Arena Stage News

Crafty con-man Harold Hill brings mischief and the magic of music to Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater this spring in Meredith Willson's The Music Man. This five-time Tony Award-winning musical is directed by Artistic Director Molly Smith, whose cultural dynamism made Oklahoma! a record-breaking audience favorite last season. With choreography by Parker Esse and music direction by Lawrence Goldberg, The Music Man runs May 11-July 22, 2012 in the Fichandler Stage, with all performances in May already sold out.

Ah, Wilderness!, Eugene O'Neill's depiction of American family life at the turn of the 20th century, will kick off the two-month citywide Eugene O'Neill Festival at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater.

Family dynamics and the importance of connection will rule the stage when Steven Drukman's The Prince of Atlantis has its world premiere March 30 - April 29. The production is part of the 15th Annual Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF), which featured a staged reading of Drukman's instant comic hit last year.

Director Michael Wilson, straight from the Broadway opening of "The Best Man," has lined up a cast of New York veteran and major regional performers for the preview presentation of a "new" William Inge play on April 18. Wilson helms "Off the Main Road" on Wednesday, April 18, at 7:30 p.m., in the William Inge Theatre at Independence, Kansas. The Inge work will be the opening night event of the 31st Annual William Inge Theatre Festival at the playwright's alma mater Independence Community College.

The world premiere production of DC-based playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton's BLOOD-BOUND AND TONGUE-TIED, first seen in workshop form during the Strand Theater Company's Friends & Neighbors Festival 2011, will run March 23 to April 7. The show will be directed by Lindsay Gentry, stage managed by Christina Cordle, and feature Derek Cooper as Oedipus, Chris Knight as Laius, Morgan Mosley as Creon, Ann Turiano as Jenna, and Kelli Wright as Jocasta.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces 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 May 9-12, 2012 to perform and discuss their work in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle.

Family dynamics and the importance of connection will rule the stage when Steven Drukman's The Prince of Atlantis has its world premiere March 30 - April 29. The production is part of the 15th Annual Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF), which featured a staged reading of Drukman's instant comic hit last year.

Rapunzel features 'a feisty young heroine, a wicked witch, a clever prince, a bit of magic, a grand adventure, and, of course, the longest hair in the world. Written by the two creators of the Emmy Award-winning television show Friends, this witty, musical update of a fairytale favorite invites audiences on comical journey to happily ever after.'

Next Theatre Company will present the Midwest premiere of Amy Herzog's After the Revolution, directed by Kimberly Senior, April 5 - May 13, 2012, at Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street. Previews are April 5 - 8 and the opening/press night is Tuesday, April 10 at 7 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

PICT launches its 2012 season with the Pittsburgh premiere of Sarah Ruhl's Pulitzer finalist In the Next Room or the vibrator play. The production features Brad Heberlee as Dr. Givings, Megan McDermott as Catherine Givings, Jessica Frances Dukes as Elizabeth, and Melinda Helfrich as Sabrina Daldry. Alan Stanford directs.

The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park brings back Keith's Glover's musical THUNDER KNOCKING ON THE DOOR in the Robert. S Marx Theatre April 21 through May 20.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will host more than 120 outstanding theater students from colleges and universities across the nation as part of the 44th annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), April 16-21, 2012. In January and February of this year, these artists from eight regions presented their outstanding work and were selected to travel to Washington, D.C. for an expense-paid trip to participate in National Festival events taking place at the Kennedy Center.

The Broadway production of END OF THE RAINBOW will open tonight, April 2, at the Belasco Theatre. Michael Cumpsty, Tom Pelphrey and Jay Russell join two-time Oliver Award-winner Tracie Bennett in Peter Quilter's acclaimed play about the legendary Judy Garland, directed by the Tony Award winning Terry Johnson.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of André Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) will present its LCT3 production of 4000 MILES, a new play by Amy Herzog, directed by Daniel Aukin beginning Thursday, March 15 in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street).

On Sunday, April 1, the hometown of California cuisine hosts a day of "Delicious Fictions" featuring Golden Globe Award-winner Jill Eikenberry and Emmy Award-nominee Michael Tucker.

Seattle Repertory Theatre and Artistic Director Jerry Manning announced today its full 50th Anniversary Season. The Seattle Rep artistic team has spent years putting together this landmark season-one that showcases what the Rep does best and celebrates its history. Seattle Rep's 50th Anniversary season will run from September 2012-May 2013.

Florida Studio Theatre (FST) will present the Florida premiere of Geoffrey Nauffts' contemporary drama Next Fall in FST's Keating Theatre (1241 N. Palm Avenue) on Wednesday, January 25 at 8:00pm.