Classic Stage Company News

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director), Barry Grove (Executive Producer), and Mandy Greenfield (Artistic Producer) have announced full casting for the world premiere of THE EXPLORERS CLUB, the new play by Tony Award nominee Nell Benjamin, directed by Marc Bruni.

With a voice like whiskey and a laugh like pure joy, Janis Joplin took the music scene by storm. Simultaneously rough and vulnerable, Joplin was dubbed the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll, proving music wasn't just a man's world anymore. Now, in a new musical event featuring more than a dozen singers and band members, playwright-director Randy Johnson creates 'a compelling portrait of an artist' (Culturemob) through the words, inspiration and music of one of America's greatest rock 'n' roll originals. One Night With Janis Joplin is a full-on concert experience and musical journey into the life and inspirations of one of rock 'n' roll's greatest legends and it runs in The Rep's Quadracci Powerhouse from May 3 - June 2, 2013 and opens on Monday, May 6, 2013. Packed with classic songs ('Piece Of My Heart,' 'Summertime,' 'Mercedes Benz'), One Night With Janis Joplin also shines the spotlight on trailblazers who influenced Janis - like Bessie Smith, Etta James and Aretha Franklin.

Wendy Beckett's seductive new play, LOVE THERAPY opens at the DR2 Theatre (101 East 15th Street) on Monday, April 29th. Directed by Evan Bergman, LOVE THERAPY is the fourth in a series of ten of Ms. Beckett's plays that will be brought across the Pacific from Australia by Peter Walters for Pascal Productions. For tickets, please visit Telecharge.com or call (212) 239-6200.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner, will present its annual Monday Night Open Rehearsal Series, this year featuring Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. On three Monday evenings - May 13, May 20 and June 3 - different actors and directors will explore the text of Romeo & Juliet, giving theater-goers the opportunity to become part of the discovery process, and experience different acting approaches and directorial interpretations of one of Shakespeare's most cherished plays. CSC will open its 2013/2014 season with a new production of Romeo & Juliet starring Elizabeth Olsen. Here is the line-up for this year's Open Rehearsal series.

Today we are talking to a versatile stage and screen actress who has scored in a number of unique roles on Broadway and around the country in addition to making a recent mark with her work on the Broadway-themed web series IT COULD BE WORSE - the passionate and compelling Alison Fraser. Discussing her vast resume and some of her most fondly remembered performances to date, Fraser opens up about her remarkable career thus far - including her work originating parts in IN TROUSERS, MARCH OF THE FALSETTOS, THE SECRET GARDEN, ROMANCE/ROMANCE, GUNMETAL BLUES, THE DIVINE SISTER and more - and looks ahead to her most recent projects, current, upcoming and beyond. Most importantly, Fraser details the finer points of LOVE THERAPY, the new Wendy Beckett play she stars in Off-Broadway and outlines her continuing collaboration onstage with the playwright, having previously starred in CHARITY CASE, as well as what we can expect from the realistic new drama, opening April 29. Additionally, Fraser sheds some light on her recent work in the world premiere of the Tennessee Williams play IN MASKS OUTRAGEOUS AND AUSTERE and how that led to her new solo revue, THE TENNESSEE WILLIAMS SONGBOOK. Plus, memories of appearing in GYPSY on Broadway with Patti LuPone and working with Arthur Laurents on that as well as his own final play, cameoing on SMASH, reflections on her memorable musical partnerships with husband Rusty Magee and noted FALSETTOS songwriter William Finn, as well as thoughts on the contemporary theatre scene and her various theatre-related web projects, favorite recent shows and much, much more!

Mississippi Mud Productions will present The Blonde Bombshell Project, a new solo play written and starring Jen Danby and directed by Tony Nominee and Obie-Winning Director Austin Pendleton. Fresh from their collaboration as Catharine Holly and Dr. Sugar in Suddenly, Last Summer with Mississippi Mud, this new solo work is about about legendary Hollywood 'Blonde Bombshell' Marilyn Monroe in her final summer of 1962. ??

The Drama League (Executive Director, Gabriel Shanks) has announced the 2013 Drama League Awards Nominees for Distinguished Play, Distinguished Revival of a Play, Distinguished Musical, Distinguished Revival of a Musical, and Distinguished Performance Award. The nominations were announced at a ceremony hosted by Patina Miller and Michael Urie this morning at Sardi's Restaurant which were streamed live online at www.BroadwayWorld.com.

In advance of Classic Stage Company's production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle, actor Christopher Lloyd, CSC's artistic director Brian Kulick and The Public Theater's Oskar Eustis talk about Brecht's legacy in the 21st century. The evening will also feature readings from the play.

Douglas Carpenter, baritone, of New York, won the $15,000 First Prize in the finals of the 15th annual Lotte Lenya Competition, held on April 13, 2013, at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. Maren Weinberger, soprano, of New York, received the Second Prize of $10,000, and two Third Prizes of $7,500 each were awarded to Alison Arnopp, soprano, of County Cork, Ireland, and Lauren Roesner, soprano, of Cincinnati. Founded in 1998 to celebrate the centenary of Lenya's birth, the Lotte Lenya Competition is an international theater singing contest that recognizes talented young singer/actors, ages 19-32, who are dramatically and musically convincing in a wide range of repertoire.

In advance of Classic Stage Company's production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle, actor Christopher Lloyd, CSC's artistic director Brian Kulick and The Public Theater's Oskar Eustis talk about Brecht's legacy in the 21st century. The evening will also feature readings from the play.

Stephen Sondheim and Wynton Marsalis will collaborate on A BED AND A CHAIR: A New York Love Story, a new musical event featuring Sondheim's music arranged and performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, announced Arlene Shuler, President & CEO of New York City Center. This Encores! Special Event, directed by frequent Sondheim collaborator John Doyle, and conceived by Peter Gethers, Jack Viertel and John Doyle, will run for seven performances, November 13 - 17 at City Center. City Center's annual Gala Benefit will take place on Thursday, November 14 and will include a post-performance dinner at the Plaza Hotel.

The greatest songwriters revered him. And his songs-from 'All the Things You Are' to 'The Way You Look Tonight'-remain a vital part of our cultural conversation. It is no accident that Jerome Kern is also known as 'The Dean.' Author and Lyrics & Lyricists series artistic director Deborah Grace Winer takes the helm as artistic director/writer/host for The Song is You: Jerome Kern Coast to Coast, on May 4, 5 and 6. Winer is joined by vocalists Karrin Allyson, Debby Boone, Jeffry Denman, bassist Jay Leonhart, Howard McGillin, Paula West and Karen Ziemba, with special guest Barbara Carroll.

New York Live Arts is set to present several Re: Awakenings performances as part of the inaugural Live Ideas festival. New York Live Arts' newest program initiative, Live Ideas is an annual humanities festival that will explore a different theme each year over several days. The inaugural festival, The Worlds of Oliver Sacks, will take place from today, April 17 through 21, 2013 and is comprised of more than 20 events, including performances, films and discussions that showcase works of art and spark conversations that engage the prevalent themes in the acclaimed neurologist's works.

Long Wharf Theatre concludes its 2012-13 season with Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play Clybourne Park, by Bruce Norris, and directed by Associate Artistic Director Eric Ting. The play will take place on The Claire Tow Stage in the C. Newton Schenck III Mainstage from May 8, 2013 through June 2, 2013.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner, announced today that acclaimed Tony Award-winning director John Doyle will join the company for its 2013/2014 season as an Associate Director. Doyle, who directed and designed the company's current highly-acclaimed production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's musical PASSION, will develop his own projects for CSC, contribute leadership for CSC's new Musical Theatre Initiative (for which PASSION was the launch production) and consult with Artistic Director Brian Kulick over season planning and other creative aspects of CSC's artistic programming.

The Village Voice, the nation's largest alternative weekly newspaper, previously announced that tickets will go on sale today, April 10, 2013 for the 58th Annual Obie Awards on Monday, May 20, 2013, at Webster Hall in the East Village, 125 East 11th Street.

Red Bull Theater will present the American Premiere of a new adaptation of August Strindberg's The Dance of Death by Mike Poulton (Tony Award Nominee for Best Play for Fortune's Fool), directed by Joseph Hardy (Tony Award winner for Best Director for Child's Play), for a strictly limited engagement beginning tonight, April 10th and continuing through May 4th only, at the Lucille Lortel Theater (121 Christopher Street, between Bleecker and Hudson Streets). Opening Night is set for Thursday April 18th.