August Wilson News

The REP, Point Park University's professional theatre company, will produce four works, including a world premiere and a Pittsburgh premiere, in the 2013-2014 season. The season begins Sept. 6 and runs through April 6, 2014, at the Pittsburgh Playhouse.

Chris Isaacson Presents and Upright Cabaret have announced that American Idol's Michael Orland will be the musical director for the West Coast club return of Broadway diva and Tony Award-winner Lillias White's new show, A Woman On Love, at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood. There will be two performances only, on Mondays, June 3 and 10 at 8:30pm, with cocktail and dinner service beginning at 6:30pm. The June 10 show also marks the second anniversary of The Night After The Tonys, a tradition begun in 2012 by Ms. White and Upright Cabaret.

Plays & Players' 2013-14 season focuses on brothers and sisters; those with whom we are closest, those who share our blood, and those with whom, familiar or unknown, we seek connection. Through rituals old and new, we continue searching for those who are both distant from and deeply within us as we attempt to unwrap the simplest of notions: brotherhood.

Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad, who directed Westport Country Playhouse's "A Raisin in the Sun" last fall, will be honored at the Playhouse's annual fundraising gala on the evening of Monday, September 16. Proceeds will benefit the non-profit, professional producing theater, now in its 83rd season - its work on stage, with schools, and throughout the community. The gala includes a one-night-only performance by Broadway talent and surprise guests.

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 5/24/2013.

The August Wilson Center for African American Culture is proud to present the fifth annual First Voice: A Pittsburgh Black Arts Festival. This year's class of 2013 fellows celebrates both the creator and the creative process as four regional artists explore the definition Black Art.

Happy Birthday Leslie Uggams! Uggams starred in Hallelujah, Baby!, which premiered on Broadway in 1967, and won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a musical. She appeared on Broadway in the revue Blues in the Night in 1982 and in the musical revue of the works of Jerry Herman, Jerry's Girls in 1985. Later Broadway roles include Muzzy in Thoroughly Modern Millie (2003 - 2004) and Ethel Thayer in On Golden Pond at the Kennedy Center in 2004 and on Broadway at the Cort Theatre in 2005. In 2001 she appeared in the August Wilson play King Hedley II, receiving a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

Connecticut's premier outdoor Shakespeare will present As You Like It, June 13-30, 2013. The show is one of Shakespeare's most beloved and pastoral comedies. Claire Shannon Kelly, currently the Director of Youth Programming for Shakespeare on the Sound and the director of the company's touring educational program, 'Speaking Daggers,' will direct. Kelly previously worked at the Ordway Theater, the Guthrie Theater, the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and the George Street Playhouse. She is a resident of New Canaan.

The Pasadena Playhouse (Sheldon Epps, Artistic Director and Elizabeth Doran Executive Director) announced that subscriptions to the 2013-2014 season are now on sale. The season will include a revival of the longest-running Broadway musical revue, Smokey Joe's Cafe featuring the musical masterpieces of the legendary team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller; Stoneface, by Vanessa Claire Stewart and starring French Stewart ("3rd Rock From the Sun") which enjoyed a successful run at Sacred Fools Theatre Company this past summer and recently won five LA Weekly Theatre Awards; Above the Fold, a new drama by Bernard Weinraub, about the world of journalism in the digital age, which received a HOTHOUSE at The Playhouse staged reading in 2012; Noel Coward's rarely produced A Song at Twilight, directed by Art Manke, who recently directed The Playhouse's hit revival of Coward's Fallen Angels; and a theatrical surprise production that will be selected and directed by Playhouse Artistic Director Sheldon Epps, to be announced at a later date. Panto at The Playhouse returns with Lythgoe Family Productions' special musical twist on the classic Aladdin tale with Aladdin and His Winter Wish, which will be offered as a holiday season add-on. The 2013-2014 Season begins September 2013. All renewing subscribers will receive priority access to their current seat locations and new subscribers will receive the best available seats within requested sections.

New Dramatists, Tony Honor recipient and the nation's premiere playwright development workshop, just honored entertainment lawyer and New Dramatists Chairman of the Board Seth Gelblum with their 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award at its 64th Annual Spring Luncheon tribute, earlier today, May 21 at the New York Marriott Marquis. Among those performing tributes were Tony Award nominee Keith Carradine (Hands on a Hardbody, The Will Rogers Follies) and Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins (Caroline, or Change; Jelly's Last Jam). The event co-chairs are Roger Berlind, Roy Furman, and Barry and Fran Weissler. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the festivities below!

New Dramatists, Tony Honor recipient and the nation's premiere playwright development workshop, has announced that they will honor entertainment lawyer and New Dramatists Chairman of the Board Seth Gelblum with their 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award at its 64th Annual Spring Luncheon tribute, to be held today, May 21 at the New York Marriott Marquis. Among those performing tributes will be Tony Award nominee Keith Carradine (Hands on a Hardbody, The Will Rogers Follies) and Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins (Caroline, or Change; Jelly's Last Jam). The event co-chairs are Roger Berlind, Roy Furman, and Barry and Fran Weissler.

Five teachers have been selected for Center Theatre Group's 2013 Theatre Educator Fellowship program, it was announced recently at a celebratory dinner for the opening of August Wilson's "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" presented at the CTG/Mark Taper Forum. The Theatre Educator Fellowship program, created by CTG's Education and Community Partnerships Department and supported by a grant from JPMorgan Chase & Co., awards fellowships to educators who implement theatre in their teaching practice.

Ebony Repertory Theatre, now in its fifth year, has announced the return of their production of FRATERNITY by internationally acclaimed, award-winning playwright/screenwriter Jeff Stetson (Keep the Faith and And the Men Shall Also Gather). Director Henry Miller (James Baldwin's The Amen Corner) leads the creative team. The riveting award-winning political drama FRATERNITY began performances last night and runs through June 2, 2013 at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center (4718 W. Washington Blvd.) in Los Angeles.

This weekend, WABC-7 airs a half-hour special covering highlights of the spring season on Broadway, including ANNIE, THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES, I'LL EAT YOU LAST, JERSEY BOYS, LUCKY GUY, MATILDA THE MUSICAL, MOTOWN THE MUSICAL, PIPPIN, and more. 'Broadway Backstage: Spring Preview' airs tonight, May 18 from 7:00-7:30PM.

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 5/17/2013.

This weekend, WABC-7 airs a half-hour special covering highlights of the spring season on Broadway, including ANNIE, THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES, I'LL EAT YOU LAST, JERSEY BOYS, LUCKY GUY, MATILDA THE MUSICAL, MOTOWN THE MUSICAL, PIPPIN, and more. "Broadway Backstage: Spring Preview" airs tomorrow, Saturday, May 18 from 7:00-7:30PM.

Tim Driesen, Dieter Spileers, Robbert van den Bergh and Rene van Kooten will be portraying Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons in the Dutch version of JERSEY BOYS, due to open on September 22nd in Utrecht.

Hot on the heels of a highly successful season including - Christopher Durang's hilarious comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (now on Broadway with six Tony Award nominations), Edward Albee's poignant drama, A Delicate Balance , and Into the Woods reimagined by Fiasco Theatre -McCarter Theatre Artistic Director Emily Mann has announced the five theater productions for McCarter's 2013-2014 season.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival opens its flagship theatre the weekend of June 14-16 with two Shakespeare productions, Cymbeline and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a rollicking U.S. premiere of David Farr's The Heart of Robin Hood.

The American Conservatory Theater Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) Program, which has trained such celebrated actors as Elizabeth Banks, Annette Bening, Anna Deavere Smith, Anika Noni Rose, and Denzel Washington, will present three classic works in repertory this spring: Caryl Churchill's innovative and provocative comedy Cloud 9; Bertolt Brecht's riveting drama Galileo; and August Wilson's classic American drama Seven Guitars. Performances will feature students from all three years of A.C.T.'s acclaimed M.F.A. Program.