Bertolt Brecht News

Guthrie Director Joe Dowling today announced directors for the three productions slated to headline the theater's 2009 Tony Kushner celebration, in addition to three speaking events designed to expand and enhance the issues raised in the work of this Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) will begin previews for the New York premiere of Mike Daisey's IF YOU SEE SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING on Wednesday, October 15. This groundbreaking monologue about homeland security, created and performed by Mike Daisey and directed by Jean-Michele Gregory, will run through Tuesday, November 30 with an official press opening on Monday, October 27. Tickets are on-sale now.

Tonight, October 13th, a staged reading of Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Sezuan, adapted by Tony Kushner and directed by Tony Speciale, will take place at Classic Stage Company's, as part of their popular First Look Festival - a program of one-night only staged readings, performed by notable actors.

Maggie Gyllenhaal has joined Monday's night staged reading of Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Sezuan, adapted by Tony Kushner and directed by Tony Speciale, as part of Classic Stage Company's, popular First Look Festival - a program of one-night only staged readings, performed by notable actors.

Columbia Stages presents Bertolt Brecht's BAAL, translated by Peter Tegel and directed by James Dacre, running October 22nd - 25th, 2008, at The Riverside Theatre, located in the historic Riverside Church at 91 Claremont Avenue between 120th and 122nd Streets.

Vocalist Ute Lemper performed Kurt Weill's Seven Deadly Sins on Wednesday, October 1, and Thursday, October 2, in Toronto Roy Thomson Hall with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. And will perform it at Carnegie Hall tonight Saturday, October 4, 2008.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) will begin previews for the New York premiere of Mike Daisey's IF YOU SEE SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING on Wednesday, October 15. This groundbreaking monologue about homeland security, created and performed by Mike Daisey and directed by Jean-Michele Gregory, will run through Tuesday, November 30 with an official press opening on Monday, October 27. Tickets are on-sale now.

The Living Theatre will begin its 2008-2009 season with the limited run of Judith Malina and Hanon Reznikov's 'Eureka!', based on an Edgar Allen Poe essay about the origin of the Universe. Previews begin on Saturday, September 27, 2008 and will officially open on Wednesday, October 1. The production is directed by Judith Malina and features an original score by Patrick Grant.

The Living Theatre (21 Clinton St.) will begin its 2008-2009 season with the limited run of Judith Malina and Hanon Reznikov's EUREKA!, based on an Edgar Allen Poe essay about the origin of the Universe. Previews begin on Saturday, September 27, 2008 and will officially open on Wednesday, October 1. The production is directed by Judith Malina and features an original score by Patrick Grant.

he Wilma Theater opens its 30th Anniversary Season with the Philadelphia Premiere of the 2008 Tony® nominee for Best Play, Rock 'n' Roll, by Academy Award®-winner and four-time Tony Award®-winner Tom Stoppard.

The award-winning LA-based ZOMBIE JOE'S UNDERGROUND THEATRE GROUP will present its new production of 'URBAN DEATH' at The Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street (at Minetta Lane) beginning previews on Thursday, October 9th and opening Friday, October 10th at 11 PM.

COLUMBIA STAGES, the award-winning producing arm of Columbia University's Graduate Theatre Program, announces its 2008-2009 season. The highly political season will include Baal and The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht; Euripides' Medea; Big Love by Charles L. Mee; The Woman by Edward Bond; a co-production with Origin Theatre Company; a new adaptation of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales and the 5th annual New Voices New Play Festival. The 2008-2009 season begins October 22nd at The Riverside Theatre, 91 Claremont Avenue between 120th and 122nd Streets.

A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program presents celebrated young playwright and OBIE Award winner Robert O'Hara's Good Breeding, directed by acclaimed director Timothy Douglas, and featuring the A.C.T. M.F.A. Program class of 2009. Sex, murder, revenge-it's all fair game in this extravagant new adaptation of the Greek Oresteia.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) will present the New York premiere of IF YOU SEE SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING, a groundbreaking monologue about homeland security, created and performed by Mike Daisey and directed by Jean-Michele Gregory.

The New York Times reports this morning that Playwright Tony Kushner has been named the first recipient of the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award. The award, which which comes with a cash prize of $200,000 will be presented on Wednesday.

Premiere Theatre & Performance, now in it's sixth season, presents the American premiere of Botho Strauss' 1988 dark comedy 'Seven Doors (Sieben Türen),' translated by the late Peter K. Jansen (University of Chicago professor emeritus), sponsored by the Goethe-Institut Chicago.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, will present the return of its popular First Look Festival - a program of one-night only staged readings, performed by notable actors. This season, the CSC First Look Festival turns its gaze to the works of Bertolt Brecht, perhaps one of the most influential playwrights of the 20th Century. Brecht's plays redefined the very nature of theatrical presentation to address the most pressing concerns of his tumultuous generation. CSC will be presenting four of Brecht's seminal works: The Caucasian Chalk Circle, In the Jungle of Cities, The Good Person of Sezuan, and Life of Galileo.

Zombie Joe's Underground Theatre comes to New York (from their native Los Angeles) to present their Poefest: theatrical adaptations of three Edgar Allen Poe pieces - 'The Masque of the Red Death', 'The Bells', and 'The Tell-Tale Heart', employing their 'tastefully macabre' story theatre style.

The Living Theatre will begin its 2008-2009 season with the limited run of Judith Malina and Hanon Reznikov's 'Eureka!', based on an Edgar Allen Poe essay about the origin of the Universe. Previews begin on Saturday, September 27, 2008 and will officially open on Wednesday, October 1. The production is directed by Judith Malina and features an original score by Patrick Grant.

Back on the regular schedule! New this week: News from BSF and a New Theatre Company! Plus a benefit featuring local leading ladies abd a One Act Plat Festival at Laurel Mill Playhouse!