David Strathairn News

Acclaimed actress Jessica Chastain, winner of 2011 New York, Los Angeles and Chicago Film Critics and National Board of Review Awards and recently nominated for Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards, will make her Broadway debut starring in the Tony Award®-winning play The Heiress.

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, starring Academy Award winners Matt Damon ('Good Will Hunting'), Julia Stiles ('Mona Lisa Smile') and David Strathairn ('Good Night and Good Luck') and based on novelist Robert Ludlum's best-selling spy thriller, will be broadcast on Saturday, Dec. 31 (8:30-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, starring Academy Award winners Matt Damon ('Good Will Hunting'), Julia Stiles ('Mona Lisa Smile') and David Strathairn ('Good Night and Good Luck') and based on novelist Robert Ludlum's best-selling spy thriller, will be broadcast on Saturday, Dec. 31 (8:30-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) is proud to present the world premiere of Higher, written by A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff and directed by A.C.T. Associate Artistic Director Mark Rucker.

L.A. Theatre Works has partnered with INscribe Digital, a digital services provider of global ebook distribution, content conversion and marketing services to the publishing community via its ONE Digital platform, to globally distribute their enhanced eBook content, which allows readers to listen simultaneously on their digital devices The announcement was made today by INscribe EVP & GM, Anne Kubek.

Following the success of Bill Irwin's season opener, Scapin, in 2010, American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) welcomes another Pickle Family Circus alumnus to its stage with Humor Abuse, Lorenzo Pisoni's celebrated one-man show cocreated with director Erica Schmidt.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Artistic Director Carey Perloff announced that an evening of short plays by modernist master Samuel Beckett replaces Twelfth Night for the 2011-12 season. The evening includes ENDGAME, Beckett's timeless rumination on the end of life, featuring two-time Tony Award winner and A.C.T. favorite Bill Irwin, who was recently hailed by The New York Times as 'an actor deeply steeped in the traditions of clowns, according to both the commedia dell'arte and Samuel Beckett,' and PLAY featuring A.C.T. core acting company members René Augesen, Anthony Fusco, and Omozé Idehenre. A longtime Bay Area favorite as one of the founders of the Pickle Family Circus, Irwin returns to A.C.T. after stealing the hearts of the Bay Area audiences last season as the loveable title character in Moliére's SCAPIN, which he also adapted and directed. Perloff, who has previously directed Beckett's WAITING FOR GODOT at A.C.T. and will helm the production, said: 'It was in Endgame that Beckett famously wrote: 'nothing is funnier than unhappiness.' And I cannot think of a more consummate artist than Bill Irwin to demonstrate that fact, undertaking the lead role of Hamm in this astonishing play. Endgame is a play Bill and I have wanted to do together for many years; when the opportunity suddenly presented itself to do it this season, we could not say no. I am thrilled to present Endgame in tandem with a comic gem from 1963 called PLAY, which will give our core company a chance to shine a spotlight on a hilarious tale of marriage and adultery that represents a very different side of Beckett's oeuvre. I hope that this Beckett pairing will add a rich chapter to A.C.T.'s explorations of the great modernists, Beckett and Pinter.' Endgame and Play play May 9-June 3, 2012, at the American Conservatory Theater (415 Geary Street, San Francisco). Press night is Wednesday, May 16, 2012, at 8 p.m. Tickets (starting at $10) are available by calling A.C.T. Ticket Services at 415.749.2228 or at www.act-sf.org.

An impressive ensemble of Broadway leading men and women are traveling to Romania to perform A Medley of Sondheim, a concert presentation of Stephen Sondheim's iconic musical numbers, presented within the framework of the 4th edition of the International Festival for Musical Performing Arts 'Life is Beautiful.'

An impressive ensemble of Broadway leading men and women are traveling to Romania to perform A Medley of Sondheim, a concert presentation of Stephen Sondheim's iconic musical numbers, presented within the framework of the 4th edition of the International Festival for Musical Performing Arts 'Life is Beautiful.'

The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) 2011-12 season continues with David Mamet's newest play, Race, directed by former CENTERSTAGE Artistic Director Irene Lewis. Fresh from a triumphant run on Broadway, Mamet's wicked and scathing courtroom comedy makes its West Coast premiere at A.C.T. With his trademark verbal pyrotechnics, Mamet unleashes two attorneys and the firm's young associate as they scramble to decide if they want to represent a wealthy white man accused of assaulting a black woman.

Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre is hosting a benefit screening of Julie Taymor's theatrical film version of The Tempest, and will include an introduction and reception with the film's producer. The film stars Helen Mirren as a cross-gendered Prospera, alongside an all-star cast including Djimon Hounsou, Alan Cummings, David Strathairn, Chris Cooper, Russell Brand, Reeve Carney (currently in Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark on Broadway) and Alfred Molina.

The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) 2011-12 season opens with a new revival of the dazzling George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart 1930 comedy Once in a Lifetime, which has been called 'a delicious Hollywood send up' (The New York Times) and 'a tinseltown satire [with] bite' (Newsday).

Julie Taymor helmed the recent film adaptation of THE TEMPEST, which will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on today. The film was shot in Hawaii with stars Helen Mirren (Prospera), Alfred Molina (Stephano), Ben Whishaw (Ariel), FeliciTy Jones (Miranda), Russell Brand (Trinculo), Djimon Hounsou (Caliban), Alan Cumming (Sebastian), Chris Cooper (Antonio), and David Strathairn (Alonso).

The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) 2011-12 season continues with David Mamet's newest play, Race, directed by former CENTERSTAGE Artistic Director Irene Lewis. Fresh from a triumphant run on Broadway, Mamet's wicked and scathing courtroom comedy makes its West Coast premiere at A.C.T. With his trademark verbal pyrotechnics, Mamet unleashes two attorneys and the firm's young associate as they scramble to decide if they want to represent a wealthy white man accused of assaulting a black woman.

The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) 2011-12 season opens with a new revival of the dazzling George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart 1930 comedy Once in a Lifetime, which has been called 'a delicious Hollywood send up' (The New York Times) and 'a tinseltown satire [with] bite' (Newsday).

The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) 2011-12 season opens with a new revival of the dazzling George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart 1930 comedy Once in a Lifetime, which has been called 'a delicious Hollywood send up' (The New York Times) and 'a tinseltown satire [with] bite' (Newsday).

According to Deadline.com, Broadway veteran Lee Pace will join previously reported Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, and David Strathairn in 'Team of Rivals,' based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography of the president. Steven Spielberg will direct the film titled, 'Lincoln,' featuring a screenplay by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner.