credits include the celebrated production of Spunk at California Shakespeare Theater. The House that will not Stand begins previews on Berkeley Rep's intimate Thrust Stage on Friday, January 31, opens on Wednesday, February 5 and runs through Sunday, March 16, 2014.