Elizabeth Franz News

Mmmkay Productions has announced a Hollywood Fringe Festival production of Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, written by Christopher Durang and directed by Jeramiah Peay. The cast will feature (in alphabetical order) Shayna Gabrielle, Lea Madda, Michael Mullen, Will Potter, Chris Ramirez, and Liam Risinger.

Brighton Beach Memoirs began its run at Orange Park Community Theatre on April 1st. Make no mistake, this is no April Fools prank, the cast and crew have put on a lovely performance for Orange Park and the surrounding areas.

Television and stage veteran Alley Mills (“The Wonder Years”; Williamstown Theatre Festival, four seasons) will assume the role of Arry in the new production of Paul Osborn’s Morning’s At Seven, currently playing through January 9 at Theatre at St. Clement’s (423 W. 46th Street, NYC). 

Morning’s At Seven, Paul Osborn’s treasured comedy classic, returns to New York this fall for the first time in 20 years featuring an all-star cast including Academy Award nominee and Obie Award winner Lindsay Crouse (The Homecoming), Obie Award winner Alma Cuervo (On Your Feet!, Uncommon Women and Others), and more!

Morning's At Seven, Paul Osborn's treasured comedy classic, returns to New York this fall for the first time in 20 years featuring an all-star cast.

Over the past year, more than 150,000 people consumed Goodman's 12 online streaming productions, beginning with Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play directed by Lili-Anne Brown.

In an unprecedented collaboration with Showtime and The Actors Fund, Goodman Theatre is proud to present the stream of the Tony Award-winning Broadway production of Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman, starring two-time Tony Award winner Brian Dennehy and directed by Goodman Theatre Artistic Director and Tony Award winner Robert Falls.

During this time when productions all over the world have been put on pause, we are coming together to celebrate plays that have left their mark on theater history. This week we will be focusing on the plays of Neil Simon. Today's play, Brighton Beach Memoirs!

The Stage Managers' Association (SMA) presented its annual Del Hughes Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Art of Stage Management to three stage managers from the worlds of Broadway, Off-Broadway, Touring, Regional Theatre, and Opera - Rich Costabile, Barbara Donner, and Mary K Klinger. In addition to the three Lifetime Achievement Awards, the SMA recognized Janet Friedman with The Founders Award, a special recognition for her many years of service to the SMA and for embodying the values expressed by the Founders of the SMA. The event was celebrated at Connelly's Times Square on September 23rd, 2019. The SMA thanks Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids for their leading sponsorship of the event.

On Monday, September 23, 2019, the Stage Managers' Association (SMA) will present its annual Del Hughes Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Art of Stage Management to three stage managers from the worlds of Broadway, Off-Broadway, Touring, Regional Theatre, and Opera - Rich Costabile, Barbara Donner, and Mary K Klinger. In addition to the three Lifetime Achievement Awards, the SMA will recognize Janet Friedman with The Founders Award, a special recognition for her many years of service to the SMA and for embodying the values expressed by the Founders of the SMA.

Producers Hunt Lowry announced today that an industry reading of Arnold's play For Better For Worse will be held on Thursday, May 9, 2019 at District Social (252 W 37th St.). 

Actress Judith Light and playwright Tony Kushner are set to receive DGF Madge Evans & Sidney Kingsley Awards. Former DGF Fellow, Oliver Houser, also announced as recipient of the DGF Stephen Schwartz Award.

Director Isaac Klein stops by the studio to talk about his new book, SCHOOL OF DOING, featuring the lessons of Master Teacher, Director, and personal mentor, Gerald Freedman.

On September 23, 2017, Weston Playhouse at Walker Farm celebrated its Grand Opening. Located on a 5-acre farmstead north of the Weston Playhouse on Route 100/Main Street, the new facility complements the theatre company's summer use of the historic flagship Weston Playhouse on the Weston Village Green. Over 650 enthusiastic well-wishers made their way to Weston for the ribbon-cutting ceremony and an afternoon of performances, outdoor music, and self-guided tours.

TheaterWorks announced final casting today for RAGING SKILLET by Jacques Lamarre the 5th show of TheaterWorks 31st Season.

Weston Playhouse Theatre Company Founding Directors Malcolm Ewen, Tim Fort, and Steve Stettler, celebrating their thirtieth season at the helm of Vermont's oldest professional theatre, have announced that the company's 2018 season will be their last. 

The Weston Playhouse continues its season of award winners with the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning comedy, Lost in Yonkers. This Neil Simon classic is made even more memorable with the Weston stage debut of Tony winner Elizabeth Franz in the central role of Grandma Kurnitz.

The Greensboro Arts Alliance and Residency (GAAR), under the Artistic Direction of Sabra Jones, is proud to announce its 1st Annual Opera Festival as part of the 2017 Summer Season in Vermont. Heidi Lauren Duke choreographs & directs Mezzo-Soprano Martha Prewitt in Lee Hoiby's comedy Bon Appetit!, written about the legendary chef Julia Child, from June 30 - July 5, 2017, at the Town House (20 Church St.)  in Hardwick, Vermont.  The return of opera performance marks a full circle moment for Hardwick's historic Town Hall which was, in fact, built as an opera house in 1898.

Of the three shows currently running at the Guthrie, THE ROYAL FAMILY is definitely the lightweight, longer on comedy and razzle-dazzle production values than on importance. (The other two shows are KING LEAR and PROMISE LAND, a barebones physical theater take on the Hansel and Gretel tale retold as an immigrant story.) Loosely based on the Barrymore acting clan, THE ROYAL FAMILY follows three generations of a prominent and wealthy family of performers, with particular attention to the female line.

The Cherry Orchard is Anton Chekhov's masterpiece about a family on the edge of ruin-and a country on the brink of revolution. The story of Lyubov Ranevskaya and her family's return to their fabled orchard to forestall its foreclosure captures a people-and a world-in transition, and presents us with a picture of humanity in all its glorious folly. By turns tragic and funny, The Cherry Orchard still stands as one of the great plays of the modern era.