Arena Stage News

Pegasus Theatre Chicago is pleased to launch its 2015-16 season with the world premiere drama FOR HER AS A PIANO by Nambi E. Kelley, playwright of the critically acclaimed 2014 hit Native Son, featuring music by Jaret Landon and directed by Producing Artistic Director Ilesa Duncan. Produced in association with Goodman Theatre and Chicago Dramatists, FOR HER AS A PIANO will play September 30 - November 1, 2015 at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave. in Chicago.

Pegasus Theatre Chicago just announced its 2015-16 season, kicking off this fall with the world premiere drama FOR HER AS A PIANO by Nambi E. Kelley, playwright of the critically acclaimed 2014 hit Native Son.

THE LION, the gripping, highly acclaimed autobiographical solo show written and performed by Benjamin Scheuer, launches its official national tour today, August 22, 2015, at the Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, Massachusetts (50 East Merrimack Street).

Tony Award-winning playwright Lisa Kron will be a featured guest and participant at the launch party of the Women's Voices Theater Festival on September 8 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The invitation-only event kicks off the beginning of the Festival, an unprecedented collaboration among professional theater companies that includes the presentation of more than 50 world-premiere productions of work by female playwrights, taking place this September and October in the nation's capital region. The launch party features a creative conversation between Kron and National Public Radio's Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg focused on gender parity in the arts in the Museum's Performance Hall, followed by a celebratory party and toast to officially declare the start of the Festival.

Paper Mill Playhouse will open its 2015-2016 season with the world premiere musical The Bandstand. As previously announced, Tony Award nominee Laura Osnes (Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella, Bonnie and Clyde), Corey Cott (Newsies, Gigi) and Tony Award winner Beth Leavel (The Drowsy Chaperone, 42nd Street) will star in The Bandstand.

The March on Washington for Gun Control will present a Benefit reading of a Newtown documentary theater piece 26 Pebbles by Eric Ulloa on August 24 at 8:00 p.m. at Arena Stage at the Mead Center of American Theater directed by Molly Smith. This is a stirring new play that explores the power of community in the face of the tragedy in Newtown, CT and proceeds will benefit Everytown for Gun Safety and the Newtown Action Alliance.

One Year Lease Theater Company presents the World Premiere of Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally by Brooklyn-based playwright Kevin Armento (Good Men Wanted - 2015 O'Neill National Playwriting Finalist/PlayPenn Finalist, 2015-2016 Ars Nova Artist-in-Residence, Companion Piece at Pleasance Theatre, London)for a limited Off-Broadway run from September 30 to October 24 at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, NYC). Tickets for Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally are $35 (59E59 Members $24.50) and can be arranged online at www.59e59.org or by calling 212.279.4200. Running time: 75 minutes, no intermission. Opening night October 3, 2015.

The world premiere of Karen Zacarias' DESTINY OF DESIRE runs September 11-October 18, 2015 at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Below, BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the stars in costume!

DROP DEAD PERFECT, the madcap comedy starring the legendary Everett Quinton returns to the Theatre at St. Clements (423 West 46 Street - between 8th and 9th Avenues) and begins previews on Wednesday, August 19th, for a limited eight week engagement. The official opening is set for Sunday, August 23rd.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, in partnership with the U.S. Embassies in Zagreb, Croatia and Ljubljana, Slovenia, will send three Arena Stage Voices of Now artists to Zagreb, September 12-18, 2015. The U.S. Embassies will invite 25 college-age youth from vulnerable communities across the region for a seven-day workshop, culminating in an original play performed at the Tresnja Theater in Zagreb.

Ashland, Ore.-The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will open Lynn Nottage's Sweat, the final production of the Festival's 2015 playbill, on August 2 in the Angus Bowmer Theatre. Preview performances are July 29, July 31 and August 1.

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents La-Ti-Do on September 1, 2015 at 9:30pm. La-Ti-Do is a cabaret where musical theatre and spoken word poetry collide. La-Ti-Do debuts at 54 Below featuring some of both Washington, DC and New York's finest musical and spoken word talent.

Beginning September 8, the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit MATILDA THE MUSICAL will welcome Natalie Venetia Belcon as Mrs. Phelps, Allison Case as Miss Honey, Rick Holmes as Mr. Wormwood, and Amy Spanger as Mrs. Wormwood. They join a principal cast that features Christopher Sieber as Miss Trunchbull, and the four girls sharing the title role: Mattea Conforti, Rileigh McDonald, Mimi Ryder, and Alexandra Vlachos.

The March on Washington for Gun Control will present a Benefit reading of a Newtown documentary theater piece 26 Pebbles by Eric Ulloa on August 24 at 8:00 p.m. at Arena Stage at the Mead Center of American Theater directed by Molly Smith. This is a stirring new play that explores the power of community in the face of the tragedy in Newtown, CT and proceeds will benefit Everytown for Gun Safety and the Newtown Action Alliance.

San Francisco Playhouse opens the seventh season of its Award-Winning Sandbox Series with the dynamic world premiere of Lila Rose Kaplan's 1 2 3.

The Road Theatre Company and Taylor Gilbert, Founder/Artistic Director together with Sam Anderson, Artistic Director, are thrilled to announce the cast for the first show of its 2015-2016 - 25th Anniversary Season, the World Premiere of HOMEFREE, written by Lisa Loomer and directed by Ovation Award-winner Michael Matthews.

Berkeley Rep has announced the full company for its 2015-16 season opener Amelie, A New Musical, starring award-winning actress Samantha Barks.

The Queer New York International Arts Festival (QNYIA) announces the lineup for the 2015 festival.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director, Casey Reitz, Executive Director), in association with Stacey Mindich Productions, will present the New York premiere of the critically acclaimed new musical, DEAR EVAN HANSEN, featuring music and lyrics by the Tony and Emmy nominated composing team Benj Pasek & Justin Paul (Dogfight, A Christmas Story), book by Steven Levenson (Showtime's Masters of Sex), and direction by three-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif (Rent, Next to Normal, Grey Gardens, If/Then).