Ensemble Studio Theatre News

After a call for new work that resulted in submissions of more than 120 plays, Capital Repertory Theatre and Proctors announce the winning selections for the inaugural NEXT ACT NEW PLAY SUMMIT.

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre - the acclaimed gay comedy/variety show - will open its fourth season on September 20, 2012 at The Duplex in New York's West Village. Each edition of The Meeting* honors a different gay icon; the September show will pay tribute to Disco chart-topper Sylvester with special guests Bridget Everett, Ben Rimalower and Xavier.

EXTENDED BY POPULAR DEMAND! Ben Rimalower's PATTI ISSUES, written and performed by Ben Rimalower and directed by Aaron Mark, has been extended by popular demand at the Duplex.

Nominees for the 2012 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards were announced Tuesday evening at the Renberg Theatre inside the Gay and Lesbian Center in Los Angeles. The 2012 Ovation Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, November 12, at the historic Los Angeles Theatre, 615 South Broadway, in downtown Los Angeles at 7:30 pm. For more information, visit www.LASTAGEOvations.com.

Sugar Valley Theatricals, Bryan Webster, artistic director, in association with Isaac H. Suggs, Jr., presents a special staged reading performance of MUNCHED by Kim Porter, directed by Petronia Paley, as a benefit for Women on the Rise Telling HerStory (WORTH).

The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team for the San Diego Premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People, the award-winning play about class divisions in modern-day Boston. Directed by Paul Mullins, Good People will run Sept. 29 - Oct. 28, 2012 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run Sept. 29 - Oct. 3. Opening night is Thursday, Oct. 4 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

This October, at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, an ancient tale comes roaring back to life in a compelling new telling filled with contemporary wit and wisdom. The clash of swords and shields, the broken hearts and broken oaths, the bonds of friendship and family - An Iliad arises on a bare stage, told by an old man who's seen too much. Two-time Obie Award-winner Lisa Peterson directs a stunning show that stars Henry Woronicz, who masterfully captures the grief and glory of the battle for Troy.

XL Nightclub & Cabaret presents BROADWAY CALL with host Marti Gould Cummings every Monday night. DJ Tony Build plays musical theatre music videos beginning at 8pm during happy hour followed by a 9pm free show featuring a new Broadway guest each week. For Labor Day, today, September 3rd, the club welcomes Ben Rimalower and Mamma Mia! star Donell James Foreman.

Chance Theater presents the fourth show of its 2012 season with a biting new world premiere play, OVERLOOKED, written by Brian Nelson (the writer of the acclaimed film "Hard Candy") and directed by Marya Mazor.

LUZ-a new play by Catherine Filloux (DOG AND WOLF, LEMKIN'S HOUSE)-will be given its world-premiere production this fall, with previews beginning September 28 prior to an official press opening October 4 at La MaMa's First Floor Theatre (74A E. 4 St.) in Manhattan. LUZ is a Watson Arts Project, which presents original theater with a particular emphasis on women. LUZ is scheduled to run through October 14.

Producing theater companies Liberation Theatre Company, Woodie King Jr.'s National Black Touring Circuit, and SOUL PROductions have teamed up to present Eric Lockley's hilarious affirmative action comedy, Blacken The Bubble at The HSA Theater (645 Saint Nicholas Avenue). Blacken The Bubble will begin preview performances October 11, 2012 and will officially open October 13, 2012 at 7:00 pm.

XL Nightclub & Cabaret presents BROADWAY CALL with host Marti Gould Cummings every Monday night. DJ Tony Build plays musical theatre music videos beginning at 8pm during happy hour followed by a 9pm free show featuring a new Broadway guest each week. For Labor Day, Monday, September 3rd, the club welcomes Ben Rimalower and Mamma Mia! star Donell James Foreman.

Theatre East presents "Normalcy" by Bennett Windheim, Off Broadway at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, 416 West 42nd Street, NYC. Benard Cummings directs the new play. Previews begin for the limited engagement today, August 31 and the opening is Wednesday, September 5, 2012 at 7:00 pm. For this opening of its 2012-13 season, there will be a series of talk-backs throughout the run, with the author, the producers and director, as well as experts in the respective field of this emotionally charged play.

Opening September 5 for just four short weeks, Joyce DeWitt, co-star of the ABC hit comedy, "Three's Company," will star in Sam Bobrick's romantic comedy, Remember Me. From 1977 through 1984 - for more than 170 episodes -- miss DeWitt is most widely known to audiences for her role as 'Janet Wood', but she is no stranger to live theater, working both as actress and director in a stage career that spans over forty years. She recently starred in A Scattered, Smothered and Covered Christmas Musical and the Canadian productions of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Dinner With Friends and Alfred Uhry's Tony Award-winning play The Last Night of Ballyhoo. Other recent stage performances include the North American premiere of the Australian comedy Daylight Savings, the British farce Noises Off, the revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes, and the Broadway musical Olympus on My Mind, for which she completed the cast recording - her first record album.

Ben Rimalower: PATTI ISSUES plays Thursdays at 9:30 PM at the Duplex, tonight, August 30th, September 6th, September 13th, September 27th and October 4th.