Arena Stage News

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Artistic Director David Van Asselt and Managing Director Brian Long present the New York premiere of The Few, written by Samuel D. Hunter and directed by Davis McCallum, at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Place. The official opening night is set for tonight, May 8 at 7pm; The Few is scheduled to run through Sunday, June 8.

The Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA Programs proudly present two raw and devastatingly humanistic plays running in repertory this May. Sam Shepard's poetic and psychedelic rock and roll drama The Tooth of Crime, directed by Dan Rogers (Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs '15), and Adam Rapp's surreal and dark new-age comedy, Stone Cold Dead Serious, directed by Flordelino Lagundino (Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs '15). Performances of both plays run through May 18 in the Pell Chafee Performance Center, 87 Empire Street, Providence. Audiences should note that both of these productions contain mature subject matter and adult language. Scroll down to see some photos from the productions!

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.

Long Wharf Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein and Managing Director Joshua Borenstein, will present The Last Five Years, written and composed by Jason Robert Brown, from tonight, May 7 through June 1, 2014 on the Claire Tow Stage in the C. Newton Schenck III Theatre.

Check below for a fresh lineup of Shakespeare Guild events!

THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN will play its final performance at Broadway's Booth Theatre today, having played 22 preview and 16 regular performances. Starring Academy Award winner Estelle Parsons and two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Spinella, THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN began performances on Tuesday, April 1, 2014 and opened Monday, April 21, 2014, following a sold-out, critically acclaimed run at Washington DC's Arena Stage in the fall of 2013.

Chance Theater presents the second show of its 16th Anniversary Season - the humorous and inventive glimpse behind-the-scenes of the traditional Passion play produced in three distinctively different locations and times. Written by two-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist Sarah Ruhl, with direction by Trevor Biship (director of Chance's Ovation Award-winning Jerry Springer: The Opera). Passion Play opens tonight, May 3 and continues through May 25 at Chance Theater at Bette Aitken Theater Arts Center. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Scenic designer, writer and professor, MARJORIE BRADLEY KELLOGG, and costume designer DEBORAH M. DRYDEN are among the 2014 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards recipients. The awards will be presented at a ceremony tonight, May 2, at 6:30pm, at the Hudson Theatre (145 West 44th Street).

Blue Raincoat Theatre Company return to the Traverse in June with their new play, First Cosmonaut, marking the Irish company's fifth consecutive year performing at the Edinburgh venue.

Longtime Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) costume designer Deborah M. Dryden has been selected by the Theatre Development Fund (TDF) as the 2014 recipient of the TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design. The award will be presented by designer David Woolard at tonight's May 2 ceremony at the Hudson Theatre in New York City.

The Wild Root Company, a brand new production endeavor committed to cultivating new works from emerging playwrights and screenwriters, will present two industry readings of Topher Payne's timely new comedy Perfect Arrangement on Thursday June 19, 2014 at 3:00 and 7:30 pm at The Creative Center at Manhattan Theatre Club. Linda Lombardi, who helmed the play's critically acclaimed, sold-out world premiere at The Source Festival in Washington, D.C. in 2013, will direct. Sean Hudock, Rocco Natale and Thatcher Stevens will produce the readings. Casting will be announced at a later date.

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's 52nd Season opens with The Tempest, Shakespeare's final great work. Performances begin May 28th and continue through June 22nd at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Ave. (at Lancaster Road) in Madison. Individual tickets are now on sale and can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 973-408-5600 or by visiting www.ShakespeareNJ.org. Performances are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays at 7:30 p.m.; Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Individual tickets range from $15 to $75.

Next Monday, The Rainbow Theatre Project presents the final installment of their inaugural season - a concert reading of the much-touted Off Broadway musical YANK! by brothers David and Joseph Zellnik. Co-directed by Factory 449 Producing Artistic Director Rick Hammerly and the Director of Artistic Programming at Ford's Theatre, Patrick Pearson, with Musical direction and accompaniment by Adam Wiggins, YANK! plays at Source in D.C. on Monday, May 5, 2014 at 7:30 p.m.

The Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA Programs present two raw and devastatingly humanistic plays running in repertory this May. Sam Shepard's poetic and psychedelic rock and roll drama The Tooth of Crime, opens tonight, May 1st and is directed by Dan Rogers (Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs '15).

Longtime Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) costume designer Deborah M. Dryden has been selected by the Theatre Development Fund (TDF) as the 2014 recipient of the TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design. The award will be presented by designer David Woolard at a May 2 ceremony at the Hudson Theatre in New York City.

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.

Broadway In Chicago has announced additional principal casting for the world premiere of AMAZING GRACE, the new musical with music and lyrics by Christopher Smith and a book by Christopher Smith and Arthur Giron, directed by Gabriel Barre (Andrew Lippas' The Wild Party) and choreographed by Tony Award winner Christopher Gattelli (Newsies).

Actor Sharif Atkins ('White Collar,' 'Hawaii,' 'ER') will star as Clay in the co-production of 'Dutchman' by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) by Dr. Barbara Ann Teer's National Black Theatre (NBT) and The Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH). The two theater companies are mounting the production 50 years after the March 1964 world premiere of the play at the Cherry Lane Theatre and in tribute to the late theater great Baraka, who died on January 9. Ambien Mitchell stars opposite Atkins as Lula and Lorenzo Scott joins the cast as the Conductor. Previews of the Carl Cofield-directed show begin tonight, April 30 and run through May 2, and performances run from May 3 through May 23 at National Black Theatre in Harlem.