Elinor Renfield News

According to a report in the New York Post, off-Broadway star Shami Chaikin, sister of the late, famed director Joseph Chaikin, was critically injured in Greenwich Village on Bleeker Street and 8th Avenue yesterday morning when a garbage truck hit her on her mobility scooter. Chaikin, 78, who had been riding in the bicycle lane underwent surgery at St. Vincent's hospital and remains in critical condition.

The New School for Drama has announced that the award-winning playwright Jon Robin Baitz will be the distinguished artist-in-residence for the 2009-2010 academic year. Baitz is a Pulitzer finalist, a Guggenheim and NEA fellow, and winner of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award. A founding member and former artistic director of New York's Naked Angels theater company, Baitz has written a number of acclaimed plays, including The Film Society, The Substance of Fire, Three Hotels, A Fair Country, Ten Unknowns, Mizlansky/Zilinsky, a new version of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (produced on Broadway in 2001), and The Paris Letter. Playwrights Horizons, the Roundabout Theatre Company, Lincoln Center Theater, and the Second Stage Theatre have produced Baitz's work in New York. His new play, Love and Mercy, will be produced next season on Broadway.

I ATE WHAT? THEATRE, in conjunction with The Looking Glass Theatre Space Grant Program, is pleased to announce the return of Simona Berman’s acclaimed JUST SHUT UP & SMILE!, directed by Diana Basmajian. JUST SHUT UP & SMILE! will play a special limited engagement at The Looking Glass Theatre (422 West 57th Street, btw 9th/10th Ave). Performances begin Monday, March 16 and continue thru Friday, April 3.

I ATE WHAT? THEATRE, in conjunction with The Looking Glass Theatre Space Grant Program, is pleased to announce the return of Simona Berman’s acclaimed JUST SHUT UP & SMILE!, directed by Diana Basmajian. JUST SHUT UP & SMILE! will play a special limited engagement at The Looking Glass Theatre (422 West 57th Street, btw 9th/10th Ave). Performances begin Monday, March 16 and continue thru Friday, April 3.

The New School for Drama has announced that two award-winning artists, playwright Jon Robin Baitz and director Jo Bonney, will be joining the faculty for the Spring 2009 semester. Baitz will be teaching Playwriting and Bonney will be instructing a course on Directing Short Plays. Baitz will be teaching while faculty member Michael Weller is on leave.

The New School for Drama has announced that award-winning actor John Turturro will be the distinguished Artist-in-Residence for the 2008-09 academic year. Turturro is the recipient of a multitude of awards and accolades for his extensive acting work in theater, film and television.

More than 50 years after moderate Broadway success, Encores! gives this bountiful Dorothy Fields/ Arthur Schwartz score a much-needed return to Manhattan