Cincinnati Playhouse News

Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Joe Masteroff, John Kander and Fred Ebb's Tony winning musical Cabaret, starring Tony Award-winner Alan Cumming and Golden Globe-winner Michelle Williams, begins previews tomorrow, Friday March 21. Cabaret officially opens on Thursday, April 24, 2014 at Studio 54 (254 West 54th Street). This is a 24-week limited engagement. Scroll down to learn more about the full company, plus watch a TV spot for the production below!

Lincoln Center Theater presents Act One, a play written and directed by James Lapine from the autobiography by Moss Hart. The production is scheduled to begin previews tomorrow night, March 20 and will open on Thursday, April 17 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65 Street). Scroll down to learn more about the full company, plus check out the latest TV spot for the production!

Marin Theatre Company, in association with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, will stage August Wilson's Fences, the 1950s entry into his Century Cycle (also known as his Pittsburgh Cycle) - a decade-by-decade exploration of the black experience in 20th century America. Directed by Derrick Sanders, the Pulitzer Prize and two-time Tony Award-winning play will feature veteran film and television actor Carl Lumbly as Troy Maxson, Steven Anthony Jones, the artistic director of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, as Jim Bono and award-winning actor, playwright and director Margo Hall as Rose, as well as Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Eddy Ray Jackson as Cory, Adrian Roberts as Gabriel, Tyee Tilghman as Lyons and two Marin City youths - Jade Sweeney, who attends Willow Creek Academy, and Makaelah Bashir, Bayside Martin Luther King, Jr. Academy - splitting the role of Raynell.

The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's Off the Hill series for families concludes with THE SHORT TREE AND THE BIRD THAT COULD NOT SING, which will tour to community venues throughout the Tristate from April 8 through May 24. Recommended for ages 5 and up, the show is a wacky fable of an unlikely friendship between a tree that resents its roots and a spunky, unflappable bird with a horrible singing voice.

Broadway personality and SiriusXM Radio 'On Broadway' host Julie James will debut her new musical comedy, The Julie James Show, on Thursday, March 27th at 9:30 PM at 54 Below, it was announced today. To Broadway fans and 'On Broadway' listeners, Julie is best known as the effervescent host of 'Broadway Names with Julie James.' Now Julie utilizes a thrilling 3 ½ octave range with hilarious stories and songs to reveal a childhood obsession with jingles, theme songs and cast albums, as well as a performance background in opera and musical theatre, that would ultimately lead her to her role at SiriusXM where all of these elements combine into one incredible dream job.

During his decade of producing shoestring theatre in a proud but dilapidated auditorium, impresario Buz Davis could only dream of the day he might return to find that hall had received a multi-million dollar renovation, and that he was once again at the fore of creating captivating theatre there. That dream comes true this spring.

City Theatre continues its 2013-2014 season with Grounded, a high-intensity drama by George Brant. Directed by Jenn Thompson, Grounded runs from March 29 to May 4, 2014 in City Theatre's Hamburg Studio, with an Opening Night performance on Friday, April 4 at 8pm.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the second installment in its new play reading series, called Play-By-Play: A Public Education by Jeff Talbott tonight and tomorrow, March 14 and 15, 2014. Guest artist Shana Gold directs the production.

Will Eno's new play The Realistic Joneses is set to begin previews tomorrow, March 13, 2014, with an official opening night on Sunday, April 6, 2014, at the Lyceum Theatre (149 W 45th Street). Scroll down to learn more about the full cast, plus check out interviews with the company!

Magic Theatre will welcome back one of Scotland's leading contemporary playwrights, Linda McLean, with the world premiere of Every Five Minutes, directed by Producing Artistic Director Loretta Greco. Every Five Minutes runs March 26 - April 20. Deemed 'a gritty, fiercely empathetic realist of great skill' (San Francisco Chronicle), McLean's new play celebrates the miraculous power of the human spirit. Every Five Minutes begins with a simple homecoming dinner that takes a fantastical turn as Mo slips into a dreamscape that even those closest to him can't imagine.

Arts For All has announced this year's annual benefit concert at Joe's Pub on April 28th, hosted by Aaron Lazar, star of Sting's upcoming, new musical, The Last Ship, and directed by Alexander Gemignani, currently appearing in Violet on Broadway. The evening will feature performances by other Broadway performers, donating their time and talents to raise money and awareness for Arts For All's free arts programming with in-need children in all five boroughs of New York City. Tickets are available now through Joe's Pub.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre continues the second half of its season with Tribes, a sophisticated and moving family drama by celebrated British playwright Nina Raine. Her profound and powerful new play became an award-winning hit in London and New York. Now renowned director Jonathan Moscone brings it to Berkeley Rep this April for its Bay Area premiere. Tribes follows Billy, a young man who was born deaf into a loquacious and highly opinionated academic family who raised him to lip-read and integrate into the hearing world. When he meets Sylvia - raised by Deaf parents and going deaf herself - Billy decides it's time to speak on his own terms and to be heard. Playing out in words, sign language, and sometimes mesmerizing silence, this penetrating drama examines familial love, notions of belonging, and the intersections of communication. Tribes start previews Friday, April 11, opens on April 16, and closes on Sunday, May 11, 2014.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the second installment in its new play reading series, called Play-By-Play: A Public Education by Jeff Talbott on March 14 and 15, 2014. Guest artist Shana Gold directs the production.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for Alan Ayckbourn's science fiction comedy Communicating Doors. Eleven plays penned by Alan Ayckbourn have been produced by the Alley, including the American premiere of Henceforward, directed by Ayckbourn, in 1987 and House & Garden in 2002. Alan Ayckbourn has been inducted into the American Theatre's Hall of Fame, received the 2010 Critics' Circle Award for Services to the Arts, became the first British playwright to receive both Olivier and Tony Special Lifetime Achievement Awards and was knighted in 1997 for services to the theatre.

Writers Theatre presents The Dance of Death by August Strindberg, in a new version by Conor McPherson and directed by Henry Wishcamper. The production runs April 1 - July 20, 2014 at 664 Vernon Avenue, Glencoe. The press openings are April 9 and 10, 2014 at 7:30pm.

The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park will present a reading of Stephen MacDonald's drama about the real-life friendship of two World War I soldier poets, NOT ABOUT HEROES, at 7 p.m. Monday, March 24. The reading is being offered in collaboration with the Cincinnati Remembers World War I series, the Cincinnati Opera's citywide series of events in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the onset of World War I.

Continuing its 26th Season, Lookingglass Theatre Company presents the World Premiere of In the Garden: A Darwinian Love Story, by Artistic Associate Sara Gmitter and directed by Jessica Thebus. In the Garden runs April 16 - June 15, 2014 at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson. The Press Opening is Saturday, April 26, 2014 at 7:30 p.m..

Court Theatre continues its 2013-2014 season with the Chicago premiere of Water by the Spoonful written by Quiara Alegria Hudes, and directed by Henry Godinez. Water by the Spoonful will run tonight, March 6 - April 6, 2014 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue. Press Opening is Saturday, March 15, 2014 at 8:00PM.

Artistic Director Blake Robison announced the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's 2014-15 season today. The Playhouse's 55th season - which is Robison's third as artistic director - boasts a homegrown world premiere, two Tony Award-winning plays, recent New York hits and musical tributes to Johnny Cash and Tri-State native Rosemary Clooney.

The Laguna Playhouse Executive and Artistic Directors, Karen Wood and Ann E. Wareham invite you to take 83 books, with three chameleon-like actors in 98 minutes, and mix it all up into one hilarious evening of ridiculous fun! It's the Reduced Shakespeare Company's production of ALL THE GREAT BOOKS (abridged), written and directed by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor with additional material by Matthew Croke and Michael Faulkner. ALL THE GREAT BOOKS (abridged) will begin previews today, March 4 and will open on Saturday, March 8 at 7:30pm and run through Sunday, March 30, 2014 at the LagunaPlayhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.