Ars Nova News

Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, concludes its 2014/15 Season with Be More Chill, a new musical with music and lyrics by Joe Iconis and book by Joe Tracz, based on the acclaimed 2004 novel by Ned Vizzini. The production is directed by Stephen Brackett, with orchestrations by Charlie Rosen, music direction by Nathan Dame, and choreography by Chase Brock. The production will run May 30-June 21, 2015, with the opening night on Friday, June 5. Tickets starting at $20 are available from 732.345.1400 or www.tworivertheater.org. Be More Chill is supported by lead production sponsor Durso Wealth Management Group at Morgan Stanley.

FRESH PRODUCE'd L.A. returns Tuesday, May 19th at 8 p.m. at Moth Theater Company, located at 4359 Melrose Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90029. The series runs the third Tuesday of each month, featuring three new short plays or excerpts of plays from three new writers.

Darling Grenadine is the whimsical new musical from singer-songwriter Daniel Zaitchik.  It tells the story of a successful commercial composer and his precarious relationships with his girlfriend, his brother, and his Labrador Retriever. 

Colt Coeur's Play Hotel reading series will present a free staged reading of Need to Know, by Jon Caren, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt, Sunday May 10th at 6pm at SoHo House in Manhattan. The cast for the reading includes Katya Campbell (Disgraced, Broadway), Michael Cyril Creighton (Stage Kiss, Playwrights Horizons), and Michael Esper (The Last Ship, Broadway). The event is hosted by Sam Goldberg.

krav (Pr. 'crave') follows a dinner host and her guests through an underground supper club, featuring delicious four-course tasting menu with beverage pairings prepared by Executive Chef, Rick Martinez (Bon Appetit, Food Network).

The latest piece of ambitious new writing at Theatre503 will be the politically fuelled EleXion, showing at the venue in May. This production, which has been co-authored by the emerging playwrights on the 503Five resident writer programme (Chloe Todd Fordham, Brian Mullin, Vinay Patel, Ella Greenhill and Neasa O'Callaghan), will explore the cross section of British experiences leading up to the General Election. The production will run at The Latchmere, 503 Battersea Park Road, London SW11 3BW from today 5th May - Saturday 9th May 2015, 7:45pm.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie, announces the full cast and creative team for Dear Evan Hansen.

The New York Drama Critics' Circle today named Between Riverside and Crazy, by Stephen Adly Guirgis, best play of the 2014-15 season. Hamilton was named best musical.

Rady&Bloom Collective Playmaking, presenting the World Premiere of The Upper Room, co-written and co-directed by Jeremy Bloom and Brian Rady, with music composed and performed by Catherine Brookman (Broadway revival of Hair), running May 22 - June 12, 2015. Previews begin May 22 for a May 28 opening.

'The Gospel According to F#ggots' is a multimedia queer translation of Biblical text through verse, video, and vogue. It's a Church pageant play remixed and remastered into an epic journey that combines poetry, movement, and music.

In Jim Neu's musical 'The Floatones,' four rather strange characters meet at their encounter group and decide the best way to get better is through show business. They form a vocal quartet on the cutting edge of a new fusion between entertainment and self-help. Their night club act shares their group insights in speech and song, interweaving their individual stories, creating a post-Chorus Line. 'The Floatones' debuted in 1995 and will be revived by La MaMa E.T.C. on the play's 20th anniversary, today, May 1 to 10, 2015 co-directed by Catherine Galasso and Keith McDermott. It is the first production of a Jim Neu play since his death in 2010.

Sacrilegious, a new play written by Academy Award winning screenwriter Tom Schulman (Dead Poets Society) and directed by Andy Sandberg (Application Pending; The Last Smoker in America), will receive two invitation-only readings in New York on May 7-8, 2015. 

MOLLY POPE - brassy belter/whiskey guzzler/benevolent lunatic - will extend her acclaimed concert series through September, fresh off her acclaimed Off Broadway performances in Found at the Atlantic Theater Company and Horseplay, or the Fickle Mistress at La MaMa ETC / Theatre Askew. With the new show Molly Pope Likes Your Status, she sheds all pretense of humility and shamelessly entreats you to adore her for an hour while she prances about making loud noises. Unable to deny that she defines her self-worth entirely via social media notifications, the 'viscerally thrilling alto' (Time Out New York) exploits her fragile ego and vocal chops for your entertainment. Expect the unexpected juxtapositions of song and substance alongside a healthy helping of her roots in The Great American Songbook. Over-sharing? Of course. Sing-a-long? Yes. Three encores? Why not. After debuting earlier this season, the show will now be performed on Friday nights, May 8, June 12, July 10, August 14 and September 11, all 9:30 PM at The Duplex in New York.

The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team for the West Coast premiere of an exciting new American play, Rich Girl, by acclaimed playwright Victoria Stewart, continuing the Globe's 80th Anniversary festivities as part of the Balboa Park Centennial Celebration. Rich Girl will be directed by James Vasquez (Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show), and will play May 23 - June 21, 2015, in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.

TINY LITTLE BAND is pleased to announce the world premiere of its original work of immersive, site specific theatre, GHOST STORIES, which will be performed this spring at Cloud City (85 North 1st Street, in Williamsburg Brooklyn), with performances beginning tonight, April 30, 2015.

Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man, the hit comedy written by Matt Murphy, based on the best-selling book by Dan Anderson and Maggie Berman, is making a stop in Milwaukee at the Marcus Center's Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall for two nights only tonight, April 30 and Friday, May 1.

Geffen Playhouse announces Ari Brand (Broadway The Neil Simon Plays; Off-Broadway My Name is Asher Lev), Molly Ephraim (ABC's Last Man Standing, Broadway Into the Woods, Fiddler on the Roof; film Paranormal Activity), Lili Fuller (Hulu's Complete Works) and Raviv Ullman (Off-Broadway Sticks and Bones, title character in Disney's Phil of the Future) as the cast for its West Coast premiere production of Bad Jews by Joshua Harmon, directed by Matt Shakman, who is the artistic director of the Black Dahlia Theatre, a Geffen playhouse alumni (Good People, Wait Until Dark) and a noted television director (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Mad Men).

Glee star Billy Lewis Jr., Adam Kantor (Rent, The Last 5 Years), Emily Padgett (Side Show, pictured), Amma Osei (Rock of Ages), Ryann Redmond (Bring it On, If/Then), Heather Brorsen (Avenue Q) and Ashley Loren (Jekyll & Hyde) will join G'Day Broadway! The Music of Matthew Lee Robinson at The Metropolitan Room (34 West 22nd Street) tonight, April 29th at 7pm.