Arena Stage News

TheatreWorks presents its 60th World Premiere, the GrooveLily musical WHEELHOUSE. The pop-rock trio GrooveLily, creators of the popular TheatreWorks/Off-Broadway hit Striking 12, stars in this irresistible autobiographical musical about traveling tunesmiths in desperate need of a tune-up as they rocket across the country in a worn-out Winnebago.

Coinciding with AIDS 2012, the biennial International AIDS Conference in D.C. July 22-27, 2012, Arena Stage will host a special benefit performance of The Normal Heart along with the Washington AIDS Partnership Monday, July 23 at the Mead Center for American Theater.

New Village Arts presents the World Premiere of BRILLIANT MISTAKE, written and directed by Suzanne Bachner, beginning May 30.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater hosts a four-day festival featuring performances by 11 youth ensembles from the Community Engagement program Voices of Now. The festival will bring together more than 150 young artists, ages 11-23, from D.C., Maryland and Virginia who have been working with professional theater artists from Arena Stage for eight months to devise original one-act plays. The ensembles will come together today, May 9 through May 12, 2012 to perform and discuss their work in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle.

The Hound of the Baskervilles, a comedy adapted by Steven Canny and John Nicholson from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's celebrated Sherlock Holmes mystery, opens Penguin Rep Theatre's 2012 season Friday, May 18.

Two-time Golden Globe® winner, Academy Award® & Tony Award® nominee Kathleen Turner returns to Toronto in the National Tour of Matthew Lombardo's play HIGH, tonight, May 8 through May 13, 2012, at The Royal Alexandra Theatre. Directed by Rob Ruggiero, HIGH also features Evan Jonigkeit as "Cody Randall" and Timothy Altmeyer as "Father Michael Delpapp".

Single-show tickets for the 2012 Music Circus season go on sale today, May 7, at 10 a.m. Tickets, starting at $30 for all shows, will be available by calling (916) 557-1999, or at the Wells Fargo Pavilion Box Office, 1419 H Street, Sacramento. They can also be purchased online at www.Tickets.com.

Imagination Stage, in a collaboration with The Washington Ballet, has announced casting for its world premiere summer production, THE LION, THE WITCH & THE WARDROBE. In this fusion of theater, dance, and puppetry, based on the novel by C.S. Lewis, the roles of the four children are played jointly by an actor and a dancer, and the courageous lion Aslan is portrayed by a life-size puppet operated by three actor/puppeteers, similar to the puppets used in the Broadway production WAR HORSE.

Central Square Theater announces that Underground Railway Theater, one of the resident companies, has been awarded the rights to Katori Hall's The Mountaintop which finished an extended Broadway run in January. This production will now replace Tanya Barfield's Blue Door in the previously announced 2012-2013 Season.

Meet the Sycamores - the delightfully eccentric family at the center of the action in the madcap comedy classic, You Can't Take It With You. They revel in day-to-day occurrences such as collecting snakes, making fireworks in the basement, and practicing ballet steps in the parlor. When their daughter Alice, decides to invite her conservative boyfriend's family to dinner, they promise to be on their best behavior. However...! Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and adapted into an Academy Award winning film, this beloved comedy has been a perennial favorite to theatre-goers for more than 70 years.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater produces the 2011 Tony Award-winning production of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, directed by George C. Wolfe. Wolfe, who directed the show's sold-out Broadway engagement last season, mounts the professional D.C.-area premiere of this production, which features returning Broadway cast members Patrick Breen and Luke MacFarlane, among others. Presented by special arrangement with Daryl Roth, The Normal Heart runs June 8-July 29, 2012 in the Kreeger Theater.

Kutztown University officials will award an honorary doctorate degree to alumnus and Signature Theatre Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer ('84) at a spring 2012 commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 12 at 2:00pm.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, announces that digital-marketing pioneer and best-selling author Seth Godin will speak at the 22nd annual TCG National Conference in Boston from June 21 to 23, 2012. This multiday convening will bring 1,000 theater practitioners together from around the world to conclude TCG's year-long 50th anniversary celebration.

Tickets are now on sale for The Amoralists' World Premiere of The Bad and the Better, written by Derek Ahonen, directed by Obie Award winner Daniel Aukin and featuring The Amoralists acting ensemble. Priced at $49.95, tickets can be purchased online at https://www.TicketCentral.com or by calling 212-279-4200.

Shakespeare Festival St. Louis will present a free production of OTHELLO from 5/25 to 6/17, 2012 at Shakespeare Glen, Forest Park nightly at 8pm with previews 5/23-24.

Single-show tickets for the 2012 Music Circus season will go on sale Monday, May 7, at 10 a.m. Tickets, starting at $30 for all shows, will be available by calling (916) 557-1999, or at the Wells Fargo Pavilion Box Office, 1419 H Street, Sacramento. They can also be purchased online at www.Tickets.com.

The New Group presents the world premiere of An Early History of Fire, a new play by Tony Award-winning playwright David Rabe. Directed by Jo Bonney, this production features Gordon Clapp, Erin Darke, Jonny Orsini, Devin Ratray, Dennis Staroselsky, Theo Stockman and Claire van der Boom. Limited Off-Broadway engagement is slated April 5 - May 26 at The New Group @ Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street). The official Opening Night was Monday, April 30 at 7:00 PM. Check out the after-party photos below featuing Meryle Streep and all the cast.

Arena Stage today announced an addition to the 2012/13 season, Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, starring the iconic stage and screen actress Kathleen Turner as the feisty, unforgettable political journalist.

Complex play by Lynn Nottage Deserves Your Attention

The New Group presents the world premiere of An Early History of Fire, a new play by Tony Award-winning playwright David Rabe. Directed by Jo Bonney, this production features Deema Aitken, Gordon Clapp, Erin Darke, Jonny Orsini, Devin Ratray, The New Group presents the world premiere of An Early History of Fire, a new play by Tony Award-winning playwright David Rabe. Directed by Jo Bonney, this production features Deema Aitken, Gordon Clapp, Erin Darke, Jonny Orsini, Devin Ratray, Dennis Staroselsky, Theo Stockman and Claire van der Boom. Limited Off-Broadway engagement is slated tonight, April 30, through May 26 at The New Group at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street). Official Opening Night is tonight, April 30 at 7:00 PM. Staroselsky, Theo Stockman and Claire van der Boom. Limited Off-Broadway engagement is slated April 5 - May 26 at The New Group at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street). Official Opening Night is set for Monday, April 30 at 7:00 PM.