Austin Pendleton News

Catholic, Fundamentalist, gay, straight, Mormon, Jew, alcoholism, sex, love and mixed marriage are the tangle of dynamics for a pair of married couples in Renee Calarco's comedy of faith, the 2013 Charles MacArthur nominated The Religion Thing, directed by Douglas Hall. The Religion Thing, produced by the award-winning Project Y Theatre Company, will have its New York premiere when it begins previews Wednesday, June 18, at 8:00pm for an opening Tuesday, July 1, at 8:00pm at The Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rd Street. The Religion Thing runs through August 1.

Tickets are now on sale for the New York City return of Jean Anouilh's BECKET, the 1961 Tony Award winner for Best Play. Tickets can be purchased online at becketnyc.brownpapertickets.com.

NYC based theatre company Mississippi Mud Productions announces an environmental space staging of Tennessee Williams' Vieux Carre in Hell's Kitchen. Tickets on sale online @ http://mudvieuxcarre.brownpapertickets.com - $18 General Admission, $15 Student/Senior.

SimonSays Entertainment, helmed by Ron Simons, a three-time Tony Award nominee and a two-time Tony Award winner, has joined the producing team of "5 Lesbians Eating A Quiche.' SimonSays Entertainment is a production company which develops projects of underrepresented communities for film, television, and live theatre, has joined lead producers Chicago Commercial Collective and Pinckard Production Partners. The show having previously run to rave reviews in Chicago and New York City opened today at the Chopin Theatre in Chicago. The New York Times said the work's "raw and magnetic dementia seems destined to attract a cult following."

NYC based theatre company Mississippi Mud Productions announces its first production in Lido Beach, NY located about 25 miles outside of NYC. The company produces Tennessee Williams' one-acts Moony's Kid Don't Cry, directed by Jen Danby; The Lady of Larkspur Lotion, directed by Daniel Capalbo, Jr, with Miss Danby as Mrs. Hardwicke-Moore, an early sketch of Blanche DuBois; and Interior: Panic, an early sketch of A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Edward Bergen and starring Jen Danby and Colleen Leone as sisters Blanche and Grace. Three plays, music, raffles and refreshments. Tickets on sale online @ http://shotguncottage.brownpapertickets.com - $25 General Admission, $15 Student/Senior, $10 Under 18.

'If you like action-packed thrillers,' writes Lynnea Benson, Artistic Director of Frog and Peach Theatre, 'you are going to love King John.' She calls the seldom-produced history play 'Game of Thrones, Shakespeare style,' being filled with wars over crowns, gold and power; craven courtiers, bickering in-laws, a greedy, power-mad Cardinal; illegitimate relatives and two very ambitious Queen Mothers. She will direct the classic today, April 24 to May 18, 2014 featuring a cast of Frog and Peach stalwarts including Karen Lynn Gorney ('Saturday Night Fever,' 'All My Children') as the ruthlessly clever Queen Elinor.

The OBIE, Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Award-winning Peccadillo Theater Company, in association with La Femme Theatre Productions, has announced the full cast for the play's first NY revival as well as the New York City premiere of the published version of William Inge's A Loss of Roses. Performances begin May 8th (not May 7th as previously announced) at Theatre at St. Clement's, 423 West 46th Street, NYC, and continuing through June 7th, 2014. The play opens officially on May 12th at 7 PM.

Joshua Bell, Frank London, Austin Pendleton and Jackie Hoffman have joined the lineup for Raising the Roof - an all-star benefit concert celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof, its Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning lyricist, Sheldon Harnick, and the 100thanniversary of The National Yiddish Theatre - Folksbiene - on Monday, June 9th, at New York's The Town Hall.

New York Shakespeare Exchange (Ross Williams, Artistic Director) celebrates Shakespeare's birthday with the premiere of Sonnet #63, directed by Josh Barrett and starring Austin Pendleton, for THE SONNET PROJECT at a viewing party at Amity Hall (80 West 3rd Street, between Thompson and Sullivan) today, April 22 from 7 - 11 PM.

'The Public's commitment to make theater that matters is brilliantly reflected in the power and diversity of the 2014-15 season,' said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. 'Starting with the return of the thrilling Public Works Shakespeare at the Delacorte, and proceeding through three explosive new musicals and major new work by Suzan-Lori Parks and Young Jean Lee, this season is truly of, by and for the people. This is work that we have developed and nurtured, and the artists have responded with astounding bravery and creativity.'

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner, announced today that its acclaimed production of David Ives' THE HEIR APPARENT, adapted from the play by Jean-Francois Regnard, will extend through Sunday, May 11 at CSC (136 East 13th Street). Directed by John Rando, THE HEIR APPARENT features Suzanne Bertish (Madame Argante), Carson Elrod (Crispin), Claire Karpen (Lisette), Amelia Pedlow (Isabelle), David Pittu (Scruple), Dave Quay (Eraste) and Paxton Whitehead (Geronte).

The Steppenwolf Theatre Company Ensemble has announced its newest member, playwright Bruce Norris. Among his many accomplishments, Norris is the author of The Qualms, playing July 3 - August 31 in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theatre. Since 2000, Steppenwolf has produced seven of Norris's plays, including Clybourne Park and the world premieres of A Parallelogram, The Unmentionables, The Pain and the Itch, We All Went Down to Amsterdam, Purple Heart and The Infidel.

NYC based theatre company Mississippi Mud Productions announces its first production in Lido Beach, NY located about 25 miles outside of NYC. The company produces Tennessee Williams' one-acts Moony's Kid Don't Cry, directed by Jen Danby; The Lady of Larkspur Lotion, directed by Daniel Capalbo, Jr, with Miss Danby as Mrs. Hardwicke-Moore, an early sketch of Blanche DuBois; and Interior: Panic, an early sketch of A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Edward Bergen and starring Jen Danby and Colleen Leone as sisters Blanche and Grace. Three plays, music, raffles and refreshments. Tickets on sale online @ http://shotguncottage.brownpapertickets.com - $25 General Admission, $15 Student/Senior, $10 Under 18.

Tony-nominated and Obie-winning director Austin Pendleton directs a staged reading of A Streetcar Named Desire as a fundraiser for the Long Beach Martin Luther King Center. Starring Geoffrey Owens* (The Cosby Show, Romeo and Julietwith Orlando Bloom on Broadway) as Stanley; Jen Danby* (The Blonde Bombshell Project: Marilyn Monroe, Sharon Tate in Heaven) as Blanche DuBois; Colleen Leone (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) as Stella Kowalski. With: Michael Arena, Edward Bergen, Charles Black, Daniel Capalbo, Jr., Cheryl Halliburton, Patricia Perales, Jody Prusan, and Michael Robinson. *These actors appear courtesy of Actors' Equity Association

STAGE17, Chairman David Stoller (Executive Chairman of Reach4Entertainment), and President and Executive Producer Ondine Landa Abramson are pleased to present the world premiere of the original reality series Fan Fare which offers backstage scoop, from auditions to closing nights, as casts and creative teams from iconic Broadway shows reunite at the legendary Sardi's with Julie James, host of On Broadway from SiriusXM. STAGE17, a new digital entertainment destination for episodic fiction and reality programming, launched the original series on Sunday, April 6, 2014 and part two airs today, April 11, 2014.

New York Shakespeare Exchange (Ross Williams, Artistic Director) celebrates Shakespeare's birthday with the premiere of Sonnet #63, directed by Josh Barrett and starring Austin Pendleton, for THE SONNET PROJECT at a viewing party at Amity Hall (80 West 3rd Street, between Thompson and Sullivan) on Tuesday, April 22 from 7 - 11 PM.

The world's largest solo theatre festival based in New York will present its second European showcase May 27 - 31, 2014 at Teatr Syrena in Warsaw, Poland. Recipient of the Order of the British Empire and two-time Laurence Olivier Award winner Fiona Shaw will open this year's United Solo Europe with her remarks on solo theatre. The performers participating in the European showcase come from Finland, Sweden, Poland, USA, and Italy. The program includes a show by five-time Grammy nominee LynnMarie Rink and one directed by Austin Pendleton, as well as a solo version of "Hamlet" and a magic piece about the discovery of an Alfred Hitchcock film. The full lineup can be found below.

Acclaimed playwright/director Young Jean Lee returns to the Wexner Center for the Arts, today, April 10-13 for the world premiere of STRAIGHT WHITE MEN, a provocative new work presented with an all-star cast (Austin Pendleton, Scott Shepherd, Pete Simpson, and James Stanley) and finalized through the support of the Wexner Center Residency Award program.

'If you like action-packed thrillers,' writes Lynnea Benson, Artistic Director of Frog and Peach Theatre, 'you are going to love King John.' She calls the seldom-produced history play 'Game of Thrones, Shakespeare style,' being filled with wars over crowns, gold and power; craven courtiers, bickering in-laws, a greedy, power-mad Cardinal; illegitimate relatives and two very ambitious Queen Mothers. She will direct the classic April 24 to May 18, 2014 featuring a cast of Frog and Peach stalwarts including Karen Lynn Gorney ('Saturday Night Fever,' 'All My Children') as the ruthlessly clever Queen Elinor.