Arena Stage News

People's Light & Theatre presents the regional premiere of Dear Elizabeth running April 2-27 on the Steinbright Stage. Lisa Rothe directs. People's Light & Theatre is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the leadership of Diane Paulus, Artistic Director and William Russo, Managing Director; announced today the company for the last production of its 2013/14 Season, THE TEMPEST, adapted and directed by Aaron Posner and Teller from the play by William Shakespeare, with magic by Teller, music by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, and movement by Matt Kent of Pilobolus.

From Egypt and England to South Africa, backstage, and beyond -The Tony Award-Winning McCarter Theatre Center is about to take audiences around the world as Artistic Director Emily Mann announces the five theatre productions for McCarter's 2014-2015 season.

Smokey Joe's Cafe-The Songs of Leiber and Stoller transports audiences to the golden age of rock, rhythm and blues this spring at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Director Randy Johnson returns to Arena Stage following the success of A Night with Janis Joplin (which enjoyed two runs at Arena Stage followed by a subsequent run on Broadway) to helm this Grammy Award-winning tribute to legendary songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, which originally opened on Broadway in 1995 and became the longest running musical revue, topping 2,000 performances. Bursting with hit tunes including 'Hound Dog,' 'Jailhouse Rock,' 'Stand by Me,' 'Love Potion #9' and 'On Broadway,' Smokey Joe's Cafe showcases choreography by Parker Esse (Arena Stage's The Music Man, Oklahoma!) and music direction by Victor Simonson (Center Stage's A Civil War Christmas, Arena Stage's 3 Mo' Divas) and runs April 25-June 8, 2014 in the Fichandler Stage.

What happens when an elderly patient with dementia goes missing in a northern Idaho blizzard, leaving his wife and others behind to face the unknown? The story is Rest, a heartbreakingly funny and tender play commissioned by South Coast Repertory from Samuel D. Hunter. SCR Founding Artistic Director Martin Benson directs the world premiere of Rest, March 28-April 27, on the Segerstrom Stage. The show is a cornerstone production of SCR's Pacific Playwrights Festival. Tickets are available online: www.scr.org.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company, recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, presents Shakespeare's Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 as part of the Clarice Smith Repertory. STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn will direct both parts of this sweeping epic - one of Shakespeare's culminating achievements in the history play genre - over multiple nights. As Kahn says, describing Parts 1 and 2 as his favorite Shakespearean drama: 'It brings to the stage every issue we as human beings experience.' The two productions will run in the Company's Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) from March 25 - June 8, 2014.

Tickets for the new critically acclaimed American play THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN are now on sale at the Booth Theatre box office (222 West 45 Street). THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN will begin previews Tuesday, April 1, 2014, at Broadway's Booth Theatre for a limited engagement, following a sold-out, critically acclaimed run at Washington DC's Arena Stage (Edgar Dobie, Executive Producer) in the fall of 2013. 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. THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN will mark the Broadway debuts of playwright Eric Coble and director Molly Smith.

Screen Actors Guild Foundation and BroadwayWorld have partnered for an inaugural filmed Conversations Q&A series to recognize and celebrate the vibrant theatre community in New York City and the union actors who aspire to have a career on the stage and screen. The next Career Conversations will feature Kathleen Chalfant on March 19 (2PM)- currently starring in Manhattan Theatre Club's world premiere of David Grimm's Tales From Red Vienna - and moderated by Broadway World's Richard Ridge of 'Backstage with Richard Ridge!' The event will take place at the NYIT Auditorium on Broadway (1871 Broadway - between 61st and 62nd).

The Velocity of Autumn will begin previews Tuesday, April 1, 2014, at Broadway's Booth Theatre (222 West 45 Street) for a limited engagement, following a sold-out, critically acclaimed run at Washington DC's Arena Stage (Edgar Dobie, Executive Producer) in the Fall of 2013. 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, Spring Awakening), is directed by Molly Smith and will open Monday, April 21, 2014. The Velocity of Autumn will mark the Broadway debuts of playwright Eric Coble and director Molly Smith. BroadwayWorld brings you a just-released television spot for the play below!

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.

Marsyas Productions inaugurates The Dina Koston Young Artists Program with Ears Open: A Festival of Contemporary Music tonight at 7:30pm at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Today, March 8th, Everyman Theatre welcomes top-level theatrical professionals for its panel discussion entitled 'Must the Show Go On?.' The panel is a part of the new discussion series, The World of the Play, which began earlier this season.

Breath & Imagination playwright Daniel Beaty's national book tour makes a stop at Hartford Stage. Join Daniel for Transforming Pain to Power, a free motivational presentation and book signing today, March 8, 2014, from 2–4 p.m.

Previews begin tomorrow night, Saturday, March 8, for the return to Broadway of Tony Award-winner and two-time Academy Award-winner Denzel Washington, starring as Walter Lee Younger in Lorraine Hansberry's A RAISIN IN THE SUN. This new production begins previews nearly 55 years to the day that A RAISIN IN THE SUN had its Broadway premiere (March 11, 1959) at the same theatre, the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street). Scroll down to learn more about the cast!

Perseverance Theatre opens Pulitzer Prize winning Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tenessee Williams. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is showing on the Perseverance Theatre Mainstage today, March 7 - March 30, 2014.

From today, March 7 through April 5, 2014, SpeakEasy Stage Company will present the New England premiere of the acclaimed Off-Broadway drama THE WHALE by Samuel D. Hunter.

Known nationally and internationally for thrilling audiences with captivating and esteemed productions, Berkeley Rep is poised to present yet another compelling collection of shows for its 47th season. Today, Berkeley Rep's Michael Leibert Artistic Director Tony Taccone reveals five of seven productions that will comprise the 2014-15 subscription programming.

CRYSTAL SPRINGS, a thought-provoking new play that interweaves the challenges of parenting in the digital age with a suspenseful tale of online misbehavior and its vicious consequences, will receive its world premiere at the Eureka Theatre in March. This latest work by rising playwright Kathy Rucker, a Humana Festival Heideman Award finalist, will be directed by award-winning British director Anna Jordan. CRYSTAL SPRINGS plays today, March 6 - 23, 2014 at The Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson St., San Francisco.

All the Way, the new play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan, starring BREAKING BAD's Bryan Cranston, is currently in previews on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre. The production officially opens on Thursday, March 6, 2014 for a strictly limited engagement. The play is directed by Bill Rauch, Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where All the Way began its theatrical life. Scroll down to learn more about the full cast of ALL THE WAY, plus watch interviews with the company below!

Broadway stars might boast the biggest fan-bases, but without their directors, the vehicle driving their talents could easily swerve off the tracks. Keeping the runaway train at bay are season's bold Broadway 'conductors'. Scroll down to learn more about this season's intrepid and imaginative leaders!