Arena Stage News

The Old Globe today announced that two-time Golden Globe Award nominee Blair Underwood-who most recently made his acclaimed Broadway debut in the iconic role of Stanley in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire and garnered rave reviews opposite Cicely Tyson in Lifetime's The Trip to Bountiful-will make his Globe debut in the title role of Shakespeare's classic tragedy Othello, the first show of the Globe's 2014 Summer Shakespeare Festival. Underwood's films include Something New, Deep Impact, Gattaca, and Rules of Engagement, and his television credits include 'Ironside,' 'In Treatment,' 'The New Adventures of Old Christine,' and 'Sex and the City.' Joining him and also making their Globe debuts are the previously announced Emmy Award winner Richard Thomas ('The Americans,' 'The Waltons') as Iago and Kristen Connolly ('House of Cards,' The Cabin in the Woods) as Desdemona.

Trinity Rep announced today that former artistic director and Academy-award nominated film, stage and TV actor Richard Jenkins and his wife Director/Choreographer Sharon Jenkins will be honored with the 2014 Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. The theater also announced that nationally known dance educator and choreographer Mary Paula Hunter will receive the 2014 Charles Sullivan Award for Distinguished Service in the Arts. The 18th annual Pell Awards will be held on Monday, June 9, 2014 at Trinity Rep with a reception to follow next door at the Providence Public Library.

Best for ages 5-10, Cinderella: the Remix runs in Imagination Stage's Annette M. and Theodore N. Lerner Family Theatre April 9-May 25, 2014. Tickets start at $10, and may be purchased online at www.imaginationstage.org, at the Imagination Stage box office, or via phone at 301-280-1660. Group rates are available.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announced today it is seeking proposals from playwrights, ensembles and theater companies interested in participating in the 2014/15 Kogod Cradle Series as part of the American Voices New Play Institute. The Kogod Cradle Series supports the exploration and development of new and emerging work in the theater's intimate 200-seat Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle. The application is available at http://arenastage.org/artistic-development/work-with-us/. Proposals are due May 16, 2014 for consideration in the 2014-15 season.

Following the success of the last auction, Tony Award-winning Broadway superstar Alice Ripley has kicked off yet another online auction featuring a wide range of intriguing musical theatre merchandise showcasing many remarkable shows from her long and unique career - NEXT TO NORMAL, KING DAVID and beyond.

Now in previews, THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN is a 90-minute powder keg dark comedy by Eric Coble that stars Academy Award winner Estelle Parsons (Bonnie and Clyde, "Roseanne") and two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Spinella (Angels in America, Lincoln, "24"), is directed by Molly Smith and will open Monday, April 21, 2014. After every preview performance of the new critically acclaimed American play THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN audience members will be invited to stay for a complimentary post-show "Inside Velocity" talkback, featuring different members of the cast and creative team. This limited Broadway engagement of THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN follows a sold-out, critically acclaimed run at Washington DC's Arena Stage (Edgar Dobie, Executive Producer) in the fall of 2013. Check out a first look at Parsons and Spinella in action below!

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater presents the world-premiere historical drama Camp David, penned by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright and directed by Artistic Director Molly Smith. Based on true events surrounding the 1978 Camp David Accords, the play follows the 13-day meeting between President Jimmy Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat as they attempted to create the impossible: peace in the Middle East. Camp David runs now through May 4, 2014 in the Kreeger Theater. Below, BroadwayWorld has photos from the opening night festivities, featuring the real President Jimmy Carter and more!

The 2013-2014 season at Cleveland Play House (CPH) continues with the compelling world premiere production of Deborah Zoe Laufer's Informed Consent. Co-produced with Geva Theatre Center, this incredibly thought-provoking production is inspired by the real life court case between the Havasupai Indian tribe and Arizona State University, and sparks an intriguing debate on both ethicality and morality. Directed by Sean Daniels and Sponsored by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic and MetroHealth, Informed Consent will serve as the centerpiece to CPH's 2014 New Ground Theatre Festival and will run from April 23 - May 18 in the Second Stage.

Birdland Jazz Club has announced its great line-up of talent for April 14 - April 20, including: Pat Martino Organ Quartet, Amanda Green's Spring Trunk Show With Jenn Colella, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Greg Naughton, Kathleen Monteleone, Ryann Redmond & Janet Krupin, David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band, and more. Details below!

Admittedly, I am a sucker for new plays, but when they're as ambitious as this one, I get even more excited. This one is one to be excited about.

Aurora Theatre continues the 2013-2014 Harvel Lab Series with a Teatro del Sol production, Mariela in the Desert by Karen Zacarias. It is 1950 and artists Mariela and Jose are living an isolated existence in the desert of Northern Mexico, haunted by the ghost of their young son. Jose is very ill and Mariela sends a telegram to their daughter encouraging her to come home. Where once the walls were beautifully decorated, now only one painting remains, and it is shrouded in mystery. This play will be performed in Spanish with English supertitles. This production features an amazing cast including the stunning Blanca Aguero in the title role of Mariela and Aurora Theatre Producing Artistic Director Anthony P. Rodriguez as her husband, the ailing artist Jose. Scroll down to see some pictures of Blanca Aguero from the show!

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for Alan Ayckbourn's science fiction comedy Communicating Doors. Eleven plays penned by Alan Ayckbourn have been produced by the Alley, including the American premiere of Henceforward, directed by Ayckbourn, in 1987 and House & Garden in 2002. Alan Ayckbourn has been inducted into the American Theatre's Hall of Fame, received the 2010 Critics' Circle Award for Services to the Arts, became the first British playwright to receive both Olivier and Tony Special Lifetime Achievement Awards and was knighted in 1997 for services to the theatre.

THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY and Taylor Gilbert, Founder/Artistic Director together with Sam Anderson, Artistic Director, announced that the world premiere of SOVEREIGN BODY, written by Emilie Beck and directed by Scott Alan Smith (That Good Night, Lady) opens tonight, April 4 at 8pm and run through Saturday, May 24 at the Historic Lankershim Arts Center, 5108 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood, CA.

Yale Repertory Theatre, in a co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, presents the world premiere of The House that will not Stand by Marcus Gardley, directed by Patricia McGregor. The House that will not Stand will be performed at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street) April 18-May 10. Opening Night is Thursday, April 24.

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 on April 30 and run through May 2, and performances run from May 3 through May 23 at National Black Theatre in Harlem.

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 16th Not Your Typical Season with a special run of Love, Loss, and What I Wore -- a witty and wise celebration of womanhood adapted by Nora and Delia Ephron, creators of such hits as 'When Harry Met Sally,' 'Sleepless in Seattle,' 'You've Got Mail,' 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' and 'Silkwood.'

Longtime theatreWashington Board Chairman Victor Shargai will be honored with the Helen Hayes Tribute at the 30th Annual Helen Hayes Awards on Monday, April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum. In addition to serving as theatreWashington's board chair since 1997, Shargai has been instrumental in advocating for the entire Washington theatre community. As a board member and patron of several flagship theatres, he played a leading role in the area's artistic renaissance, which saw the number of professional theatres grow exponentially, creating an environment that now supports more than 200 productions annually.

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 May 7 through June 1, 2014 on the Claire Tow Stage in the C. Newton Schenck III Theatre.